Bear encounter that almost made me pee my pants

Last Sunday I got back from the greatest trip I have had. I went backpacking with a group of my closest friends in the High Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, and the trip really couldn't have been long enough. My friend Jake and his brother and I drove out from Utah a day early to have a day to play before hitting the trail, and I ended up taking out a horseback ride for my dad at the resort, which was GREAT because I got my horse fix, and $30 tip that would pay for my food out there. We went swimming in Sotcher Lake that evening and got ready for our trip.

That night we had a bear encounter that I probably won't forget. Don't get me wrong, I have come across so many bears (black bears) in my life that I can't count; all with different stories. But this was the first time I actually couldn't sleep well the rest of the night!

There were 9 of us sleeping on the ground under the stars between the corrals and the resort, and I was on the end near an opening in the trees. Around 11:15pm, one of our dogs starts barking and Jake points his flashlight where the dog was pointing. Right where he landed the light was the biggest black bear I have ever seen in my life. He was huge, cinnamon colored, and about 15 feet from me. Because my dog was sleeping in the car, I kept my food with me so she wouldn't get into it over night (and black bears in the Sierras don't usually grab food when a human is sleeping with it), so my pack with trail mix and jerky was at my head. I was also sleeping with a full watermelon.... more on that later...

The bear just eyed us as he walked by and we all started hollering at it "hey bear! beat it bear!" but he just walked slow like he didn't care the slightest. Then he just disappeared behind one of the trees by us... (I later find out the next morning that is where he decided to take a dump.) We pointed our flashlights everywhere and couldn't get sight of him for what seemed like forever, but it was probably only a minute. Then one of the boys caught sight of him down by the store, where we really got to see his size (comparing to the door and stumps down there). His back went almost half-way up the door frame, which is pretty large for a black bear. We watched him as he meandered his way right into the women's restroom (thank God no ladies were in there!). He was only in there a minute (maybe HE was a SHE), and then disappeared into the night. There was no way in hell after seeing him slyly walk into the women's restroom that I was going to go in there that night, even though that experience made me have to pee like a racehorse.

Liz asked me as we were trying to go back to sleep "Holly, what are you doing sleeping on a watermelon?!" Then her son says "how does one sleep on a watermelon?" and the other son hesitates then says ".....verrry carefully....". It was pretty funny and loosened the mood a bit. I don't know why I was sleeping with a watermelon. That dang watermelon was all over the place till we finally cut it up during our trip.

This blog entry is long enough, more on the trip to come!