Close Encounter With a Bear Fairy

Close Encounter With a Bear Fairy

I have three hikes that I count as part of my regular summer routine here in Roanoke, VA. Each hike serves a different purpose for me. The most difficult hike is the trek up the Andy Layne Trail from the Catawba Valley to Tinker Cliffs and back. It's about 9 miles round trip and is filled with some intense elevation changes for a person past the halfway point in the average lifespan of a normal human with a pot-gut who used to smoke and drink. The view is incredible with a wall of cliffs to explore that go on for about a quarter of a mile, all facing to the west and the seemingly endless parade of ridge and valley through West Virginia.

My moderate hike is to McAfee's Knob off the Appalachian Trail (AT)at the Rt 311/Catawba Mountain intersection. That hike is about 8 miles round trip but it only gets intense for the last 1.5 miles of the upward leg. The 200 degree view there is outstanding.

My easy hike is a two mile jaunt south on the AT from the Rt 311 parking lot. That hike is mostly level ridge top hiking and relatively simple. I end up about a mile in at a gorgeous rock cluster that affords me incredible views of Bradshaw Valley, Fort Lewis Mountain, the Roanoke Valley, and even Smith Mountain in the far distance on a clear day.

This morning, I decided to take the easy hike, because I knew that I was heading to Hooville for the day and needed to leave Roanoke by 9:30. The hike was as advertised, almost. It wound up and down until I made it to my cliffs. Then I found a remote set of rocks, perched on them, and began playing my penny whistle and harmonica. While there I saw several Scarlet Tanagers darting between females trying to demonstrate dominance. These birds are brilliantly ruby red with black highlighted wings and very energetic. They are rare in these parts and a treat to see.

After my concert and bird show, I headed back down to the parking lot at a leisurely pace. I had my FLIP video camera in my pocket in case any creatures popped out in front of me.

There is a stretch along the ridge trail that is a bit eerie and enchanted. The trail used to run along the ridge top in this part, but somewhere along the way it was diverted about fifty feet below the ridge line onto a relatively flat parallel plain. Up above, you can make out the ridge atop a wall of granite and green stone while you walk along what may have been a mountain road back in older times. These days, hardwoods have filled in successfully and associated undergrowth fills the shade. Overall, the appearance of this stretch is a fairy land from the old country. Shadows veil the wood and rustling sounds echo amongst the listening trees.

So this morning as I was walking slowly and alertly through this area, I stopped and panned (pun) my camera around in true wilderness terror movie fashion and began whispering "fairies." (Anyone who has seen Pans Labyrinth will understand how creepy that can be).

After a couple minutes of filming the shadowed trees and the crows and the darting birds, I heard a larger rustling sound. At first I thought it was a squirrel rustling in the dry leaves down the mountain to my right twenty yards or so away. Squirrels and chipmunks are always running around on the ground making more noise that they have the natural right to create. Then I saw a large grape vine swing back and forth, which I thought was unusual for a squirrel. So I whispered "fairies" softly onto the tape again.

Deep down, I was beginning to think I had stumbled onto a flock of foraging turkeys making their way to the ridge top. So I froze there with the camera running. Sure enough, within a minute, I saw a black blur slowing making its way toward me from about twenty yards away, but the tangle of ground cover inhibited my view. I still thought I was dealing with a flock of turkeys.

That's when the bear lifted his head and I saw the perky ears and goofy face. Black Bear! Not a big one. In fact he looked to be a juvenile which lead me to immediately wonder if mama bear was around. He didn't seem to smell me yet, or if he did he didn't take me seriously. Gradually, he turned parallel to the trail and slowly moved away. At some point on my video, I stopped saying, "fairies" and began saying, "BEAR...I wonder if Mama is nearby."

I tried to creep along the trail parallel with him for a minute or so, then I just let him go. For many years now, I've hoped to see a bear during one of my hikes. I've been fortunate to see bobcats, coyotes, turkey, rattlesnakes, and deer (of course); but I've never seen a bear on a hike.

I was so excited that I actually had my FLIP video camera rolling as the bear moved past me, and I anxiously replayed the video a few minutes later a little further down the trail... Do you remember those blurry Bigfoot videos from the 60's and 70's? Well that's sort of what my video looks like. I seemed to be really good at shooting the tops of the trees while only snagging fuzzy video glimpses of the bear. Oh well.

At 8:15 this morning, I saw a bear beside the Appalachian Trail just south of Rt 311 near Roanoke.