Sunday, July 29, 2012

Bumped into an actor/stuntman/double friend of mine while heading up my favorite mountain trail this afternoon.  Hadn’t seen him in a week, so it was nice to pause and get caught up.  He shared how he’d chased off a brown bear the week before.

Cool!

Bears are common in our mountains.  My thought is that as long as one remembers that we are guests in the bear’s territory, then things have a way of turning out with happy endings.  Least, that’s the way it’s turned out for me my entire life with the many bear encounters I’ve had.  Course, sadly, there are those who don’t share my utter respect for nature and would have folks foolishly believe that we humans have more right to live in the hills and mountains than the resident bears. 

This mentality managed to recently get a 700-pound, male, brown bear removed from our local mountain and relocated to another area.  To me, this is sad…just…plain…sad!  Again, as long as folks maintain the mentality that we are guests in the bear’s domain, then all will turn out well.  But folks just can’t seem to relent their utter need to dominate all things, nature included.

My actor, stuntman/double friend of mine shares my respect for nature and all her magnificent creatures.  And…like me, he’s sadly aware that there are clueless individuals who enter into the bear’s territory, setting themselves up for harm. 

Such was the case last Thursday, when my friend, taking a few minutes to relax at the summit of the mountain, looked across a saddle of land and noticed a woman coming his way.  Carrying his gaze farther, he noticed a brown bear, approximately 350 pounds, between the woman and where he was.  My friend noticed that the woman was clueless to the proximity of the bear and that she was headed straight for it—too preoccupied with be-bopping along to the tunes that played in her headphones, which blocked out all surrounding sound.

Lovely!

Not wanting to have the woman get hurt, my friend decided to take matters into his own hands.  Like me, he’s encountered wild brown bears throughout his life.  And each encounter has ended without anyone getting hurt, the bears and him respecting and understanding one another.  So too, was to be the case this day.

My friend began making as much noise as possible to draw the bear’s attention, which had shifted to the unaware approaching woman, from him.  His tactic worked, him rewarded with the bear shifting its focus back on him.  Now walking towards my friend, the bear sniffed the air.  My friend increased his efforts to keep the bear’s attention by picking up nearby stones and tossing them in the air. 

The bear, realizing that my friend was not to be an easy target, paused, taking in his options.  Looking over its shoulder, it again noticed the still approaching unaware woman.  My friend tossed rocks at the bear to force it to shift its gaze to him. 

Did I mention that my actor/stuntman/double friend is 6 foot five and built like a god?  He is.  A powerhouse of muscles just waiting to be put into motion, he had no intention of backing down and letting the woman get hurt.  So he continued to toss rocks at the bear.  Not to hurt or hit it, but close enough to make it again focus on him.  Thus began the standoff between my friend and the bear, which finally decided my rock-throwing friend was just a bit too much of a bother.  So the bear decided to lumber its way down the ravine into the awaiting canyon. 

Meanwhile, the be-bopping woman came across my friend who flagged her to stop.  She did and removed her headphones to hear what he had to say.  He told her of and pointed to the bear that was heading further down the canyon.  The woman blanched.  Then she thanked my friend for his efforts.  In return, he suggested that the woman turn around and head the way she’d come to avoid any possible contact with the bear.  Wisely, the woman turned off her music, took out both her headphones and followed my friend’s advice.

This is an example of one of the things I love most about hiking my favorite mountain.  How those of us who are regulars not only look out for one another, but how we also keep our trained eyes peeled to help total strangers—those individuals we’ve never met and will likely never have any further contact with.  So why do we look out for others?  Simple.  Cause it’s the right ting to do.  And…simply put, it’s the best way we know to maintain the delicate balance between nature and humans who frequent the same vicinity.