The topic of bears comes up on an almost daily basis around here.  We’ve been talking about how to best protect yourself and your food on the Tumblehome podcast as it specifically relates to your time out in the woods.  It should not be expected that you would need to consider bears to be a nuisance once you find yourself inside shelter, but that is not always the case.  I would like to share the words of my wife Tori who had the incredibly rare experience of waking up with one of the black buggers inside her living quarters a few years back.  I hope you enjoy and appreciate never having to wake up to anything similar.

We all know that bears will go wherever they can for food. I just never thought that place would be my living quarters. As I lay asleep in my bed last night, I was rudely awakened by a loud crashing that I slowly realized was coming from my kitchen. As I came to consiousness, I turned on my headlamp and poked my head around the curtain that separates my bed from the rest of the trailer. I was half expecting Michael and Scott digging for something in my cupboards, but then I realized it was 3:09 AM, which is too late even for those boys. As I glanced out into my trailer from my bed I saw a large black coated creature that was surely not a staff member. I quickly shut off my headlamp and tried not to breathe. I crawled back into my sleeping bag and pulled the mummy cover tightly over my head. As I lay facedown and barely breathing, I could tell the bear didn’t care about me. I knew that the bear could not be distracted from its feast of granola bars, unopened salad dressing and dried fruit, so I sat there and waited for it to leave. I was in a slight state of panic every time it moved about my kitchen, but it finished its meal and left within about half an hour. When I heard the bear step out my door, I waited for a couple minutes just to make sure it still wasn’t lurking in the depths of the trailer. When the coast was clear I pulled on the closest fleece and a pair of shorts and ran to Michael’s trailer which is just next door. I told him what had just happened. I had one ear on the door and one on Michael’s baffled responses. I could still hear the bear creeping around in the woods surrounding our trailers, so I went outside and started making some noise. After about 5 minutes of banging my fists on the trailer, clapping my hands, and yelling, Scott and his visiting friend were wondering what the heck was happening. I think the bear got bored of me putting on a show, and finally stumbled away with a bloated belly. Needless to say I spent the night elsewhere. After another night of adventure with my co-workers, I now have a new story to tell.