This should be an article that is a little fun and also a little interesting – even for a non-backpacker. At least I hope it is. For the beginner backpacker it should be required reading. For the experienced backpacker it might be a fun read, especially if you haven’t been in bear country. For the non-backpacker you will learn about bears and get a surprise too…

First, let’s take care of the obvious, non-animal/non-bear related safety issues:

Backpacking is dangerous. You should be fit enough to go backpacking on whatever trip you or someone else has planned. Do not invite anyone who isn’t really ready for the planned trip, nor should you go if you have concern. Consider age, pack weight, length of trip, elevation gain, experience level, and altitude. You also don’t want anyone having a heart attack or stroke, so please consider how strenuous the final plan is.

Altitude is dangerous. According to medical research, above 8000 feet is where HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema) can set in and it’s deadly. Anyone going to high altitude should be educated and aware of the symptoms and have a plan in the event anyone in their group starts to show symptoms. Please heed this warning. Here is some expert reading on altitude sickness:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/a_to_z/altitude-sickness-a-to-z

https://www.altitude.org/altitude-sickness

I do worry about altitude. I always recommend acclimating prior to hitting the trails if possible. I am heading out into the wild soon, I’m super excited, and I am acclimating. While I write this, I am going one step further – I am day-hiking around the mountains just to make sure all is well with me physically. Today I will do so with some weight. I’ve recently had the corona virus and I’m not really sure what it has done to my lungs. I’m testing myself and in the event I think there is risk, I will just plan a lower altitude trip. (Update: no issues with hiking 7.25 miles to 9300 feet with weight post corona virus – thank god!).

From a first aid perspective, you could get hurt while in the wood. Being careful in general is important. I once walked across a talus field in my campshoes (mistake number 1) to get to a specific fishing spot. Tallus is not stable, where I was walking moved under my feet, and down I went. I slashed open my knee. It got pretty banged up and it bled a lot, but not a big issue. My point is cutting oneself, spraining a joint, or breaking a bone is not out of the scope of reality. My buddy, we will call him “Stoneman”, once just fell over after getting light headed at altitude. He was crouched over cleaning a fish for a few minutes, rose quickly, and tipped over (mini-blackout). He could have gotten hurt if he hit his head – no wait I correct myself – it’s “Stoneman” and his head is made of “stone”!. Never mind. But get my point – in 15 years of backpacking we’ve had a number of near misses…

For your first aid kit, whatever level you decide is your necessary carry supplies, make sure you replenish what you use so you maintain an appropriate level.

For medical emergencies, you need to be able to communicate to emergency rescue personnel.  For this you will need satellite communications. There are choices, but you will need both a device and a service plan. We have been using SPOT for many years. It has two way communication (texting) and is trackable (latest version on left).

Cell phones are spotty in the woods, and I do not consider them a reliable communication service for emergency situations.

Another safety rule is you must always have a water supply, either in your bladder or the stream/lake nearby. If you get low, or run out, find it. I bring this up because I’ve been to streams that were dry and lakes that were dry or a puddle. A puddle for me will work. A dry bed will not. If it happens, it’s time for a alternate plan. Find water. Dehydration = Bad.

Moving on to the more interesting topics: Animals. Some are going to come and visit. They like us. Cute little squirrels, marmots, chipmunks – they like your food if you let them. Deer are often grazing around your campsite seemingly fearless of man in the deep woods. Keep in mind, deer eat at night. They might be eating the bush right next to your tent in the middle of the night, while they snort, and trip on your guylines. You might be close to a heart attack or worse, shit oneself when this happens, as you think it’s a bear…and a bear at your tent in the middle of the night is rather problematic…So Poor “Stoneman” was almost killed by this little doe you see at your right at 3am…

Following are insights on the most likely dangerous animals you are potentially going to come in contact with while in the wood. Our number one safety measure is to be in a group, at least two people, at all times. You have safety in numbers. Alone, your safety is greatly reduced. I am not allowed to backpack alone as it is forbidden by “Love”. I don’t like this rule but you have to listen to your wife.

