Introduction

Bear encounters are very rare; bear attacks are even rarer. There are only 11.7 black bear "conflicts" every year. Most end in a bluff charge without physical contact. As you've probably already surmised, I became one of the very few people who physically wrangled with a bear this year. I'm writing this report for your general enjoyment (you sickos), to give you a better idea of how a bear conflict like mine plays out, and what treatment looks like after the fact.

The Encounter

On July 2nd, I left the Frying Pan Lakes Trailhead at 2:30am to climb the various 12ers and 13ers around Marten Creek. I followed the "trail" up the creek for roughly a mile before turning west to begin climbing the steep slopes up to UN 12,675. The first few hundred feet consisted of absolute warfare against 15ft tall willows and large boulders. As I continued to climb, the terrain eventually transitioned to a steep hill covered in pine trees and larger boulders.

Around 4am and perhaps 100 ft from treeline I heard a strange huffing noise. At first I just figured it was my loud breathing, but I quickly realized that it was definitely coming from some nearby animal off to my left. Hoping to scare away what I assumed was probably a deer, I let out a couple whoops. Instead, I was greeted by a pair of huffing, glowing green eyes roughly 30-40ft off to my left. Realizing that I was most likely looking at a bear, I assumed a firm stance a issues a stern "hey bear" in it's direction. Ignoring my warning, the bear continued coming directly towards me at a steady pace and I shouted two increasingly emphatic "hey bears." Realizing that this was about to turn into a slugging match, I thought "here we go" right before the bear made contact. Roughly instantaneously I felt a sharp pinch in my right calf while I gave the bear a punch in the muzzle. The bear then turned and ran 40ish feet down the hill before stopping and looking back. Fully in flight or fight at this point, I emitted some guttural screams (which sounded like this) and unfastened my ice axe from the back of my pack. Seeing that the bear didn't seem to want another round, I quickly climbed out of the trees and up UN 12,675, stopping every 30 seconds or so the emit more screams and make sure the bear was not following me. Upon summiting, I got a patchy phone call through to my dad and sent satellite phone messages to my mom and girlfriend. I also remembered my calf and examined the damage. Luckily, the bite was relatively shallow, not very painful, and was not bleeding heavily. I opened up my first aid kit and cursed my luck as I found that all my bandages were soaked. With not much else to do, I poured some clean water over the wound and tightly wrapped it with some climbing tape.

The Hike

After my haphazard first aid, I decided to continue along the ridge and head toward the North Fork Lake Creek Trailhead along Highway 82 where my dad would pick me up. My pain was minimal and I really did not want to descend back into the still dark woods with a defensive bear running around. It also seemed like a real shame to waste what was shaping up to be a beautiful day. I made quick progress of the 10 miles between me and my ride and enjoyed the easy Sawatch tundra. Upon arriving at the trailhead, we made arrangements for me to visit my primary healthcare provider later that afternoon and picked up my car from the trailhead in the meantime.

Treatment

Upon arriving at the clinic, the helpful nurse practitioner cleaned the wound and called up State Health to determine the best course of action. Because bears' mouths get into all sorts of things, their bites have a relatively high chance of infection. To combat this, I ended up taking an oral antibiotic for 10 days. I also received a Tetanus shot due to the fact that I had a puncture wound. Finally, I needed to receive rabies Possible Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) which consisted of 4 rabies shots and one dose of IgG around the wound site. On day 0 (which happened to be July 3rd) I received my first rabies shot and IgG. IgG is only stocked at ERs, so we had to get it administered there. The IgG is essentially rabies antibodies that are injected around the bite site to combat any potential rabies while your body starts producing its own from vaccination. The IgG was almost as painful as the initial bite! At first it doesn't hurt much, but as they inject more and more of it into the muscle around the wound it starts to be pretty painful. After the IgG, I also got my first dose of the rabies vaccine. Contrary to popular belief, the rabies vaccine (which was the second vaccine ever!) is administered in your deltoid just like most other shots. I received my next 3 doses on days 3, 7, and 14 (there's a 5th on day 28 for those who are immunocompromised). Why this particular spacing? In my research I found that it's spaced this way to maximize immune response. It's also partially due to the fact that the spacing just seems to work (hard to do clinical trials on rabies lol). Thankfully, I haven't experienced any complications or infection!

Colorado Parks and Wildlife

The night of the encounter, I was also visited by two CPW officers who asked about the event. They were planning to take hounds up to the site in order to track the bear and put it down. They also collected the clothes I was wearing for potential DNA samples and measured my bite (like a fish lol) to confirm a correct kill. One thing they mentioned (should this happen to you) is that they like to take a sample from the uncleaned wound as it likely has saliva in it. I followed up a few days later and learned that the hounds weren't able to find anything and the the bear had gotten away (this made my girlfriend happy). Hopefully it's just doing it's bear thing and doesn't have to deal with bozos like myself ever again.

FAQS

Did the bear "attack" you? I wouldn't say so. A better word would be incident or altercation. The bear was probably pretty startled and scared. The bite definitely felt like a warning nip and I think it probably would have just bluff charged if it hadn't been dark.

Was it scary? In the moment, no. The situation happened so fast and I was so hopped up on adrenaline that I wasn't even "thinking." It was so primal that emotions honestly felt too complex for the situation. Immediately afterward I actually felt pretty euphoric. A few weeks later it's honestly a lot scarier to think about than it was in the moment.

Will you carry bear spray/get a gun? I carried bear spray around a few trips afterward just for piece of mind, but it won't become part of my daily kit. It's just so unlikely that I'll need it in Colorado. I will carry bear spray in special circumstance or when in Grizzly territory. There's pretty consistent evidence showing that bear spray is much more effective than firearms. In many cases, firearms actually escalate the situation. However, Eli Boardman carrying an AK-47 on Francs will always be cool.

Do you have a cool scar? Yes!!

Do you turn into a bear on the full moon like a werewolf? Guess you'll just have to stick around and find out ;)