Bad Bear At Camp Four

by Jen and Mike Casey
(Boise, Idaho)

We were at Camp Four August 2007 having a great time with 3 people we just met. They were visiting Yosemite for the first time ever from Napa Valley. They were wine makers...so yes we were enjoying some GREAT wine and the company of our new friends. The night was cool and it was getting late...really late. In fact a few campers in tents surrounding us were getting a little upset because we were becoming a little too loud. We were wrapping things up when one of us noticed a pair of eyes staring at us over our bear box. Yep, you guessed it...there was a bear less then 10 feet from the picnic table we were sitting at.

I had heard that bears came into camp at night but, never thought I would see one. We started making noise, banging our glasses on the table, clapping..anything you can think of we tried it. Still the bear just stood there looking at us. I think someone even got up on the picnic table...nothing was working. The bear just stood and stared at us.

My husband heard that the park rangers yell "bad bear" before they shoot bean bags at bears so...in his drunken stooper he started yelling...and I mean yelling..."BAD BEAR!...BAD BEAR!" He even leaned over the bear box and got right in the bear's face all the while yelling "BAD BEAR!" (Yes I know he is very lucky that bear didn't get mad and just bite is head off, but part of me thinks the bear just had a good since of humor....)

Finally, the bear must have gotten bored and just started walking away. My husband picked up a rock about the size of a large grapefruit and jokingly tossed it in the direction of the bear with a little snide remark like "yeah, that's what I thought". Now, after all the wine he had that night and the fact that it was pretty much pitch black (except for the moon) I honestly thought he would be lucky if he didn't drop it on his foot...well, would you believe it actually hit the bear in the tush? Yep..I know another "no no" in the "what to do when you see a bear" speech but it happened and my husband lived to tell about it.

We laughed all night about that and still love to tell our friends about the night we saw the "bad bear".