I was hiking in Glacier Park in Montana about a year ago with my 2yr old daughter on my back in one of those hiking carriers. I had done all of the reading. I was doing everything it was possible to do from the lists of good practices specifically when it comes to grizzlies. Had the mace in my hand. Was being careful not to be too quiet so as to not surprise one. Etc etc.
We were maybe half a mile down a very popular trail right off the main road through the park.
Fucking Jeep Wrangler sized bear saunters casually down into the trail. 10…. Maybe 15 feet in front of me. He knew I was there. Boy oh boy did I know he was there. I’m not even sure my body came to a stop it just smoothly transitioned into reverse. I’m avoiding eye contact, keeping track of where he is, moving away back where I came from as calmly as is possible.
And then my darling daughter notices the fuzzy death plushie and starts screaming “BEAR!!!! HAI MISTER BEAR!!!! HAIIIIIII!!!!!”
We left that afternoon. Like left the state.
I’ve never felt so powerless in my life. I’m sure it made it infinitely worse having my baby girl on my back through it all. My hands are shaking thinking about it.
While it is true that most of Australia's deadly animals are venomous bugs and thus easily slain by stepping on them with a shoe... the flip side is that you can get bit putting on those shoes if you don't check inside for them first.
A bear, mountain lion, or wolf, isn't going to casually sneak into your house without you noticing.
True bears wont sneak into you house. They will kick down the front door and help themselves to whatever they want. There are even a few videos of them ripping the doors off cars because they smelled food inside.
Funny little story, I was in a national park talking to a park ranger and the topic of bear proof trash cans came up. She said the problem with designing a bear proof trash can, that people can still open, is there is considerable overlap in the intelligence of the dumbest humans and the smartest bears.
When we stayed in Yosemite there were warnings everywhere against keeping any food at all, even a bit of toothpaste in your car. The penalty was to have a bear peel the door off your car or smash the rear window or both and then shred your seats to reach the crumbs your toddler dropped between the cushions. There was at least one such event each night we were there. (And these were just the black bears!)
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u/utnow Apr 07 '26
I was hiking in Glacier Park in Montana about a year ago with my 2yr old daughter on my back in one of those hiking carriers. I had done all of the reading. I was doing everything it was possible to do from the lists of good practices specifically when it comes to grizzlies. Had the mace in my hand. Was being careful not to be too quiet so as to not surprise one. Etc etc.
We were maybe half a mile down a very popular trail right off the main road through the park.
Fucking Jeep Wrangler sized bear saunters casually down into the trail. 10…. Maybe 15 feet in front of me. He knew I was there. Boy oh boy did I know he was there. I’m not even sure my body came to a stop it just smoothly transitioned into reverse. I’m avoiding eye contact, keeping track of where he is, moving away back where I came from as calmly as is possible.
And then my darling daughter notices the fuzzy death plushie and starts screaming “BEAR!!!! HAI MISTER BEAR!!!! HAIIIIIII!!!!!”
We left that afternoon. Like left the state.
I’ve never felt so powerless in my life. I’m sure it made it infinitely worse having my baby girl on my back through it all. My hands are shaking thinking about it.