Mountain lions most likely are not going to be a problem. You will likely never see one, and if you do it will be running away. In the event you get between a mother and her cub, you might have a problem. Best to back off, head down, eyes up. If this cat decides to attack, you have to scare it off – get big and loud and get aggressive. It will likely go away. Having said this, a mountain lion will hunt small children. Be very careful with small children in the wilderness. And keep in mind a mountain lion, if given the opportunity, will grab a child and run very fast if it feels it has the opportunity even with you nearby. I do backpack with my daughter and have been for a very long time. I was super cautious when she was small and this is really the only time I bring a firearm with me anymore.

Badgers can be nasty. They don’t realize you are bigger and more dangerous. They will attack you if you provoke them even accidentally. They are nocturnal so be careful with that which you are curious about in the evenings. Also keep in mind they are in dirt holes and climb trees. Just move on.

Moose are in fact very dangerous. They live where we go – forested areas with bodies of water. They will charge you and stomp you do death. Stay your distance.  Never get between a cow and her calf. If you happen upon one at close proximity (this will happen), back off slowly, head down, eyes up, and pay attention. If it stops eating, stares at you, starts to snort and/or gets animated, it’s thinking about charging you. Now luckily they are actually very stupid. If you hide behind a tree or a boulder it just thinks you are no longer there. You have magically disappeared and of no concern to them any further. While I did my noted day-hike with weight above, with this article in development, we came in contact with a moose right on our trail! We quietly huddled behind a tree (while taking a few pics – on right). We waited for him to continue past our trail. Then we gave him a wide berth and did an arc through the forest and got back on our trail. He never stopped grazing and paid us no attention. How’s that for a coincidence!

Wolves deserve to be feared. I’ve never seen one nor a pack while backpacking. Interestingly, I do see them in or on the outskirts of towns though, often early morning or night. They are a big dog and deadly. However I don’t believe they want to hunt human’s. If they were very hungry, I’m sure they would. What we know about dogs is what we will use; Your best defense from a wolf or wolves is safety in numbers. If you are in a group I don’t think you have much to fear. If you are alone – you have a problem. You do not run away from a wolf, it is going to run you down. You need to get big, loud, and aggressive. Fire will help. And a firearm even better. Don’t watch the movie “The Grey”!

Now on to what many have been waiting for: Bears. I hike and backpack in areas with a high concentration of Grizzlies and Black Bears. I see them both frequently, and to date I have not had a bad encounter.  Once I took a shortcut off trail over a ridge line and into a meadow. One step off the bouldered ridge line and into the meadow I was 20 feet away from a very large male Grizzly. We definitely startled each other, and startling a Grizz is a mistake. My next move was to get passive and backoff while grabbing my bear spray off my belt. The Grizz’s approach was to stand up on his hind legs and sniff the air. He decided, as is often the case, he wanted nothing to do with me and immediately started to run across the meadow into a cropping of trees.  My backpacking partner was a mere 20 feet behind me and the whole encounter occurred before he caught up. Our backpacking group is bear aware and cautious. And bear discussions at the campfire are frequent and entertaining, even after years of these discussions on the latest Bear events and news. Watching The Revenant was a major eye opener!  I recommend you watch the bear scenes to understand…

We are going to treat Grizzlies and Black Bears identically in this article although Grizzlies are bigger and in my opinion much more dangerous. The main identifying feature I use to determine if what I’m seeing is a Grizzly or a Black is the prominent hump on the back of the neck of the Grizzly. Now backpackers know when they are in bear country. No issues there but let’s go over if you are not only in bear country, but in bear proximity.

Identifying features of Bear’s in your proximity:

Bear prints in the ground look like this. This is a front foot and is wide and squarish. A back print will look like this but the heel is narrow, pseudo triangular.

Bears make markings on tree trunks to mark their territory. If you see them, you know they are close. If you see one with sap dripping out of it, which I have, it is very fresh. It makes me believe that they are making the marks for your benefit…

Here are pics of bear scat. Note that bears eating vegetation and berries have form and bear’s eating meat are piles of plop with more liquid.

