He held the camera down in front of him and gazed around the end of the lake. It would be easy to get closer, to get a better photo. A trail curved along the bank.
Ernie started around the end of the lake. Now that he had the camera, he had confidence, and he felt an obligation to document this.
He felt so lucky!
The big bear held its position. It kept dropping down onto all fours and rising back up on its hind legs. The youngsters were up the slope behind it. As he drew within a hundred meters, Ernie became surprised that the bear hadn’t run. Surprise gave way to caution, and he halted his approach.
He didn’t know much about bears. He’d heard the rules about playing dead if attacked. He knew he was supposed to drop to the ground and cover up the back of his neck. Was he supposed to do that in every bear encounter situation? He didn’t know. He didn’t feel a need to drop down like that now.
Like a lot of folks, he’d watched bear documentaries on the Discovery Channel. Grizzlies were the dangerous ones, but there weren’t any grizzlies in Colorado were there? Weren’t grizzlies mostly in Canada, Alaska, and states like Montana and Wyoming? What about black bears?
Was this a black bear?
Ernie just didn’t know, but he realized the animal wasn’t backing away from him. It wasn’t afraid. And weren’t black bears supposed to be shy? This bear didn’t seem shy; it seemed inquisitive. Ernie glanced at his van. He was about seventy meters from it; he was about a hundred meters from the bear.
And then his eyes spotted the deer carcass on the ground about halfway between him and the bear.
“Uh, oh.”
The deer just sat on the ground. Its head twitched back and forth, but the lower half of its body didn’t move. It was eerie.
“What in the world?” Ernie said.
It looked paralyzed, immobile, and Ernie spotted open wounds on the deer’s left midsection.
“God,” he whispered.
He took a few steps back and glanced at his van. Suddenly, the big bear dropped down on all fours. Its head swayed back and forth. Ernie didn’t like that gesture and backed away.
The bear charged.
It moved fast, covering the distance between it and the deer in less than three seconds. Ernie turned and ran towards his van.
“Oh, God,” he said.
He looked back at the bear, which held up near the deer. The bear made a “whoofing” sound, and its head swayed back and forth. It ears lay back midway to its neck and its mouth opened and closed making a clacking noise with its teeth. It made a low growling and burbling sound, and Ernie noticed it had a large hump over its shoulder blades.
A breeze picked up behind Ernie and swept over the trail around the side of the lake towards the bear. Ernie’s hands shook, his knees almost buckling he was so nervous.
He raised his hands up over his head and shouted, “No! Back away! Yah! Get back!!”
The bear’s head rose up at the sound of the noise, and it charged.
“Oh, God, help me!” Ernie cried.
He turned and ran for the van. He dropped the camera on the ground and scrambled up into the back, slamming his leg over the metal bumper. He managed to get one door shut and reached out to pull the second.
The bear slammed into the back left quarter panel, and the whole van rocked to its right. It knocked Ernie to the floor. Because of his position, Ernie couldn’t see the bear. He leaned forward and reached to pull the back door shut.
The bear’s head emerged, its teeth bared, and it roared. Ernie screamed. The bear’s front paws came up and landed on the floor, its hind legs on the ground just below the open door.
Ernie scrambled toward the front of the van. He got into the driver’s seat and realized the keys were not in the ignition.
“Oh, God.”
The bear climbed in the back of the van and started swinging from left to right, growling, and then it lunged forward and plowed through the bench seat in the center. Ernie’s hand hit the handle, and he fell out of the door.
He slammed it shut, stepped ten feet away, and watched as the bear went crazy inside the van.
“Oh, my God.”
The back door exploded, slamming against the side of the van. The bear rushed out, stumbled down near the picnic table, and swung back around looking for Ernie.
It was furious.
Ernie went back for the driver’s-side door, and the bear charged. Ernie scrambled over the center console, and the bear hit the inside of the open driver’s-side door. The door ripped wide open, and Ernie glanced back to see that it had snapped two hinges. It hung like the lid of a can.
The entire middle bench was demolished. Bags and suitcases were torn wide open. He saw dents in the side and roof of the van, and he climbed toward the back. He got both back doors shut.
Ernie swung around and tried to locate the bear. The front driver’s-side door was open, hanging at an odd angle.
The bear stood up on its hind legs and growled at Ernie through the plexiglass window. Ernie screamed and fell backwards. The bear slammed its right front paw into the plexiglass, splintering the plastic from corner to corner. The bear went down on all fours again.
Ernie moaned.
The bear stood up and swung again, and this time it broke through the plexiglass. It pawed and tore at the window until its head was inside the van, three feet from Ernie, who just screamed and screamed.
With another powerful burst, the bear lunged forward furiously, it legs kicking. It swiped at Ernie and knocked him against the back double doors. He crumpled to the floor half conscious, and the bear withdrew from the demolished window. Ernie struggled to his feet.
He was bleeding from his shoulder and chest. He heard the bear somewhere outside the van. It growled and made that low burbling sound.
It struck the back right quarter panel. A huge dent bubbled in the side, and Ernie stumbled toward the front of the van. He reached the driver seat again, and with both hands, picked the demolished door up and tried to pull it closed. It didn’t fit in its frame, but Ernie pulled as hard as he could. The door wrenched shut, but Ernie couldn’t tell whether it was secure.
