Black Bear Encounter In The Pisgah National Forest

Black Bear Track

I was hiking in the North Mills section of the Pisgah National Forest when I spotted large paw tracks in the trail. It was obvious these tracks were made by a large animal. The tracks were not on the trail when I hiked up Laurel Mountain Trail. I noticed the tracks only went in one direction. There wasn't any sign that the animal came up the trail, turned around, and then went back down the trail.

A short distance later I came across the answer to all my questions. There on the trail about 150' in front of me stood a full grown black bear. As the bear raised its head and turned to look at me I lowered my gaze, careful not to look directly into the eyes of the large animal and backed stepped back around the bend out of sight of the bear. I did not attempt to take a picture of the black bear because I did not want to startle the bear.

I scurried back up the trail a bit, found a spot where I could see down the trail for a couple hundred feet and pondered my situation while I made sure the bear did not follow me up the trail. I was about a mile away from my vehicle. The other end of the trail was six miles back from the direction that I had just traveled. It was nearly 6:00 in the evening and dusk would be setting in soon. I could not hike the six miles back up the trail before dark so I really needed to get to my vehicle.

I thought that it would be a good time to speak to the Lord. I said, "Lord, if you put the bear far enough off the trail so that I can get by I believe that I can outrun it to my vehicle if I need to". I figured a bear behind me would be a lot better situation than a bear on the hiking trail between me and my vehicle with dusk setting in.

After about fifteen minutes I started back down the trail, peering around bends in the trail so that I would not suddenly encounter the bear and startle it. I snapped a couple of pictures of bear tracks when I got back down to the impressions in the mud. The tracks continued down the trail so I followed the bear for about a half mile without incident.

About half way back to my vehicle I could hear a loud rustling downhill towards my right. I thought the bear had finally left the trail so all I had to do was wait a few minutes for the bear to get further away from the trail and then continue my journey. The problem was the rustling sounds were getting louder, not softer. The bear would soon come out back on the trail just in front of where I was standing. I did not want the black bear to come back on the trail and be startled by my close proximity so I backtracked back up the trail to get out of sight of the bear and waited for about another fifteen minutes before starting back down the trail.

When I got back to where I heard the noise I could hear the bear uphill on my left. I gently turned my head to the left and could see the bear about 30 yards off the trail stretched out against a tree as if it was going to climb the tree. I returned my gaze to the trail in front of me and took a step forward, then another, then another, then another. My pace was picking up gradually with each step. As I got near the next bend with the bear clearly behind my I built to a gallop proclaiming 'Thank you Jesus'.

I know you are not suppose to run from a bear but I was well in front of the bear and had gradually picked up my pace. It wasn't so much now that I was running from the bear as I was running towards my vehicle. I must have glided 200' in 10 steps. The bear tracks were continuing down the trail so I stopped where I could see back up the trail to make sure the bear had not followed me and examined the tracks in the trail.

I figured that I was too far down the trail for the bear to have left the trail, backtracked through the woods then crossed the trail again in front of my path. There had to be two bears in the woods. I didn't want to backtrack back up the trail to the bear that I had just passed so I followed the bear tracks down the trail towards my vehicle. I could still see bear tracks on the trail about a half mile later when I spotted my vehicle.

I made it back to my vehicle without further incident. While I did not feel that my life was ever in danger, a charging bear towards me would have been a different situation, it was an intense experience following a bear down the trail back to my vehicle.