for my friends who are moms

Only a few times has my dad ever confronted me, all in needed ways. There was the time I was dating a chump. The time I was partying too much. You know, the things that my dad can see as harmful but a 20 something Megan cannot. Well, I am 30 now, so obviously far beyond the naivety of my 20s, right?

In a recent trip to Alaska with 2 other friends, and a lot of grizzly bear country travel, it happened again. To clarify, there is a distinct difference between a black bear and a grizzly bear. Black bears are smaller, when encountering one, you are encouraged to be aggressive, show the bear you mean business Don’t charge it, but through things at it. Grizzlies are not only significantly larger, but they demand your respect. Yes, you try to be loud, you try to act big, but ultimately you are at the bears mercy. And if there is a cub involved, forget about it, you are basically toast dude.

 As I was telling my mom and dad about how we saw some bears on our trip, the confronting words of a concerned father entered the conversation. “I didn’t know there were only three of you! What kind of bear protection where you carrying? Just bear spray? Have you ever heard the story of the man who tried to live with some grizzly bears and eventually got mauled and eaten by them? You should really be carrying a handgun or something more than a can a bear spray, they’ll just end up using it as seasoning on you.”

“Yes, dad you have told me that story countless times. I’m not going to ever try and live with grizzly bears. Traveling in large groups of people can really sacrifices the quality of the trip. Do you know how much a handgun weighs (of course he does, he owns at least 6 of them)? I don’t want to carry all that weight around with me. Hey dad, I appreciate your concern, but I feel confidant in my ability to handle myself in a bear encounter. You can continue to try and convince me to carry a handgun, but it is not going to happen.”

Here’s a little more information on, the “we saw some bears” phrase I used to inform my parents. Caitlin, Adam and I had just left the creek bed to try hiking across a ridge line that provided easier travel and had less brush (higher visibility). As we peered down the approximately 200 yards to the river bed, we notices two large brown animals running along its side. They disappeared behind some trees, and shortly reappeared. Then one of them got up on it’s hind legs and stared directly at us, in a way that made the 200 yards seem a little more like 50 yards. As I was still processing what kind of animal I was looking at Adam said, “we should keep an eye out for a mama bear, those look like cubs.” Dad doesn’t need to know he was right.