Bear Attack !!!

This IS a true story!

On Monday, April 14, 2008, I hiked approx 13.5 miles to the Walnut Mountain Shelter which is located on the North Carolina / Tennessee border north of the Great Smokey Mountain National Park and about 14 miles south (via the A.T.) of Hot Springs, North Carolina. It was lightly snowing all day, windy, and cold. I was hiking with three buddies of a few years older in age than myself Miss Willow, Gentleman Jack, and Southpaw. We got to the shelter at about 6 pm. It was getting even colder, even windier, and even snowier. There was an ominous note pinned to the shelter wall. It warned us of an aggressive bear and told us to hang our food bags high and well. We looked around and found the highest, strongest, tree branch we could and hung our bags after dinner. Then we quickly got into our sleeping bags and tried to warm ourselves against the bitter cold night.

It was not long before the attack began. At about 8:40 pm we heard the first rustling sounds outside the shelter. Shining our headlamps revealed a small bear. Bear! Bear! Get Out, Bear! We yelled and flashed our lamps and it ran off. Whew, we were safe - we thought. Back in our bags with one eye and one ear open. Then about 10:00 pm we heard more rustling outside, more scratching and clawing. Quickly followed by a loud cracking noise and a great crash. We flashed our lamps and saw that the entire tree branch had broken off and all four food bags were on the ground! Somehow the bear had climbed the tree and its weight had broken the branch.

We all four got out of our bags, went outside in our crocs, freezing in our nightclothes, and huddled trying to decide what to do. Throw all our food over the ravine and save only the bags themselves? Throw some food down the ravine and try to save the rest? Hike out now in a night blizzard (more than 10 miles to the next shelter)? Ultimately we decided that if we gave up our food bags the bears might next come after our packs in the shelter, and then after us. So we decided our best defense was to rehang the bags and try to defend them.

So we found another tree, albeit, much smaller, and lower to the ground, and rehung the bags. By 11 pm we were back in our bags. This tree was directly in front of the shelter, perhaps 15 feet from where we were sleeping and gave us a birds eye view if the bear came back. Well, at about 12:40 am the bear was back! Again we hooted, hollered and threw rocks and again it ran off. But then, at about 2:30 am an ENORMOUS bear lumbered up to the tree, rose up on its back legs and started to climb the tree. This bear was at least 5 feet tall and must have weighed at least 200 pounds. After the fact we figured the little bear must have been the cub and the big bear the mama. An it must have been mama bear that broke the limb of the first tree. Well, we screamed and hollered and threw rocks and the bear just looked at us! Finally, Gentleman Jack hit the bear with a rock and it left. The final bear attack came at about 3:10 am. We were not sure which bear it was at this time. Needless to say, little or no sleep was had that night and we were all grateful when daylight came at about 6:30 am or so.

When daylight did come and we felt safe enough to venture out of the shelter we found that the bears had in fact ripped the bottom out of one of the four food bags (Willow's). So the final score: Humans 3, Bears 1. While no one got pictures of the bears attacking that night, we all took photos the next morning of the claw marks in the tree, of the broken tree limb, and of the massive paw prints in the snow around the shelter. These pix will be sent with my next batch of photos home.

This is a night I will never forget.

the G'Town Colonel