12 The Great Escape by Garet Martin

I was about 14 years old when I was archery hunting with my dad up in the mountains. We went to the place called Iron Creek due to its proximity to an old mine that you could get to when you followed the path up creek.

We were following this herd of elk that was just a bit faster than we were. We had just barely missed them by the time they were crossing the water. We took a break to catch our breath before we decided to turn around and head back to the truck.

On our way back, we passed a downed tree that had been torn apart and almost simultaneously smelled a distinct musk that put both of us on high alert, warning us that something bad was going to happen.

Continuing our journey with a keen nose and watchful eye, we scanned the area around us. Just then we could see across the valley a mother bear with her two cubs. She was headed straight toward us! My father fired his pistol in her direction to try to scare her away, but this ended up making her more curious and moving much faster.

At this point, we decided to run because we did not want to deal with an angry mama bear. We ended up running almost three miles in a state of utter fear before we finally reached the truck, climbed in, and felt relatively safe. Still, we could smell her musk and hear her moving in the brush.

This pulse-pounding experience in nature made a lasting impact on me because it was the first time that I have ever dealt with bears in the wild. It left me with both a healthy fear of these animals and big dose of respect because we were in their home after all.

More than anything, I am grateful for this escapade because I was able to spend it with my father, and we will always have this memory together. I would also live it out in the exact hair-raising way that it happened if I could just spend that time with my dad again.