Although Longview (Highwood River) is a fishing haven there were very few cars on the side of the road. I took my dad to my favourite spot, which is exactly 17 KM out of Longview. We parked the truck near to the road and walked about 50 feet to a path that led down to the river. It was basically a man made path from numerous fishermen walking down to the river. It is an extremely steep path through heavy bush and trees and is very rocky. In total it is about 100 feet almost straight down. To give you some idea, it took Laura and I about 15 minutes to get back up it last year when I took her here.

At the bottom of the hill are steep rocky cliffs (approximately 20 feet) that lead down to a large 20-foot pool. The current at each end of the pool is fierce and the pleasant sounds drown out almost everything else. Once I was even 20 feet from my dad and I couldn’t even hear what he was saying.

It is an extremely beautiful area and you wouldn’t even know that you are not in the mountains. On both sides of the river are steep rocky cliffs and trees. You can look approximately 100 yards both upstream and downstream. It is an amazing area and represents everything beautiful about Canada.

My dad and I unloaded all of our gear (now it is 12 p.m.) such as our tackle boxes, water and lunch. He started fishing in the hole while I walked 50 yards upstream. I soon got bored up there, as I wasn’t catching anything and there were no signs that fish were even present so I walked back to him and fished there for about 30 minutes. We were truly enjoying everything and my dad commented to me that in a place as remarkable as this you don’t even have to catch anything, as it is just too beautiful. Here you are truly immersed in nature.

I let him fish there for a little while longer as I wanted to fish about 50 yards downstream. Every now and then I would get spooked as I saw cattle coming down to drink across the river from my dad. They were there the whole time that we were and it seemed that there was always at-least two cows drinking.

I didn’t stay downstream for very long as I had a feeling that I should stay with him. So I quickly made my way back to my dad. When I returned he asked me if I wanted to eat lunch. I really didn’t as we had only been there for about an hour and I wanted to fish more. So I threw out a couple more lines while he unpacked the lunch. Since my few casts were unsuccessful at even sparking interest from the many fish that we could actually see, I joined him.

Although we occasional glanced at our surroundings while we there, we were basically looking downstream all day. Neither of us was really hungry but we sat down to eat our sandwiches anyway. We sat in this mystical place casually admiring the hawk that circled overhead singing us his tune. The peace and tranquility of this place drowned out all of the sounds and frustrations that the city creates and we were extremely relaxed and enjoying ourselves.

We had only finished half of our sandwiches when I heard the cattle making strange sounds. At-least three times I asked my dad if he heard the sounds and he did. To me it sounded very similar to a cry that cattle make when they get branded. Finally, realizing that the sounds were not the normal I stood up to check out our surroundings.

I looked to where the cattle had been drinking all day and I noticed that they weren’t there anymore. In fact the last of the herd was quickly making its way up the steep hill. At that very second, only 25% through our lunch, my dad, still relaxed and enjoying the scenery, casually glanced upstream for whatever reason.

He looked at a steep extremely rocky cliff and saw movement. As he analyzed the brown animal that he saw, he tried to figure out how a cow could get down that steep embankment without breaking it’s leg. Next the “cow” came out between two rocks and I heard him say, "Lookout! There is a bear! A Bear! It’s a black bear?! No! A brown maybe?” I couldn’t see it so I kept on saying "Where, where?" At this time I didn’t really believe him. Then I remember the chill that went down my body we he said; “It’s a grizzly! No! Damn, it is a grizzly! Start packing up NOW!”

I still hadn’t seen the bear but I dropped my coke and quickly started bringing in my line while my dad packed up our lunch. While doing this I glanced way upstream trying to spot the bear. As I hadn’t seen a live one in many years I was anxious to see it. I continued to look way up stream but was unsuccessful in spotting it. But as I started turning my gaze away from upstream and back to my fishing pole I noticed it. My god I thought, it was a grizzly bear and I saw it lunging through the water onto our side of the river. What scared me the most was the fact that it wasn’t 100 yards up stream like I thought but only a mere 50 feet from us.

Now the reality of the situation set in and I was quicker to pack our stuff up. I remember looking at my dad and he was all thumbs trying to pack my sunflower seeds. I yelled at him twice to just leave it but he continued. Once we had gathered our equipment I started the twenty-foot climb up the cliffs. I don’t remember much but at the top I fell hard and cut up my elbow. I remember slipping but when my dad screamed out at me “GO!” I somehow scaled it in seconds. My dad then got his fishing lure tangled in trees. I stopped some ten feet from him and watched him slowly trying to untangle it. He kept his focus on the bear, which was walking straight towards us and quickly gaining ground. From my viewpoint the heavy bush blocked sight of the bear and all that I could see was my dad. Everything else, all the beauty, all the sounds, everything was blocked out. Finally I yelled just rip your line! To which he did.

To this point we were fairly calm but it was obvious that the adrenaline had kicked in. Everything seemed in slow motion. One second seemed like minutes. I was extremely nervous but I wasn’t afraid for my life yet. However, that would soon change.

Just as my dad ripped his fishing line, he noticed the bear head straight into the woods. I remember him swearing and making comments like, “That S.O.B.!” Then I sensed the fear in his voice when he said, “Get up that hill now!”

I don’t remember running up the majority of the hill. From the point when my dad yelled out was all a blur. I do remember looking over my shoulder to make sure that my dad was right behind. Also, I thought that the reason that my dad sounded scared was because the bear was charging us. When I realized that the bear wasn’t following us it quickly became apparent to me that this grizzly bear wasn’t simply curious or looking for our lunch, he was stalking us! Since he wasn’t behind us he must have went through the bush to cut us off!