At this point, we’ve gotten two things established – you are backpacking in bear country and they are near. How are we going to stay safe? For one, the recurring theme in this whole article, is we have safety in numbers. Stay with your backpacking buddies, and stay in relative close proximity. In bear country, dense forests, with boulders in abundance, the fact is you might be very close to one, or worse between a mother and her cubs instantaneously.  The fact is you will likely not be in an open field with vast visibility, just the opposite. When you are with others, they back off, and move on. Alone, they might not.

A situational problem, not unlike getting between a mother and her cubs, is when a bear thinks you are a threat to its food supply. In the event you come across a carcass, for instance a dear or an elk, in your path it’s time to prepare. Bears are known to lay on top of their kill and just protect it from others and eat it. But they also will hide closely near watching it, protecting it from other predators. In this instance stay away from the carcass, do not go to it thinking you’d like the antlers or the skull, or to get a nice pic. Move away and move on.

Bear spray is necessary. Bear spray is your second best defense against bears if you get to the point of having an encounter. My approach to an encounter is to back off slowly, head down, eyes up, hand on my bear spray slowly getting it to the ready. There are telltale signs a bear is planning to charge; if it stares at you, lowers its head, and ears flatten down you are likely the recipient of a charge.  If you are in fear of charge, you need the bear spray can in your hands quickly. The technique with bear spray is using two second bursts aimed low for bears 30 feet or less away. They will not hang…their noses are eight times more sensitive than a bloodhound. It has a knock down impact on them. It is a much better safety measure than a firearm as bear spray is more like a grenade with its spread. With a handgun, you have time to get one shot off and if it’s not on target, you’re mauled. And to be fair here, we do not want to kill a bear. We are in its home and we need to be respectful of that. Bear spray will stop the attack without seriously injuring the animal. On the left are the two we use.

Furthermore, we do not want to attract them. Anything that has an interesting smell is food to them. This includes more than your “food”; toothpaste, lip balm, soap, in fact anything that smells nice is food. All of it has to be protected. There are two strategies for your items that smell good to bears: bear bag safely located high up between trees and bear vaults. I’d love to use a bear bag safely tied between trees with enough clearance that a bear can’t reach it from the ground nor the tree. This is a favorable light-weight solution. But unfortunately where I usually go there is no such guarantee that there are tall enough tree’s, nor trees co-located to guarantee a safe location. So we use bear vaults. These are heavy, and cumbersome in your pack, but work in any environment. The idea is put everything in the vault that a bear would be attracted to and move it far away from your campsite or cook-site. Bears, if they find it, can’t get into them. Personally, I’ve never had a bear vault moved or damaged in any way from where we hid it. Typically, we place them less than 5 minutes from where we sleep. Bear vaults are highly recommended and in the country I backpack, necessary. Here is the one we use.

We’ve established, and I will repeat, our best defense is safety in numbers, in close proximity. We want bears to know we are around and NOT startle them. Bear mothers will move their young away from us if she knows we are in their vicinity, therefore stopping us from getting between her and her playful cubs. If they know we are around they move on. We also know we have our smell to help them know nasty humans are around. But we want to go one step further – and make noise. Talking helps. Some people have bells on their pack, or whistles. I say – in classic OCEANBRZ fashion – let’s make noise singing! Me and my backpacking bro’s sing – and at times pretty loud – singularly or in chorus – key songs, appropriate songs. My favorites are The Doors – Touch Me and Love Me Two Times. But, for my readers, I have developed a playlist of appropriate songs. And I am also attaching the lyrics for your study and memorization of that which I think you might want to know. Appropriate songs for what you are doing. A playlist for you and the lyrics for your personal study! Now between your smell and your singing, in your safe group setting – you aint seeing any bears! And in the wood, you can let it out loud! Hey, I’m old and this is my music – feel free to make it your own. I’d love to know what songs you’d prefer. Please comment!