I made this short video a couple days back. Hiking through the thimble berries, I remembered the close encounter while on the Eagle Creek Trail, a short segment in Oregon which coincides with the Pacific Crest Trail. Just a few miles from Cascade Locks, I had the closest bear encounter of my life.
While eating thimble berries around 7 a.m, I rounded the bend of a very narrow legdge. The drop off and mountain kept all hikers from deviating from the narrow trail. Suddenly, I felt something brush my pack. I turned to look and saw a cub scampering up the tree I'd just passed, an arms length away.
Just below that tree a mother bear glanced up, stood on her hind legs to see what had passed. She began huffing at me, I backed up, calling to my hiking partner a ways behind, hoping he would not walk past a mother and cub as I'd just done. We couldn't see each other at that point. He told me he saw the bears and knew I had just passed them.
I hit my poles together, yelling, backing up, glancing behind me so I wouldn't fall off the ledge, or worse, back into another cub!
Finally, expecting a bluff charge, determined not to run or touch the mother unless she touched me first, the mother took off into the canyon, her cub scampering back down the tree, running behind her.
Just then, Rainmaker rounded the bend.
Both safe, and a true story to last a life time.
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