07/13/2021
I am fortunate to say that we survived our first close encounter with a bear!
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Usually from our previous encounters with bears, they usually mind their own business and run away.
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Not this time!
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In this particular situation, the bear was heading down the path we were going through and as we were going up, I saw this massive but beautiful bear slowly walking towards us. I would say 30 feet in-front of us at least! And as soon as we saw the bear, we all stopped including the bear and just looked at one another in disbelief!!!
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I quickly pulled out my bear spray and sprayed right at its face, it then slowly took off up the mountain for a couple seconds….but as we could hear it rustling in the trees, I realized that the bear really had no where else to go because it was right up against a rock mountain. So of course, the bear jumps back onto our path and starts charging us!!!
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As soon as we both see the bear start charging us, adrenaline kicks in for both of us and we start running with our backcountry gear still strapped on, and trying to spray behind us at the same time.
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Unfortunately for me, Chelsey unintentionally bear sprayed me while in action (the spread and wind made it go towards me)!!! That was the most intense and painful experience as my entire face and arms were burning, I was losing my vision quickly and my breathing was a little compromised. All I can say is, I am lucky that we both made it out safe and the only thing I lost were my sunglasses!
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What I would recommend next time would to purchase bear bangers, which is a pen that creates a gunshot sound and I think that would of scared it a lot more than our shouting and bear spray. Although I am still going to keep bear spray with me!
