Backpacking, a Bear, & Gear

Our first backpacking trip this summer was on The Bear Creek trail, just south of Priest Gulch Campground. We hiked a mile and a half in where the trail connects with the creek and stayed for two nights. Previously, we went on a day-hike there and spotted a nice camp area, did a bit of fishing, and decided then to return for a backpack trip. The trail starts out crossing a foot bridge over the Dolores River then, heads several hundred feet (in elevation) in a series of switchbacks on the side of the mountain. Once you catch your breath, the trail levels and follows alongside a ridge on the western side. The sound and view of the creek below, are rewards for making it this far. 

About 3/4 of a mile into our trek, we came around a hillside bend when Noreen exclaimed "Is that a dog!" The animal was about 40 feet in front of us and slightly to our left. In a split second all 200 North American dog breeds flashed through my mind. Wolf? No wolfs here. IT"S A BEAR! This animal was wild looking and close! The bear was poking around behind a fallen tree, looked up, and the three of us stared at each other for about 10 seconds before the bear turned around and casually walked up the hill and through the brush. The picture from the web below, is the closest representation of what we thought the bear looked like. His face was dark, his body was mostly brown, and we think it stood about 2 1/2 to 3 feet tall at its back. Whew, exciting for sure! Noreen had her bear spray at-the-ready and I had a 9mm pistol, but I seriously doubt I could have drawn, racked the slide and fired before the bear reached us. In any case, it would not be our intent to harm the animal however, we are prepared to deter any approaching bear.  

The encounter is all we talked (and laughed) about for the remainder of the hike and trip.

Over the next two days we went for a hike further up the trail, did a little fly fishing (no luck), and basically lounged around - notice the lounging around going on in the picture below.

A fun fact about Noreen, she likes hummingbirds and brings a feeder on almost every adventure we pursue. 

We thought it would be interesting to share what gear we take with us when backpacking. Maybe some of you are curious about our gear. Or perhaps, some are interested in backpacking. 

                                                                               

                             Let's start on the left. The black and orange chair weighs about 2 pounds and folds down to approximately 4x4x12 inches in its stuff bag (generally considered a luxury when backpacking and really beats sitting on a rock or a stump); The blue bag resting on the chair is a collapsible water bucket and super handy for grabbing water from the creek to extinguishing campfires and filtering drinking water; Directly next to the chair is a tall black canister screwed onto a fuel container, that is our Jetboil. It is a small stove that boils water in under 2 minutes. The Jetboil also converts to a regular stove making it easy to fry up a favorite meal - included is the Jetboil's coffee press device as well; Elsewhere on the table is an Aeropress coffee maker; Pictured are various freeze dried meals including powdered peanut butter, milk, and butter...yes, butter! Of course, one cannot enjoy peanut butter without its mate so, we also have freeze dried strawberries and instant pectin... just add water and Voila! Additional gear items: small metal coffee pot, 2" salt/pepper shaker, a mini (single-port) Hummingbird feeder, pillow (orange sack), 3-in-1 instant coffee packets (creamer/sweetener incld.), Bear spray and the large, clear-blue container on the right is our Bear vault that also dubs as a sit-stool; Hygiene wipes are resting on our small shovel; Origami dish set: plate, bowl, cup, spoon; Playing cards, flashlight, fire starters and matches, whistle, backpack lantern and clothesline with clothespins; we utilize two types of water filtration systems - Sawyer and LifeStraw.
 

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