The Bear

While fishing in the mountains in Colorado this summer, our family encountered a very unexpected and unwanted lunch guest. Here's the story of what happened......

Our family...me, Eddie, the kids and Grammy and Pops, were enjoying a nice morning of fishing at "Blue Lake". We were starting to catch quite few fish when Christopher spotted something we all dread seeing when we vacation in the mountains.......A BEAR!!!! He had been climbing a tree branch that had fallen, which is something that Christopher would typically do. When his daddy saw him, he told him to get down because he didn't want him to get hurt, so Christopher began to climb down the tree branch. When he reached the ground, he turned around and low and behold there it was...A BIG BLACK BEAR! Amazingly, for Christopher, he did not yell or run. He just very calmly went over to his daddy and said, "Daddy, there is a bear." Who said in return, "No, Christopher there is not a bear." So Christopher told him again, "Daddy, there really is a bear." His daddy still not beliving him told him again there was not a bear and to go fish some more. Christopher, almost crying and with fear in his eyes told his daddy one more time, "No, Daddy, look there is A BEAR!!!!" Eddie finally turned around and there it was just standing there, about 10 feet away, sniffing into the air. After Eddie finally realized Christopher was telling the truth, he turned to me and said, "Ummm, Angela, there is a bear." I'm not sure if I didn't believe him, or if I was just in complete and utter shock (probably both), but I was paralized with fear and actually could not get up out of my chair for a moment. I finally got up and began to move backwards slowly. Luke was with me in the Baby Bjorn. The boys and Eddie were on the other side of the bear so they backed up in the opposite direction. Grammy had taken Ella to the restroom, so they were watching this whole scene take place from across the small lake. Once we had all moved away, the bear made his way down to where I had been sitting and fishing and grabbed the cooler bag that held our lunch and snacks. Then he climbed back up from where he came from, with our cooler in his mouth and disappeared into the woods. We all decided we had better pack up and head back to the cabin just in case he was still hungry and wanted more food.....well except for Pops who really wanted to keep fishing! We finally conviced him we needed to go, plus we were all hungry since the bear took our lunch!

God truly took care of us that morning. Looking back there were so many signs that He had his angels watching over us and protecting us. The Bear was not aggressive, he just wanted food and probably smelled the beef jerky that was in the cooler. My Mom and Ella were already across the lake. Andrew and Christopher for the most part remained calm and followed directions. Finally, I did not grab the cooler when I got up. It was pretty frighting and looking back on it makes my stomach turn a little, but it made a great story to share, and I thank the Lord we were all OK...except, I am sorry to say we lost Eddie's favorite cooler.

These pictures were taken a couple of days later at the same lake. We are pretty sure it was the same bear. This time he was far enough away so that we could take a few pics.