Close Encounters of the Second Kind

For the Fourth of July, we went camping with Aaron’s family. We drove up to the campsite on Wednesday, and as soon as we got there, our camping neighbors came over to warn us about the bears that went through last night. No big deal, I thought. The campground had some very sturdy bear lockers, so I wasn’t worried about bears getting into our stuff. That night, we went to bed in our tent, and I went to sleep with no problem.

The next thing I know, I’m awake, and it’s still pitch black outside, and I hear heavy footsteps and heavy breathing go past our tent. My heart started racing probably 200 beats per minute. I was frozen stiff as I heard the visitor knock some things over and go through some bags some neighbors left out. Then it pulled on the handle of the car door. I heard it walk through other campsites and go through the stuff they neglected to put in their bear lockers. After a while, my frozen stiff body starting shaking, almost convulsing, fiercely. After a while, Aaron realized this and asked me what was wrong. “Bear!” I choked in a whisper. He whispered, “Do you want me to go check things out?” I snapped back, “Are you crazy?” Who, knowing a bear is out there, wants to go face to face with it? Men. After a while, the bear noises got further and further away, and after about three hours after waking up, I stopped shaking and went back to sleep.

The next morning, Aaron’s sister asks us while we were still in bed, “Aaron, did you leave the car door open last night?” I shot straight up and got out of the tent. Sure enough, the car door was open, and the bag I had kept our bread in was lying on the ground, empty. We forgot to lock our car the night before, and the bear, with its keen sense of smell, discovered the loaf of bread we forgot to put in the bear locker. The most amazing thing about all of this: the bear opened the door with no problem, got the bread out, and left the car without making a mess of it. This bear knows it stuff.

As the day went on, I battled with the possibility of moving our air mattress and Mari’s crib into the cabin Aaron’s parents were using. But Aaron’s grandmother was also sleeping in that cabin, and she isn’t quiet during the night. I decided to suck it up and sleep in the tent another night. I told myself if this night doesn’t go well (meaning I don’t wake up to a bear in our campsite), we’ll sleep in the cabin the next night.

As we are settling into our tent, a lady in the next campsite shouts, “Bear! Right there!” I started to have a fit. Who knew I would be so afraid of bears. As Aaron grabbed his shoes, I grabbed his arm and did not let go for dear life. I mean, come on…what was he really going to do? I guess the bears in our area are black bears, and the way you encounter a black bear is to make a lot of noise and make yourself seem like the alpha-bear. (With grizzlies, you play dead.) I guess I have to give Aaron major props for being willing to go out there and protect his family if he needed to. But the way I was thinking, the bear didn’t know we were in there, so why should we let him know?? I don’t know that much about bears, but I know you don’t go looking for trouble. After the bear went away, I almost had a breakdown. I had Aaron give me a blessing, and I went to sleep, again, with no problem. At 1:30 am, I woke up shaking again. The bear came around 2 am the night before, so I was upset that I was awake right before the time the bear was supposed to be around. Sure enough, not long after, the bear came through our campsite (we were sure to put all food in the locker this time) and rummaged through our neighbor’s. I heard the bear going through the trashcan on the other side of the small campground. It calmed me a bit to know he wasn’t that close to us, but I still shook. I tried to make myself stop shaking, but it was beyond my mental control. Three hours later, the only thing that stopped me shaking was bringing Mari into bed.

The next night, I decided to suck it up again and sleep in the tent. (Aren’t you proud of me?) I woke at the same time, 1:30am, and the bear came around at the same time, 2am. This time, it went through the trash right next to the campsite. Aaron woke to my shaking (I really tried not to do it, but it was beyond my control) and heard the bear going through the trash. This was the first time he had heard the bear, and he asked me, “Do you think that could be a bear?” I laughed sarcastically and said, “I know it’s a bear.” We sat there listening to it go through the trash, then it went on the other side of the campground and set of not one, not two, but three car alarms. And the car alarms rang their full tunes. By that time, I think everyone was awake. Once the bear noises went away, I focused on stopping my body from shaking, and I finally went to sleep three hours after I woke up.

We are not camping there again.