Stoutland , I dislike having to hold B on Tauros . <| sep |> And science instead of faith ! Stone them all , says my pastor ! <| sep |> I ' m not surprised , but it still shits me . <| sep |> Do you guys like it when girls are forwardinitiate things ? <| sep |> to the left of it , the pink glass pipe <| sep |> As a setup for the story I was camped in a valley above Hope , a little village on the Kenai peninsula . Out in the wild for the most part but there was a USFS campground 1 12 miles away along a dirt road . Hope was where a number of nuisance bears that had been forcefully deported from suburban Anchorage reappeared after trekking through the wilderness in search of human junk and had to be killed in the end . kill 4 of 5 g o vernmenthillbearsnearhope 33719088 I ' d had a couple of run ins with Black and brown bears before , mostly a good distance away and none wanted anything to do with me , fading into the bushes as soon as they could . The previous day I had been walking along the road , heading back from a hike when I heard the brush on either side rustling . It happens a lot up there mostly Ptarmigan but you never know my hand was holding my holstered bear spray . A while after some campers told me that they had seen a black bear and her yearlings on the road half a mile before they passed me . Great so I walked between a sow bear and her cubs . The next day after a big dinner I headed out for a little walk . I decided to walk of at least 400 calories by going to the bathroom . At 11 pm . smart . The rain was coming in a foggy drizzle , just the kind that makes bear spray useless so I loaded my lever action and set off . It was chilly but not uncomfortable on the way . Everything was silent , no birds , insects , wind nothing , just my breathing and the crunch of gravel underfoot . Then something rustled in the brush near me , then again and again and again . It was a little worrying but it ' s just something I had to deal with . Keeping an eye on where it was I kept going . And recorded this bSUW 3 pAs 0 O 4 The fog closed in half way there and light levels dropped rapidly . I didn ' t pay much attention as I was trying my hardest to prevent stuff in my body exiting that very much wanted to exit . By the end it was less of a walk , more a pained waddle . Relief gotten I set off back towards camp . Light had dropped so far and fast it was as dark as Alaska could get this season . You could see decently far but not make out many details in the mist . I thought I was clever bringing a flashlight just in case . Nope in the mist , rain and fog it was useless , blinding me with a cone of light that reached out 5 ft and hid everything further . Midnight struck and a old , black battered 4 runner rolled up coming towards me . As it stopped beside me the passenger told me they had seen a black bear up ahead . Oh fun , watch out for a black bear in the blackness . As the woods ended and it opened up to brush visibility got even worse . At least the trunks of the spruce were well defined , here I could walk past a bear and not even noticed until it slapped me into the obituaries . I pulled out my rifle from its scabbard and ready to myself for anything that might happen . With safety off and a round chambered but all I had to do was cock the hammer to fire I advanced through the mist and the fog with the rifle held in a low ready position my pulse was high . The constantly shifting brush with dark shapes it was no help to calm my nerves . I walked on , with bats flying above me , feasting on the all you can eat bug buffet circling around my head . Walking for what seemed like forever but most likely 20 minutes I was about three quarters of the way to camp . Then in happened . A big shape sauntered onto the road from the side facing the cliff about 20 yards from me . The only sounds I could hear were raindrops falling off the trees and , my own breathing . I aimed the rifle above and behind it ' s front legs , my mind going on overdrive thinking where it ' s heart was or of I should aim for the head , slowly back away or fire a warning shot . In the end I managed to call the deepest hey bear I could after puffing up and looking as big as possible . The hey bear came out as if I had been sipping helium . I quickly followed up with a nice deep HEY BEAR It ' s head seemed to move left towards me , right and after a pause it just plodded off into the bushes with not a care in the world . I waited for about 5 minutes , still aiming at the bush where it had left then went the rest of the way back to camp , carefully doing a 180 every few moments . Sleep didn ' t come easy this night . Next time I decide to go to the bathroom that late , the calorie burn , I ' m driving . bonus bear album