“Where are the keys?” he cried.
Again, he glanced at the ignition. He patted his pockets. He heard the bear outside toward the back right corner. If he just had the keys, he could start up the van and drive away.
And then he thought of the camera bag.
They’re in the bag. He realized that it was outside on the picnic table.
A sinking feeling hit his stomach. He was trapped. There was no way that he could make it to the picnic table and back alive. And that was assuming the keys were in the camera bag.
Maybe he just set them on top the table.
Ernie leaned back against the wall. A sliding door could be opened with the pull of a handle. Ernie’s hand touched the handle. He held it.
“God,” he said. “God, please.”
Then, he heard the other bears in the camp.
“God, please help.”
One of the juveniles walked past the wide open window. Ernie saw the top of its back, saw the hump in its shoulder blades, but it did not realize that he was there. It sniffed around outside and walked toward the front. Ernie followed the noise, listening.
God, he thought.
If he could get on top of the van, he’d be out of reach. The sides of the van were too steep for them to climb.
Everything died down outside. He didn’t hear the growling anymore. There was no more “whoofing” sound. He couldn’t hear the younger bears pawing around on the dirt. He inhaled, exhaled slowly, and strained to hear any sound at all. They had left.
Good God, let it be true, Ernie thought.
He glanced down at his blood-soaked shirt. His left hand came up and touched the gash. It stung. Ernie grimaced but quieted himself. He listened for any sound, didn’t hear any.
He stayed completely frozen, afraid that any noise he made would trigger another attack.
>
Oh, dear God, let it be true. Make them go away.
His legs and arms began to ache, but he refused to budge. Any movement would make a sound, and any sound would pique their interest. Just hold still, ten minutes, twenty minutes, an hour if you have to. They’ll go away.
His heart pounded in his chest. His legs shook. His mouth became dry. He didn’t feel like he could get a full breath.
How long had it been? A minute? Forty seconds?
He forced himself to try and take a deep breath. Anything to get hold of his nerves, but he couldn’t do it. He tried to breathe in, but the anxiety was too intense. The air felt like a thin trickle of nothing.
He looked around him in the van. He was terrified. He wanted to scream. He wanted to run.
Where are the bears?
His shaking right hand rose up and tried to pull back one of the curtains on the back door’s window, but he was a foot too far away from it. The air coming through the wide open window directly across from him was cold. If he leaned forward just a little, he could see.
Please, God, just let me live through this.
Ernie leaned forward. He could almost see the end of the lake through the wide open window. If he leaned just a little farther to his right, he could see the trail.
He lifted his right foot up, careful not to make a sound. He wiped his mouth with his left hand and placed his right foot down on the floor. He hunched down to see. He was almost to the window. Almost.
The sliding door exploded behind him!
The whole van rocked to the left. Ernie fell face-first toward the open window. His head hit the wall. He glanced back and saw the door dented where the bear hit it.
Ernie clambered to his feet. He leaned out the window, looked up, and realized he could climb up onto the roof. The door exploded again with the bear’s roars and pounding. All of a sudden, the sliding door rolled open.
The bear seemed as surprised by this as Ernie, and it stared up into the wide open van.
Ernie saw the other two bears milling around the camp behind it. The big bear lunged forward. Ernie screamed and scrambled out the window. He stood, for a moment, with his feet on the lower windowsill and pulled himself up onto the roof. The bear’s head emerged through the window, and it roared.
Ernie knelt on the roof, bracing himself, and the two cubs looked up at him. The largest of the two roared. Then, the large bear raced out from inside. The two juveniles scattered out of the way, and the big bear swung around. Ernie crouched down the best he could, but the bear saw him. It shook its head and roared. Ernie braced himself.
The bear stared at him and started walking around the van. It stopped at the back, sniffed the air, then continued on around to the side with the demolished window. Ernie remained knelt down atop the van, and he pivoted around following the bear. It seemed confused as to how to get him.
“Go away!” Ernie shouted. “Get out of here!”
Now the two juveniles became interested, too. They circled the van, standing up on their hind legs, leaning against the van, trying to see if they could climb. Their claws clacked and scraped on the metal. The big bear circled around front and popped up on its hind legs. It leaned over the hood. It clawed at the glass front window, testing it out to see if it could climb. It hopped down on all fours and continued circling.
Ernie shuffled around, staying as centered as he could. They couldn’t get at him.
He spied the camera bag atop the picnic table. He just couldn’t remember exactly where he put the keys. He must have put them in the bag. The big bear stood and leaned against the back of the van. It pushed, literally rocking it. Ernie balanced himself and managed to stay back enough to avoid the bear’s reach. The bear growled.
Again, Ernie noticed that the bear had humped shoulders. It dropped down on all fours and stepped back away from the van. Ernie crouched down and shimmied up toward the front. The roof dented and popped under his weight. He was afraid that he would slip and fall down onto the ground.
