July 27, 2011

You may have heard there was a serious bear mauling incident that happened 35 miles away from here in the Talkeetna Mountains. A group of teenage boys were on a solo hike as a final challenge for their NOLS Outdoor Leadership Training. When crossing a river, the boy in front saw a bear and apparently freaked out, screamed and ran. The sow saw this as a threat, and tried to protect her cub. She caused him some serious injury and tried tearing up a few of the other boys who also ran off screaming in terror. The entire incident lasted probably only a minute but 4 of the 5 kids had injuries, two serious.They were very fortunate that the one uninjured boy had training as an EMT, and  they had a way to call for help with an avalanche beacon. Hours later, a plane flew in to transport the more seriously  injured 2 boys.....

You can imagine, this has a rather negative consequence for the "hiking in the wilderness" business I am in. Many of the hikes we have scheduled have been cancelled. I am afraid, some egocentric hunter will go out and think he is justified in killing this animal.....

Not to be terribly mean, but, I hope the boys who ran screaming flunk their training. They did the absolute wrong thing, which endangered their lives, and very possibly the bear's life. I also think NOLS should re-think their agenda for teenagers hiking solo in bear country in Alaska.

Moral of story:       Don't mess with Mama.
                             Talk a LOT when hiking, even if alone. Singing and reciting poetry are fun.
                             Who cares if quiet, ignorent hikers think you are nuts?
                             Constantly scan the scene for signs of bear.
                             NEVER APPROACH A BEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
                             NEVER RUN or SCREAM if you see a bear nearby!!!!!!!!!
                             CALMLY talk to the bear and
                             slowly and carefully get the HELL out of its way!