When I was a child, I went on a survival training trip near Canada. So near Canada, in fact, that at one point we became desperate for a site to have a fire for cooking.
All of our ready to eat food was exhausted, and the rest had to be cooked either in water or mixed with water and then cooked.
But we didn't have a permit to do this in Canada, and didn't want to risk being fined or reported.
Mounties and Border Patrol were all over the place.
So the only American campsite was on an island. A dozen travelers had told us there was a bear on the island.
So we would cook, right? Then we would leave and sleep in another site on the Canadian side, with no fire.
We were cautious. There was no bear in sight, no reason to be worried. We started cooking and began patrolling the perimeter. I found a gas canister (illegal!) with tooth marks and a dent in it, back off a trail away from the fire on the beach. Then a shredded tent. A sleeping bag. We pulled back from the perimeter and took up watch positions visible to each other in a semicircle behind the fire, with the water making the far boundary.
The bear came in from the left, on the trail. Right in front of the furthest sentinel.
It was smaller, juvenile, probably less than four hundred pounds. But it was lean. Starving.
We started packing up, and the cook began taking the food off of the fire. I, and one other, held off the bear with branches, rocks, and distractions. Like baiting a bull.
The bear got frustrated and waddled down to the water, where he bit a canoe. This is crazy and insane bear behavior, scary as hell. We spooked it enough with rocks that it went back into the brush.
I needed help packing and watching to make sure we weren't rushed by the mad thing. I yelled for the other girls.
No intelligible answer. Where were they? There were two of them. For sure they could grab the biscuits and some pots and pans and get them into another canoe. Was there another bear? Were they in danger?
No.
The other girls had taken an entire canoe out into the middle of the lake, without a single handful of gear, and were screaming hysterically.
Sometimes I think they had the right idea.
Better to cut and run when things get scary.
Bearfight!!
Topic: Ex Revert