The next thing that I remember was that I got my fly rod stuck between two trees. I tried continuously to break my $700 fishing rod but to no avail. Then I tried to separate the two parts but in my panic I was pulling on the same section. Finally, I managed to separate the two sections and we continued to sprint up this steep embankment. Just try to imagine us with our hands full of gear and each carrying a 12-foot pole trying to run through the dense bush. It is an impossible task in normal conditions and I know from experience but somehow we did it.

Finally we made it to the top! We had less than 50 feet to go on flat ground to my truck though. However the sight of my truck was enough to give us a sense of safety. I remember my legs almost gave out and my lungs burned so much that I had a hard time breathing. My heart was also louder than it ever has been. I almost passed out but I quickly threw my stuff over a tight barbed wire fence and looked back at my dad who was only about 5 feet behind me.

I started to climb it slowly afraid of ripping my hip waders. However I moved faster when my dad jumped it. We quickly threw our stuff in my truck and not 5 seconds after we jumped in the grizzly emerged from the trees. He obviously didn’t know where we were so he stood on two feet and it became obvious that it was probably a three-year-old, three hundred-pound grizzly bear. He sniffed the air and finally realized where we were. I will always remember the look he gave us when he realized that we were in the truck. I felt like a little kid in the playground who finally ran to the safety of a teacher sticking out my tongue at the bully and saying, “Nah, nah!”. The bear looked so ticked off that he missed us and gave us the worst frown that an animal could. He then slowly walked back between the hay bails and probably hoped that we would come out.

In my time I have seen many bears both on National Geographic TV shows and in real life and there was no question in my mind that this wasn’t a grizzly bear. It was! Also, in all of the books that I have read and shows that I have watched I have heard that bears aren’t interested in us. In fact they are more afraid of us than we are of them. If bears do come close to humans then they are most likely after the food and are simply just curious.

This point of view was 100% wrong in this situation that I was fortunate to live through. This bear had no interest in our lunch, which we partially left, at the fishing hole. Nor was it simply curious. This bear had one thing on its mind and it was stalking and killing us. That is why it didn’t go to the fishing hole, it went into the bushes to cut us off and why it emerged at the top of the hill. When grizzly bears hunt they usually try to circle around and attack their prey from behind and this is exactly what it tried to do. Furthermore, young male grizzly bears at times, and furthering their curiosity, test themselves against new prey - US! During these times, bear experts reccommend that one fight and NOT play dead.

As I watched the news afterwards I realize the seriousness of the situation. This summer they have killed 1,000 bears, 14 in the last week or so. They say that there is a serious problem with bears this year for two main reasons. One, there is little food in the mountains which is causing them to come down into cities and attack people and, second, there is a population burst of bears, which forces younger, weaker ones from their traditional hunting grounds.

In the last couple of weeks three fishermen have been attacked by grizzlies. Two of which are dead. One man was fishing with his girlfriend, who left for the campground. According to the Park Rangers, this man was stalked by an adult male Grizzly for quite a while before the bear killed him. The girlfriend finally, after not being able to locate him, grabbed a friend with a shotgun. The friend later shot the bear and found the man dead and half buried with the bear guarding it’s prize.

I don’t know if you believe in guardian angels, fate or whatever but regardless of what you believe there was a reason that we didn’t die today. There were several events that made me feel this. These are:

I had a strong sensation that I should walk back to my dad even though I wanted to fish downstream; My dad insisted on eating lunch even though neither of us was hungry. If we didn’t eat lunch at that exact second he wouldn’t have looked upstream. If we had waited even 2 minutes it would have been too late, as we would have been looking down stream. If we ate earlier we would have been finished and, again, we would have been fishing downstream and focusing there. Either situation would have given the bear ample time to sneak up behind us where, instead of flight we would have been forced to fight or die; My dad was lucky enough to look upstream at the right time; Finally, the bear had to go through thicker brush and steeper cliffs. In the end we only had 5 seconds (maybe less if the bear was actually waiting in ambush). If the bear moved quicker, didn’t hesitate and/or didn’t have to move through thicker brush the outcome would have been different.

Then we drove down the road back to Longview where we eventually saw a Wildlife Ranger pulled over on the side of the road. He was laying on the ground with a telescope watching fishermen trying to see what they were using for bait so he could add up the fines. We told him our story but he didn’t seem to realize the seriousness of the situation. I am sure that he gets many over exaggerated stories from “city folk” all of the time and suspected ours to be the same.

I tell you Mother Nature had it in for us today. As we walked back to my truck through the prairie grass I noticed a snake in the grass. It was a large snake only a couple feet from us. Most snakes here are tame and afraid and over time, we have caught hundreds of them. But this one was the only one in our experience that attacked us. It coiled like a rattlesnake does and lashed out to bite us several times. It even tried so hard that it’s whole body would come off of the ground. After a while we walked away and headed for the safety of traffic and killers in the city.

This story is not exaggerated in the slightest way. In fact, if anything it is downplayed. Before this day I had no fear of bears and always believed the saying that “they are more afraid of us than we are of them”. However, this has opened up my eyes and given me a new respect for Mother Nature. This bear had one thing on it’s mind and it wasn’t our lunch or a mild curiosity. This bear’s only goal was to stalk and kill us. Never underestimate the power of nature.

Additional Resources

http://www.udap.com/safety.htm

http://www.worldweb.com/parkscanada-banff/bears.html

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This Page Was Last Updated August 05, 2005