Danger: Bears!

When I described my planned adventure to friends at home, invariably they fell into two camps: those who thought I would die some slow horrible death like Chris McCandless and those who didn't think I'd last that long.

Most assumed that I would be eaten by a bear soon after getting off the plane. A buffet line of grizzlies with red-checkered napkins around their necks would be waiting impatiently for me to land.

My typical day in the wilderness. Only with fewer dogs, more bears and no gun.

Bill Bryson notes in his famous A Walk in The Woods, "To begin with, the really terrifying American bear, the grizzly-- Ursus horribilis, as it is so vividly and correctly labeled--doesn't range east of the Mississippi, which is good news because grizzlies are large, powerful, and ferociously bad tempered... [they] number no more than 35,000 in the whole of North America, and just 1,000 in the mainland United States, principally in and around Yellowstone National Park."

This is reassuring information if you're hiking in the mainland United States east of the Mississippi, but implies that the remaining 34,000 grizzlies are lurking in Alaska and Western Canada (or less likely, in Hawaii and Mexico).

And there's no shortage of black bears in Alaska, either. Or wolves. Or even moose, who are completely capable of trampling you to death if they feel threatened. (An Alaskan state wildlife biologist, apparently sick of the attention bears get, recently warned people to "assume every moose is a serial killer.")

So you might not be surprised if I informed you that animal attacks are the number one cause of death in the North American backcountry.

But you should be, because I would be horribly wrong.

While bears are the most dangerous large animal in the North American wilderness, they do not often attack humans, and almost never kill them. In a study of wilderness injuries and fatalities at eight California National Parks, there were 61 deaths. Bears came in dead last at zero, behind "volcanic fumes" (one) and "sharks" (also one). In a general survey of 2010 backcountry deaths in National Parks, there was just one attributed to bears. In bear attack central, Glacier National Park ("Home of the Most Fatal Bear Attacks"), there were only nine deaths caused by bears from 1913 to 1995. That's one third the number of people killed in car accidents on the park's only road.

Fatal attacks are so infrequent that if you do find a bear consuming you there is at least the consolation that the incident will earn you an entry in Wikipedia's List of fatal bear attacks in North America, which mercifully has only a handful per decade. Some of these are clearly attributable to high risk activities, such as climbing into the polar bear enclosure at the zoo (a strangely common occurrence).

"All bears are agile, cunning, and immensely strong, and they are always hungry. If they want to kill you and eat you, they can, and pretty much whenever they want. That doesn't happen often, but-- and here is the absolutely salient point-- once would be enough." 

-- Bill Bryson, A Walk In The Woods

As uncommon as bear attacks are, they do sometimes occur.

Bear Canisters

To minimize the risk of unpleasant bear encounters, I stored my food in a bear canister. Many parks require the use of a bear-resistant canister, a hard-shelled barrel that is essentially indestructible. The Gates of The Arctic does not, but it is strongly recommended. If a bear gets into your food, he (or she) will associate the smell of humans with food. This is a very dangerous association.

Most parks will loan canisters to campers free of charge. The park standard is the Garcia Backpackers Bear Canister, mostly because its reliable and not exceptionally expensive. The downside is that it's heavy at 2 pounds, 12 ounces. It can only hold about 600 cubic inches of food, which is far too little for 12 days, or even 10.

Bearikade Expedition, with beer for scale.

I ended up renting a Bearikade Expedition from Wild Ideas. Made of carbon fiber, it's almost a half pound lighter than the Garcia, but 50% larger. The downside is that it is both ridiculously expensive ($275 to buy), and still incredibly cumbersome. As a hard, uncompressible and featureless cylinder, it is very difficult for a bear to manipulate or destroy. It is also very difficult to pack, particularly when heavy with food. If loading your pack is like playing gear tetris, the Bearikade Expedition is like trying to place a piece that's bigger than all the other pieces combined and actually pokes out of the screen.

I only found one practical way to pack the canister: in the main compartment, on top of the tent (sans poles) wrapped in my sleeping pad. These two items protected my pack from the canister-- at nearly twenty pounds with hard edges and a tendency to spin, its bottom edge was practically a circular saw. Even with these precautions, by the end of the trip the canister and worn two small holes through the pack bottom (the Garcia brand canister has rounded edges which avoids this problem). 

Bear Encounters

A bear canister can reduce the chances of an unpleasant bear encounter in camp, but what if you encounter a bear on the trail?

There is no 100% agreed upon protocol on what to do when meeting a bear in the wild, because the right course of action depends on what the bear is thinking. Is the bear surprised by you? Does it think you're food? A threat to her young?

If you remember only one thing about bear encounters, it's this: do not run.  Running will trigger a chase instinct in the bear, and you cannot possibly outrun one-- they can go over 30 mph for short distances and can plow through the rough terrain. If the bear's intentions are not obvious, remain calm and slowly back away or move aside while speaking in a normal voice, loud enough for the bear to hear you. The point of speaking is to clearly identify yourself as human. A traditional call-out is "hey bear," but since the bear won't understand you, feel free to ad-lib.

My reaction after encountering a bear on the trail.

Bear Spray
When hiking in bear country, having something to defend yourself can make you feel much more comfortable. Most people going into bear country carry bear spray.

Bear spray is a powerful chemical irritant, like Mace. It has a similar active ingredient, but a much larger volume and range. It will wreck the bear's day (or yours, if you manage to accidentally get any on you), but is non-fatal and unlikely to cause permanent damage.

A small canister weights around 12 ounces and should be kept somewhere you can easy draw it out. I kept mine on my pack's waist strap. Sometimes I practiced drawing it out, like a gunslinger.

Some hikers carry firearms for defense, but there's some doubt as to whether a gun is as effective as bear spray. A gun capable of stopping a bear is substantially heavier, requires greater accuracy (bear spray may deter a bear without a direct hit), needs a higher level of confidence in target identification, and is considerably more expensive. Unless you're already bringing a gun to hunt or entering polar bear country, bear spray is probably a more effective and appropriate choice.