What to do if you see a bear? ahhh.. Leave... :)

What to do if you see a bear?

ahhh.. Leave... :)

Wawayanda lake and state park, I read about it on a wall advertisement in the Newark Airport and then always wanted to go there. Later on I found out that a 20 mile section of the Appalachian Trail (AT) passes through the park. This trail is something I have been wanting to explore for a long long time. So now it was 'two birds with an arrow' outing for me. After several of my plans brought no luck over most part of summer, I saw a light of hope when Girish was coming to NJ and showed interest in trekking. And so it happened.
We started very early in the morning - 9:00 AM and reached by the time it was just about getting hot. We started immediately and kept a speed of about 5 mph. It was decided that we will walk as much as we can till lunch time and then after lunch, Girish and Shubha will go back. I am mentioning this because many people asked after seeing pics - whatever happened to Girish and Shubha?
Till lunch everything went smoothly. We were on track and were on map as well. Ganesh had made the arrangements for food and he had done a good job - although he did it for satisfying his tummy rather than for doing a good job. So he "took care" of the food. While we were eating a rather jolly older gentleman passed us. He greeted us and we spoke for about 2 min. We offered him food and water but he insisted that he had to cover a lot of distance and moved on. We finished our lunch and Girish and Shubha left.

The task ahead was simple - follow the map, see the 2-3 vista points, and return on the other side of the lake. We saw the fist vista point, which wasnt so cool, but we had hopes for the rest of the points. We then crossed a small wall and guessed that we had entered wilder area of the forest. The forest wasnt much dense, but spotting the dots to follow the trail was becoming increasingly difficult. We reached a beautiful pond, which wasnt really visible until we got really close. We spent some time near the lake and moved on.

Kamzar Pond

It was after 3 PM by now and we had covered quite some distance. Still, the most hyped vista point was nowhere near. We walked and walked and came across foot prints, which looked like they were bear prints. There were also nails and bear hair nearby to support our guesses.

Bear Foot

We were now in much denser zone and could hardly see anything beyond few feet. After some time, our path crossed with the same gentleman we met in the morning. He was panting and looked a little serious. We asked him what was the matter? He took a second to answer, smiled and said that he saw a female bear. I was like how on earth do you know it was a female? May be he read that question on my face, because he said that it was a she because of the size. Female bears are smaller than males, like it is for many species. We were like, OK, male or female, who cares? I mean in bears. We looked at each other and it was then understood that there was no way that we could have made the journey back on the same path we had come from. So, we now have to move forward, but how? Actually, it would have been great idea, if we had returned, but there wont be an adventure and neither would I be typing this blog :) Anyways, so now what? I asked that uncle, what to do if you see a bear? He was like, "Ahh, leave!" Everyone laughed. I went Grrrrrrrrr.... What leave? Where to leave? Walk out slowly? What to do? What NOT to do? OK, let me make it simple. What did YOU do? He said, "Nothing, she went her way and I decided to come back." Hmmmmm..
So, four of use decided not to turn back. First thing we did was that we got ourself four thick sticks, just in case. We continued, shouting and speeding. Ganesh said he wanted to walk up front, so that if a bear comes then it will go for him. FYI: Ganesh is fattest in the group. We all knew that if a bear did show up then it will definitely go for him. They also know a good deal when they see it, the wild animals you know - less work more pay. Who wouldnt want it? We heard foot steps and no voices, so we got cautious. As it is any and all noises were making us all ears and this was clearly someone walking. Could this be the wandering bear? That too it was a female, who are very protective of their cubs. We waited and waited. They were humans. Two of them, father and son. They came closer and spoke to us. After Hi, Hello they asked where we were from? Shishir answered, "Lake Wawayanda." We didnt know whether to laugh or what. But, I guess he was too concerned with bears to think straight at the time. Father guy said, "No I mean, are you from India? I said, "Yes." He laughed, "Ohh! How very nice. Raj Kapoor." I was like what??? of all the people in India you know Raj Kapoor? But anyways, I like Raj Kapoor, so yeeeeee. He then said that they were from Israel and asked if I knew about it.I said, "Yeah, sure!" and then we went separate ways. Before we could get back to worrying about bears he sang from back, "Ichak Dana Bichak Dana Dane Upar Dana." OMG, I was ROTFLOL. We all were, although, I did not think Ganesh really understood why we were laughing. He is from Chennai, I dont think I need to say anything more. Back to track, now why would he remember this song of all the awesome old hindi songs? Now I had to return the favor somehow and show that Indians know about other world as well. I yelled, "Zohaaaan!" It cant get more lame than that. And yes, in the sprit of spreading the joy, we told them that there is a wild bear nearby - you should have seen their faces. It was important to warn them, but the main reason we told them was for the weird comfort that you get in finding that there are more people just as screwed up as you are.
Anyways, by now we had exhausted most of our food stock and more importantly, water. It was very hot, we were sweating like crazy and there was no water left. Ganesh went crazy. He took of his shirt and started walking topless. All I cold see was hundreds of pounds of meat jumping around. Definitely, we were gonna attract bears and God knows what all animals. But, there is usually no point in telling Ganesh, when he is hungry or when he is driving. It doesnt register in his brain. But Gahesh wasnt the only one having trouble. Shishir was having difficulty in breathing. There was something wrong there, either it was too humid, misty, pollens, or we were too tired, or may be all of these, I couldnt figure out, but it really was hard to breath. Shishir was lagging behind considerably and Prashanth and Ganesh were running. I was caught in between trying to coordinate. Moving on, we crossed the small wall again. It was now much clearer and we were going up and up. Somehow we reached a point where there was log book.

