[Cdt-l] Grizz

[Iceaxehikes at gmail.com]

On the CDT in 2010 I ran into my first Grizzly Bear after I had "misplaced"  
the trail on the Lava Mountain Alternate in Wyoming.
I had been bushwacking and just came upon a horse trail.
As i made the top of a rise I saw a young Grizzly about 50 feet away coming  
towards me down the trail with it's head to the ground.
The first thought i had was "Where is mama?"
Being a Sierra nevada guy I am used to black bears, the shoulder hump and  
flat face of the Griz were striking and un-mistakeable.
I knew i was already too close but decided I had better alert the bear now  
before it got any closer.
Besides, I figured I would make a lot of noise trying to bushwack the way i  
had come.
The best option, I thought, was to stand my ground.
I put my arms up and began talking to the bear the same way i would with a  
Black Bear.
The Griz did not seem to notcie me at all.
It had rounded a tree trunk and was momentarily out of sight.
Then i clicked my trekking poles together.. thats when the bear whirled  
around and tore off into the brush.
The whole time I had a can of Bear load pepper spray.. frimly affixed to my  
pack!
Not exactly the most useful location to carry pepper spray!
I had to laugh at this because i would never have left my iceaxe strapped  
to my pack to cross a snowslope.
I kept thinking of pulling out my camera.. the pepper spray was forgotten  
until after the incident.
After having told a field biologist I met on the trail about this incident,  
he told me to watch the meadows in the early hours for grizzly.
He was right.
Just before Two-Ocean pass, in a meadow high on a hillside I saw a large  
bear grazing just after dawn.
Towards the end of my CDT hike I met Sage. She and I hiked together for a  
few days.
Sage liked to hike well past dark, without a light.
Since I was ending my hike at Waterton and she was going to Chief mountain  
I decided to give her my pepper spray canister.
She gave me her share of a huge box of cream cheese frosted cinnamin rolls  
we had carried out of Saint Mary.
So on my last day I found myself; alone, in griz country, without pepper  
spray.. carrying a huge box of cream cheese frosted cinnamin rolls.
I am not the sharpest tool in the shed.
Hey, by the way, I got my big 7 ounce Bear load pepper spray can at the  
hardware store in Pinedale Wyoming. It was something like 20 bucks and  
change.
-iceaxe
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