The bear growled.  As the young boy stared up at the 7-foot tall, grizzly bear, his eyes grew bigger.  The bear growled again.  The boy, 12 years of age, short with dark brown hair, flinched each time the bear moved or made a noise.  He asked himself, am I going to live?

Before the encounter with the bear however, our young friend, Ryan, was camping peacefully with his family.  Located in northwestern Colorado, the campsite was large enough for only a few tents and small living space.  Ryan and his family were only staying for four days.  Experience taught Ryan that noises were nothing more then animals socializing, and as long as you respected their privacy, your own privacy was respected as well.

“Brush your teeth Laura!” yelled Ryan’s mom.

His little sister, Laura, was 8-years-old.  She had been on camping trips before, but not many.  Ryan taught her loads about nature and the camping life.

“In a minute, mom!”

“Ryan, will you go get some kindling?” asked Ryan’s dad.

Ryan agreed.  He forgot it was getting late, and dark.  Ryan loved fires at night.  He loved looking up at the stars and listening to the fire crackle.

Ryan looked for little sticks and twigs that were effective for starting a fire.  It was starting to get too dark to look, so Ryan headed back.  On his way back, a stick caught his fancy.  He went over and picked it up.

ROAR!

Ryan didn’t even get up from the crouched position from picking up the stick.  He peered behind him and saw bear cubs huddled against a wall of rocks that reached 10 feet in height and 30 or 40 feet long.  He looked in front of him and saw momma bear.  She was as unhappy as unhappy can get.

ROAR!

Ryan stood up and began walking slowly to his right.  The bear began to walk towards him.  Oh boy.  Ryan walked faster to his right.  The bear matched his speed.  Soon, the bear was ten feet in front of Ryan.  The cubs were 20 feet to his left.  Why won’t you go away?  The bear snarled.  Am I going to live?  The bear lurched forward and Ryan instinctively ran.  Ryan had no thoughts in his head.  He ran faster then any human being could run.  Smoke flew from his feet as he ran; the air whistled.  Ryan looked back: the bear was gone.