People had written that AWESOME vista point was 0.6 miles.

So, we aren't the only morons after all.

We were really happy to have found at least something and Ganesh made drum of his tummy and started playing tamil classical. He wouldnt let me photograph him though, fearing that I would show it to girls. What a weirdo.

Dhakichiki Dhakichiki!

Anyways, so 0.6 miles - very nice. We went in the direction that arrow pointed. What we did not know was that moron who wrote 0.6 miles had failed physics class in which they teach to measure distance. We walked for almost an hour and still nothing. This walk was along the edge of the mountain and was pretty difficult. Finally we saw something and jumped with joy. We somehow reached to a place where we could sit and enjoy the view. It wasnt the best mountain view I had ever seen, but considering the circumstances, it was damn good.

What we thought was the vista point.

In the mean while, the trail that we were supposed to be on had completely gone missing. We checked the maps and decided that we should take another trail which would take us back quickly. There was no such trail. We called Girish and checked if he could turn around and pick us up if we reach some road or some noticeable point. But he had gone too far by then and had other business to attend to than turning back.

Man, we are lost.

So now what? We took some trail which we thought would be shortest and continued. After walking for half an hour we reached another vista point. Now we realized that what we though was vista point wasnt the one we were after. After a five minute discussion (most of which was cursing the guy who wrote that 0.6 miles - I wonder if it was 6.0 and that guy was dyslexic - you know Tom Cruise, Ishan Awasthi Taare Zameen Pe).

What actually was the vista point.

We had very little time to enjoy here as it was gonna be dark soon and that bear would simply love that. We took some random trail and went on and on. After an hour and a half it was now over 7 hours that we were on the trek. Everyone was damn tired and could hardly feel our legs. Just when we thought we wont make it - we heard some vehicles. This filled some life in our legs and we speeded in that direction. Although, there was ambiguity which way the sound came from as we all pointed in different directions. We somehow reached an artificial beach. We decided to relax there for some time only to notice that it was a members only place. Rest was not on our cards. We approached a 'member' and asked him for directions to Lake Wawayanda entrance, hoping that its not more than few miles. To our utmost delight and great surprise, it was only half a mile. We were now totally confused. There was no way that we could have been so close considering that trail. that we were following. I still have no idea how the hell that happened. Crawling and pushing somehow we reached the lake and crashed. We had survived everything - the walk, the forest, the trek, and most importantly the bear, although we saw none. But hey, we could have right?

NO More!

After some time, we ate a little at the beach food cart and played soccer until we were kicked out from there. We came home and I ordered 2 compasses for next time, if at all there is one. I also decided to go for iPhone 3G - as if it was gonna help find the way. It was enough trekking for an year and we have decided to do the next trek to mount washington (it is the only trek on east coast that is accessible by car - all the way ;))
I hope you enjoyed it. Lets see when I get my next adventure and next blog :)

Cheers!!!

- @sh