RikWriter
13th of June 2007 (Wed), 11:13
We got back from our trip to Yosemite last Friday, but it's taken till now to post-process all the pics I took.
Yosemite is a very beautiful place, for those of you who haven't been...a valley surrounded by stunning cliffs and waterfalls. It also has some very challenging hiking trails: we went on several, although the most challenging---Half Dome---will have to wait for another time.
After going to Yellowstone last Spring, I was struck by the difference in animal life: Yosemite of course has nowhere near as much wildlife as Yellowstone. What it does have aplenty is black bears. They have a huge problem with black bears stealing food from tourists. If you leave food in your car, the bears will bust right through the window and sometimes even rip the door off your car. We were staying on the Merced River in the Housekeeping Camp: the "cabins" there are basically a concrete slab, three cement block walls, a canvas roof and a canvas curtain door that ties in the center. Outside is a steel bear locker, and you're supposed to put all your food, toiletries and even medicine in the locker.
Well, the cabins there are right on the river and there's a footbridge across the river with a great view of Yosemite Falls from the center of the bridge. It was a full moon one of the first nights we were there, so around 2:30AM I woke up and went out to the bridge to take some photos of the moonlight on the falls. While I was taking long-exposure shots, I flashed my Surefire into the woods across the bridge and I saw a momma bear and her two cubs. I kept an eye on them and, when the momma started coming towards the bridge, I yelled loudly at her as I had been instructed by the park rangers: "Yaggh bear! Git bear!" The cubs took off and the momma slowly ambled down the river away from the bridge.
I kept an eye that way but she didn't return and I eventually finished, folded up my tripod legs and put it over my shoulder and headed back to our cabin. As I rounded the side of the cabin directly behind ours, still looking over my shoulder to make sure the momma bear didn't follow me across the bridge, I abruptly found myself not six feet away from a very large, full grown male black bear---at least 400lbs of him---who had broken into the improperly closed bear locker of our neighbor to the rear and was going through the contents of his cooler.
I came to a sudden stop, something reminiscent of a cartoon character throwing up dust as his feet dig in, and did the only thing I could think of: I waved my extended tripod in the air above my head and yelled again, this time at the top of my lungs: "Yaaagghhh bear! Git bear! Get the hell out of here!" An annoyed expression on his face, he sauntered off around the cabin and I began breathing again.
I woke up the guy who was in the cabin and he began putting his food away when the damned bear poked its nose out from the porch of the cabin next door: apparently, he was sitting there, hoping I would go away. We yelled at him again and he finally took off across the bridge.
I actually don't recall ever being scared or panicked, but afterward, thinking back, I realized that I had felt detatched from the whole event, as if I were watching it in the third person. I also realized, much to my chagrine, that I had absolutely NO alternate plan if yelling at the bear hadn't scared it away, other than just backing away and trying to get out of there. I had vague ideas of trying to keep him at bay with my tripod legs, but I doubt they would have impressed him much...
Yosemite is a very beautiful place, for those of you who haven't been...a valley surrounded by stunning cliffs and waterfalls. It also has some very challenging hiking trails: we went on several, although the most challenging---Half Dome---will have to wait for another time.
After going to Yellowstone last Spring, I was struck by the difference in animal life: Yosemite of course has nowhere near as much wildlife as Yellowstone. What it does have aplenty is black bears. They have a huge problem with black bears stealing food from tourists. If you leave food in your car, the bears will bust right through the window and sometimes even rip the door off your car. We were staying on the Merced River in the Housekeeping Camp: the "cabins" there are basically a concrete slab, three cement block walls, a canvas roof and a canvas curtain door that ties in the center. Outside is a steel bear locker, and you're supposed to put all your food, toiletries and even medicine in the locker.
Well, the cabins there are right on the river and there's a footbridge across the river with a great view of Yosemite Falls from the center of the bridge. It was a full moon one of the first nights we were there, so around 2:30AM I woke up and went out to the bridge to take some photos of the moonlight on the falls. While I was taking long-exposure shots, I flashed my Surefire into the woods across the bridge and I saw a momma bear and her two cubs. I kept an eye on them and, when the momma started coming towards the bridge, I yelled loudly at her as I had been instructed by the park rangers: "Yaggh bear! Git bear!" The cubs took off and the momma slowly ambled down the river away from the bridge.
I kept an eye that way but she didn't return and I eventually finished, folded up my tripod legs and put it over my shoulder and headed back to our cabin. As I rounded the side of the cabin directly behind ours, still looking over my shoulder to make sure the momma bear didn't follow me across the bridge, I abruptly found myself not six feet away from a very large, full grown male black bear---at least 400lbs of him---who had broken into the improperly closed bear locker of our neighbor to the rear and was going through the contents of his cooler.
I came to a sudden stop, something reminiscent of a cartoon character throwing up dust as his feet dig in, and did the only thing I could think of: I waved my extended tripod in the air above my head and yelled again, this time at the top of my lungs: "Yaaagghhh bear! Git bear! Get the hell out of here!" An annoyed expression on his face, he sauntered off around the cabin and I began breathing again.
I woke up the guy who was in the cabin and he began putting his food away when the damned bear poked its nose out from the porch of the cabin next door: apparently, he was sitting there, hoping I would go away. We yelled at him again and he finally took off across the bridge.
I actually don't recall ever being scared or panicked, but afterward, thinking back, I realized that I had felt detatched from the whole event, as if I were watching it in the third person. I also realized, much to my chagrine, that I had absolutely NO alternate plan if yelling at the bear hadn't scared it away, other than just backing away and trying to get out of there. I had vague ideas of trying to keep him at bay with my tripod legs, but I doubt they would have impressed him much...