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A weird / wacky / wonderful outdoor tale!
by Clayton Kessler | Jul 30, 2009 | Canada | 5 comments
My boyfriend and I (who are both city folk) went camping just outside of Tofino. In the middle of the night we heard what sounded like someone breaking into our car. We were just about to get up and check when we heard VERY heavy breathing- IT WAS A BEAR! We layed there silently (other than the sound of my terrified sobs), as the bear attacked our camp site (knocked everything off our camp table, tried to get into our car, etc). The next morning we were so excited to share out story, so we asked some fellow campers “hey did you guys hear the bear last night?”. The man we were speaking to said “ya, I just yelled at it to go away and it hopped off”. Wow did we feel silly for thinking we were on death’s door…apparently this is more common than we know!
What an awesome story. I guess the first defense against nasty critters is to make some noise to scare them away. It would be pretty scary to have some beast smashing through your camp though! Last summer my brother and I awoke to the cracking and crashing bush behind us, we jumped up yelled and banged pots together but whatever the large animal was, it didn’t go away, it sort of circled the bush around our tent – just out of sight. Then it finnally went away. We think it was a Saskwatch. We were in the Kootenays on the West side of Arrow Lakes near Nakusp, prime Saskwatch country! i guess it didn’t stay around because we didn’t have Kokanee. 🙂
Two friends of mine and I were camping on Leo Island in Murtle Lake in Wells Grey Prov. Park at the end of July. After dinner and dusk, we were enjoying the evening around the fire, when we heard the increasing noise of creatures crawling around the bush around us. Thinking it was the nocturnal activity of squirrels or something, we ignored it until, at the sound of hundreds of creatures was around us, we investigated. Turns out it was western columbian toad breeding time. Literally hundreds of toads were crawling along the beach where we were camping and around us. They didn’t make any vocal sounds, but the sounds of them crawling around our tents all night was a little unnerving!
Pretty crazy story Erin! I have never heard of that happening before..who knew eh??? I did hear on CBC that in a place near Florida that one type of frog crosses a road for several days once per year to finish some mating routine. A bunch of volunteers helped the frogs across the road so the traffic wouldn’t kill as many. That would be really weird to hear going by your tent.
After kayaking on Clearwater lake, I am ready for an adventure on Murtle – one of BC’s nicest lakes I hear!
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