The big bear walked toward the water, circled the picnic table, sniffing and keeping an eye on Ernie, and then came back up along the passenger side. Ernie checked his footing and rose up straight atop the van. He stood tall and held his hands up over his head. He shouted, “Back away! Get out of here! Go on! Get out of here!”
The bear roared and stood up against the passenger-side door. It scraped at the closed window and tried to climb up the side. Its right rear paw stepped on the sideboard, and it snapped under its weight and clattered to the ground. Ernie squatted down and shuffled toward the back.
The bear was furious and ran toward the back of the van.
It struck the back right quarter panel, its claws scraping on the metal, and it roared at Ernie. He shuffled toward the front. The big bear couldn’t get him, and it grew more and more impatient. It didn’t like being teased. It kept circling the van, popping up on its hind legs, and scraping and clawing toward the roof. Ernie noticed that it had long, straight claws.
The larger juvenile sniffed at the front left tire. It let out a little roar and then pawed at the driver’s-side door.
“No!” Ernie shouted down at it. “Get out of here!”
The big bear hit the back hard enough to shake the van and nearly knocked Ernie down. The sound ricocheted out over the lake. The juvenile stood up and leaned against the door. It collapsed and fell away from the van with such a clatter that it startled the young bear away from the van. The door was now wide open again, though, and Ernie watched the young bear regain its confidence. It climbed up inside.
It exited from the open sliding door on the other side and had a grocery bag in its mouth, which it swung back and forth. The contents flew out and scattered all over the ground. The other juvenile approached, and the two tore the bag apart.
The big bear circled around to the open window and started trying to climb up. It got its front paws up over the windowsill but had difficulty climbing further. It dropped back down onto the ground and approached the open driver’s-side door. It sniffed inside and climbed up. The van shook under its weight.
Ernie stabilized himself by crouching low. He could hear the bear growling through the metal roof beneath him. It was less than a foot from him. Ernie stayed close to the center. A bag flew out the open sliding door, then another out the window to the right.
The van rocked, and Ernie saw a bag of Doritos hit the dirt. One of the cubs attacked it and chips went flying.
Ernie felt more comfortable. It seemed the bears were unable to get to him, but he had no idea how long they would wait him out. The roof was his best option.
The bears seemed to lose interest in him. The big bear found the cooler, a red forty-gallon Igloo, which fell out of the right side of the van, spilling its contents all over the ground. Steaks and packages of hamburger meat hit the dirt, and the juveniles attacked it.
The big bear stepped down from the van. The cubs scattered, and the bear attacked the cooler, spreading its content on the ground. It licked at a package of sirloins and started chewing.
Ernie was going to be alright.
His legs trembled, and he couldn’t stand still. He couldn’t kneel. His hands shook, and he felt weak.
“God,” he said. “God.”
He knelt down and stared at the bear. It was huge. He’d first thought that maybe it weighed five hundred pounds, but now that he had a chance to really see it out in the open, he was sure it weighed closer to eight hundred pounds.
“Go away!” he shouted.
The bear looked up at him and lost interest in the groceries strewn over the ground. It stood up on its hind legs and roared.
It was eight feet tall, and as it roared, its head tilted from right to left. The other two bears backed away, and Ernie knelt on the roof of the van, trembling.
“I’m going to be alright,” he whispered. “I’m going to be okay.”
The bear dropped down on all four paws, swayed right to left, and charged at the side of the van. E
rnie was not prepared for the impact. He didn’t brace well enough, and the van rocked over on its left two wheels. The right two wheels came up off of the ground. The bear roared. Ernie lost his balance and fell over the side.
He managed to grab hold of the luggage rack on the top of the van and kept from falling to the ground. He hung from the side, his hands gripping the aluminum luggage rack bar. He cursed, and his legs beat against the side of the van.
He tried to pull himself back up on top of the van, and the bear continued to roar. Ernie tried to pull himself back up onto the roof.
He had just gotten his right leg up over the top of the van, when the bear made a second impact on the right side. Ernie hung from the left side, and the van rocked over on its left two wheels again. It held in the air for two seconds, as though the bear was pushing it over.
Ernie couldn’t see the bear because he was on the left side of the van, scrambling up onto the roof, and the bear was on the right. He could hear it though because the bear’s roaring was tremendous.
The van slammed back down on all four wheels, and it was all Ernie could do to hold onto the luggage rack. His left hand slipped, but his right hand held on. His chin slammed against the metal on the side of the van, and he felt warm blood filling his mouth. The bear continued to roar and tried pushing the van over again.
Ernie saw one of the younger bears out of the left corner of his eye. His head swung around, his face filled with terror. The juvenile stood twenty feet in front of the van, but it was on the left and it stared at him hanging on the side.
Ernie’s left hand swung back up to the luggage rack. His feet kicked at the side of the van. He couldn’t climb up. He didn’t have the strength in his arms. He was going to fall down onto the ground on the left side of the van.
The young bear charged.
Ernie screamed, and his right foot finally caught the windowsill of the smashed-out window. The young bear roared and lunged at him, and Ernie felt white hot pain sink into his left ankle. He screamed and felt two hundred pounds yanking at his left leg. He felt the bones in his ankle snap in the young bear’s mouth, and the bear swung back and forth.
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