Re: [Philmont]: Bears

We've all heard of the stories of Bear attacks at Philmont. I had 1 scout who
was genuinely terrified of any encounters with bear and unfortunately let
that overshadow his experience at Philmont.

As a flatlander who has encountered 2 black bears at different times in my
scouting life on the AT in the NC area, our encountered with a black (cinnamon
colored) bear at Mt Philips was more comical than frightening.

We were finishing breakfast after spending the night on Mt. Philips when one
of our scouts yelled "Bear!!" As we looked up we saw the bear wandering
through the next campsite about 50-75 feet away. It sniffed the fire ring area,
looked up at the hoard of scouts, and wandered off. We were later told by several
rangers that viewed the digital video I had taken of the bear as it wandered
away, that it was most likely a young female.

That was our encounter.

As a Flatlander, I believe the black bears in NC and TN are MUCH MORE used to
humans and would have approached us.

I was, personally, more concerned with the possibility of Mountain Lions as
the other advisor and myself both believe we heard a call....I don't want to
call it a roar....that silenced the wildlife for a few minutes until the silence
was broken by two "mule deer" (Not sure what they were but they were bigger
than the "white-tails" we have around here) break the woods and run up the
trail......also our path to get back to our campsite.

Hope this doesn't muddy the water.....

Brian Martin, SM. T-319
Louisville, KY
Eagle ('72)
Advisor Exp. #609-B ('02) Trek #5
Current River, MO - 2005

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Received on Wed Jun 1 10:00:08 2005