Hey y'all. Hope all is going well in your lives on this fine day. Things are really starting to lighten up on this end. And no, its not because I have discovered a way to eat a mountain of chocolate and not gain a lb (now
that would really make my day!), or because I did anything particularly interesting in the last 24 hours. No, today is awesome because SPRING IS FINALLY COMING! THANK YOU DEAR LORD!
I know this because I talked to a park ranger today, who told me that the high camps ( or camps way high up in the mountains, where winter time brings 12 ft of snow) have almost melted. Once the snow on the high camps finally melts away, summer is here, flowers are here, the SUN is here! Oh.. yea... and the bears are back too.
Which leads me into today's story. The night my tent was attacked by a bear.
In Yosemite National Park, we have the North American Black Bear. No grizzlies here, which is a bit of relief to me at least. Black bears are known to be fairly skittish, and do not attack unless seriously provoked ( like.. you steal its cub or something... Don't doubt it, people try to do it). They come in all different shades of black, brown and cinnamon, and in my hiking experience, are quite lovely to watch. However, the one major problem with these bear in the park is food. People feed them, they steal food, and well...when you put a juicy steak between a hungry tourist and a black bear it becomes a major issue. Now, these once wild creatures ravage tents, cars, backpacks, etc... to get their day's meal. Onwards with the story.
After about 3 months living in Yosemite I had become quite accustomed to bears. You see them while hiking, biking, sun bathing- all over the place. However, my one terror, which still remains a great fear to me to day, is stumbling into a bear in the middle of the night while trying to find the restroom-which is a community restroom that can be anywhere from 3 ft- to 20 yards from your tent. Nothing is more terrifying to me that careening into a big black monster with glowing red eyes alone in the dark (
this is all in my head of course) and lets be frank folks, the need for that restroom would end quickly right then and there.
So 3 months into my life here, in the dead of night, I awake to hear my tent mate whisper to me "Sierra...there is a bear outside our tent." Thank God it was on her side. I wouldn't have nearly been that calm. But as bears are a common occurrence, and as we keep all our food outside in a bear box, I was not at first overly concerned. Yes, there is something mildly terrifying about having only a thin canvas separating a hungry bear and your sleepy head, but you have to get sleep somehow at some point. But instead of wandering away as a thwarted bear will do, we began to hear shuffling and snuffling circling the tent. At this point I became aware that I was completely out of my bed and standing in the middle of the tent. I don't know how I got there, or when; but my roommate was right there with me so it must have been some shared human instinct to stay as far away as possible from all four very thin walls.
We, my roomie (
or should it be called a tentie?) and I began a series of furtive whispers back and forth. She wanted to look outside, and I agreed. The problem was who should do it? Well we never really got around to that because, out of absolutely freaking nowhere there was a massive BANG against the side of our tent that shook the very shallow wooden foundations. I swear to God there was a flash of light too, or maybe my near hysterical mind imagined it...
You want to know what I did next?
I hid under the covers. Yup, dove right to my bed under those suckers and curled up in a ball so tight if you compared me to a rolly poly you wouldn't be able to tell a darn difference. I don't know what exactly I expected the blankets to do for me. Its not as if they would be any sort of protection from a hungry bear. And I did take this into consideration whilst quivering in fear. But I still stayed under them anyway. Better not risk it. I'm a brave one alright. And that immediately decided who should look outside, because there was no way in this life time I was going near that door, or anything else besides my blankets.
But when she looked outside, there was nothing. Nothing at all. No sign of a bear or anything else that tried to blow our little hut down. And in the morning, I circled the tent looking for signs of an animal, tracks, droppings anythings. But I found nothing. It was by far the strangest night of my life in Yosemite. But thats what this place is like, a cross roads where humanity and wilderness meet. Beautiful, fleeting, scary and wild.
Thank God I don't live in that tent anymore.
XOXOXO
Sierra
The trail is considered a moderate hike. It is very sunny, open and the trail is clearly defined. Bring food, water and sunscreen. If you decide to do this hike, which you most definitely should, I would highly, SERIOUSLY recommend wearing longer sleeves and pants. While beautiful, this trail is surrounded by poison oak and that is certainly not what you want to remember about this trail. The wildflowers start to fade in May so do it... do it NOW!
