Me and the Wildlife

The Encounter

My sweet young thing, and wife to be, and I had been living together for some months in July of 1985 when we decided to take a trip to B.C.  The trip gave us the opportunity to enjoy the magnificent west coast scenery.  Also, each of us had relatives who resided on the route to the coast, and at various locations in B.C.
In order to be closer to nature, and to save some money, we took along a two man tent, air mattresses, and sleeping bags. 
  It was evening when we arrived in Kananaskis country, and located a campsite near a creek.  We were tired after the day's journey, and it was starting to get dark so we went to bed early.  Two persons in a two man pup tent does not leave a lot of room.  We were soothed to sleep by the sounds of the mountain creek splashing not too far from the tent. 
  It was a moonless night, and the campsite had no lights.  I was awakened by a nudge to my head through the wall of the tent.  I could hear snorting and sniffing noises.  I was not yet fully awake, and I certainly did not appreciate having my sleep interrupted in such a rude way. With my fist I slammed the wall of the tent and connected with something soft and fleshy.  The animal thudded away. By then I was starting to think about what had happened. Sharon said she had heard an animal come up from the creek, and could feel the earth vibrate with each step. It was Sharon's first night camping.  She had remained perfectly still and silent, in the hope the animal would leave.  It gradually dawned on me that I had likely punched a bear in the nose. We had no food in the tent, so I believe the animal was curious about the body odours coming from our tent.  At least that is what I prefer to tell myself. The next morning the rocky ground near the tent did not show any paw prints, but there were a few claw marks in the ground.  Hopefully that bear learned that a tent can fight back.