Bear Naked and Afraid

by Jaime Chong (Canada)

I didn't expect to find Canada

“I’m going to do the East River Trail, but I’d like to do it by myself,” Colin told me after we had spent a week together in Yukon. “I’m going to camp at Kluane National Park and do some day hikes,” I replied as nonchalantly as possible, even though I was nervous to be camping completely alone for the first time. I just wanted him to think I had my own agenda, even though we planned this trip together. He broke my heart a couple months prior but we decided to do this trip anyways. Kluane National Park is located on the Yukon-Alaska border and is the home of the St. Elias Mountain Range, some of the biggest mountains in North America. It was also the only cool place in Yukon that I could think of in that moment. “Your backpack is as big as you are,” one of the other campers said as I walked into the campground. “It just looks big because I’m only 5 feet tall,” I replied. But it really was as big as me. Being self sustaining for five days makes for a heavy load. I also probably should have left my books behind. I went to the lake to get some water to boil and when I returned to my home base, Colin was there. “Hey, I can’t go on my backpacking trip because there were too many bear sightings, so I thought I’d come find you,” he said sheepishly. “Oh, I actually decided to do my own solo backpacking trip tomorrow,” I lied. I had spent years being too available for him and was feeling fed up that we were friends at his convenience. “You’ve never done a solo backpacking trip before and your backpack is too big,” he replied, looking surprised. “Don’t think I can do it?” “Just be careful of bears.” In my time hiking mountains and wandering the forests of the Pacific Northwest, I had never seen much wildlife. Maybe it’s because I’m loud, maybe it’s because I have poor vision. I didn’t actually have a plan. My only plan was to put one foot in front of the other and prove that I could do it. Being a petite female lacking muscle tone and coordination in a world dominated by males with six-packs and beards, I got a lot of doubt. With that doubt came a lack of experience. The next morning I set off on a fifteen kilometre loop with the intention to camp by the river seven kilometres in. I nearly face planted when I leaned forward to adjust the hip belt on my monstrous backpack. I felt badass with my knife and bear spray attached to my belt to worry about the scratches I saw on the trees as I entered the forest. I got to the river where I was going to camp and immediately took off my bag and my sweaty clothes, and took a euphoric plunge into the glacial runoff. I was completely alone, surrounded by the enchanting forest, and extremely sore. I closed my eyes and when I reopened them, I realized I wasn’t actually alone. I was about fifty metres away from a bear. A grizzly bear. Stunned by my bare naked body. I knew my knife and bear spray weren’t far, but my nakedness made me feel significantly less badass than I did a few hours prior. “Whoa, hi bear. I didn’t see you there!” My instinct was to talk to it in rhymes, with my hands in the air as if the bear had a gun pointing at me. It looked confused, then it looked away. I started backing out of the water. I put on my clothes, grabbed my knife and bear spray, without looking away from the initial meeting point. Then in one swift swoop, I swung my monster backpack onto my back and ran eight kilometres out of the forest. I returned to my campsite soaking wet and dishevelled, where I found Colin, and presented him with my latest stats. “So I just went on my longest run, carried my heaviest backpack for the longest distance, and saw a bear. And I was naked.”