July 14 Wawayanda, Bear Country, Part II

The Boy who Lived...Jonathan Reckeweg faced a bear in the middle of the night.

????????????? This is not why the bear ran away.


This was supposed to be an easy day. We had no venue at Star Lake, so we were going to walk from Wawayanda back to Star Lake. On our return trip, the walk would be mostly downhill, and the danger spots would be completed early in the day. We left and immediately encountered more bear along the trail. We made excellent time, walking about three miles before dawn, and continuing at a good pace before the heat and humidity of the day kicked in. And the day was hot and humid. We had many long downhills, Mome Wraith attacks, and difficult turns en route. We also underestimated the mileage (again) giving rise to the idea of "Mr. Frank miles", that is to say, no matter how far we travelled in any direction, we were still 2.7 miles away from any destination at any given moment. We calculated the day at
19.8 miles, about 2.7 more than originally anticipated.

That night, Nico was "swordfighting on a cliff" with Arjuna. He fell and hit his head on a tree stump. We took him to an ER across the New York border, where some real emergencies had happened, including a fatality and one person who'd broken their back. By the time Nico was attended, it was midnight, and by the time we returned to camp, it was 1AM. As Mr. Frank settled in for his three hours' sleep, a knock came on the window, at about 2 AM. Jonathan Reckeweg had spotted a bear in camp. It had perched its many-hundred pounds on the side of our Hecht Trailer, smelling food, and then waited for a racoon to open the bearproof box where our food was stored. Once the racoon had opened the box, the bear scared it off and started to devour the food. The older kids who were sleeping outside were understandably frightened. Mr. Frank asked Jamie to turn the truck around and shine the headlights on the bear. Then, he walked over to the bear, Jonathan Reckeweg bravely at his side. Mr. Frank flapped his poncho and started yelling at the bear. Started yelling "Git, git you all baar!" As if the bear only spoke hick, or chanelling Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner's Daughter. It was a very strange scene. Mr. Frank, born in Queens and raised on Long Island has not a drop of southern blood in him (except for southern Italian), but believe me, when you talk to a bear, it's only natural to talk Redneck. The bear lunged, and Mr. Frank and Jonathan both stepped back. Jonathan slipped and fell over the lid of a container, but scrambled back to his feet. The bear, not amused by the poncho-flapping, shouting and bad southern accents, retreated into the woods, dropping the food as it left. When Mr. Frank and Jonathan went over to investigate, the raccoons, who'd caused the trouble in the first place, had retrieved the meal, and were making short work of it, not even having enough respect for us to pause while we shone our lights on them. We went back to bed and slept fitfully for three more hours before wake-up call.

Brandon Murray: Outgoing, hyperactive, the definition of a rascal, and yet a honor roll student.. At a ballgame on the Walkabout last year, he dove over three rows of seats onto the concrete to catch a foul ball. Was stung thrity-six times by bees on another day of the Walkabout last year. A champion wrestler, he broke his arm in the championship and continued to wrestle. He lost to the champion by one point, all the while wrestling with a broken arm.

Ant: If we go to an attraction there might be souveniers.


Eagle: More breathtaking beauty of scenery and landscape. Take pix.


Day's mileage: 19.8 miles overall miles= 66.4 + 2 miles in camp= 68.4