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Was in Sequoia a few years ago with the wife and kids. The bears around the major areas there are fairly used to the tourists, or so we were told. So the last morning of our visit, before we moved on, my wife and I got up early and left the kids sleeping. We went to a local field that we had kiked the day before and saw a momma and her cub from about 30'. We rounded a corner of the trail and heard rustling. I stepped up on a nearby tree stump and saw them in the tall grass so damn close. I snapped a picture and momma got up on her hind legs. She checked us out, then got back down and moved along deeper into the grassland. We stayed very still as she checked us out. Awesome experience, however I think once that close is definitely enough.
In my case just faster than the wife.
I have another bear story. One much scarier than my video screen grabs. My friends and I were hiking in the Adirondacks and we set up camp in one of the lean tos. One of my crazy friends hauled up the mountain a case of beer strapped to his already 40 lb pack (He's nuts)... My friend just cracked his beer, and had a few sips and set in on the edge of the lean to floor so he could unpack, meanwhile we were all sort of preoccupied gathering wood, unpacking, getting ready to cook dinner etc. I cannot remember what I was doing, taking stuff out of my pack or whatever, when I turn around an all of the sudden I stop cold in my tracks - there was a bear at our lean to licking my friend's beer that he just set down. I was the first to see the bear, he was literally like 5 feet away from me. Nobody else saw him yet. I was stunned. I just stood motionless and said "Guys...uh..." and they all looked up and just about sh*t their pants.But what I remember vividly, is that they all seemed to react instantly by running behind the lean to, one friend instinctively grabbed our collection of trekker poles leaning against the side of the lean to to make a cackle of noise to scare off the bear, all the while I just stood there stunned, motionless for a few seconds before I ran behind to join them.We spent the first night on the roof of the lean to in fear of the bear. But within the next few days we got more courage and slept inside the lean to. It turns out the bear was harmless. He did however visit us every night, but more interested in what we had for food and garbage than eating any of us. We had our garbage tied in a tree, and food inside bear canisters we rented from EMS in Syracuse, but were woken each night with the sound of the bear climbing the tree attempting to get our garbage. One of the nights he was successful and left a friggin' mess for us all to clean up the next morning, but another night my crazy friend (who hauled the case of beer all they way up the mountain) got fed up with the bear coming into out camp every night and finally started (very stupidly) throwing rocks at the bear in the tree and screaming "I'm gonna eat you bear!" Which in itself was hilarious because at the time he was a staunch vegetarian. Anyway, surprisingly, that tactic worked and the bear almost fell out of the tree, made a loud thump to the ground, was scared away causing such loud ruckus it could have been heard miles away it seemed. I thought for sure he was going to piss it off and it would come after us, but the bear went running into the woods and didn't bother us anymore that night.Anyway that's my bear story, a tale of survival with my best friends in the world, and I'll never forget it.
Nice work, bside. Keep practicing so you can share with us.
I've been spending some time getting used to and learning to use my new Sony A99 Full Frame camera and doing some shooting with a vintage, Minolta 50mm, 1.4, prime lens. ...
