CAMPING IN THE MOUNTAINS OF LAKE TAHOE

~~ along with the native wildlife inhabitants

Diane and I celebrated our 22nd anniversary in August, 2000.  Diane wanted to do something a little different for this anniversary.  She thought it would be nice for us to go camping together, alone.  No kids.  So, we did go camping!!  We went to Fallen Leaf Lake (near Lake Tahoe, California) for a few days of roughing it.  However, we did have to bring the baby, Christina, (who was 9 months old at the time) because she was still being nursed.  But other than that, just us two!  We figured we would spend three days and two nights camping.  That sounded like a good amount of time.

We thought it would be kind of nice to barbecue a couple of steaks instead of hotdogs, which is our usual fare when the children come along!!

When the whole family would go camping, I would get up early (about 4:30 - 5:00 AM) and get the campfire going, then put the coffee on.  Then, once the rest of family began waking up, I would start breakfast.  This would be the same routine I followed on this outing.

The night we had the steaks, I wanted to have baked potatoes to go with them.  Diane told me that when she was young, her father used to wrap up potatoes in aluminum foil and put them in the campfire to cook.  So that is just what we did.  We wrapped them in aluminum foil and tossed them into the campfire in the morning.  After about an hour, I took them out.  Then, when it was time to barbecue the steaks (which was later on in the day), all I had to do was stick them back into the fire to get hot again.  Boy did they turn out great!  I even brought along some wine in my bota bag!

We really enjoyed ourselves, relaxing at the campsite, taking walks and trekking down to the beach for a swim.  The baby was very good for us also.  While at the beach, Diane and I would take turns watching her while the other one would swim.  She very seldom fussed and seemed to be happy with just mom and dad.  We brought along her walker so we wouldn't have to hold her all of the time.  We can't put her down on a blanket because she is so quick in putting objects into her mouth (rocks, etc.)  Fallen Leaf Lake is a very quiet lake, and a nice place to swim because there are so few people around.  The lake is about a half mile from the campground and it is a pleasant walk to reach it.  We would spend a few hours there and then head back to the campsite for a bite to eat.

Even though Diane and I had a great time together, I was not that refreshed after our few days sleeping in the tent.  I don't care how smooth the ground is, it is still pretty uncomfortable!  Besides, when I am out camping, I always wake up dreadfully early, so I do not get a full nights sleep!  This has been the case for as long as I can remember.

HERE COME THE BEARS

Another reason that I was not all that refreshed was the coming of bears into the campsite on both nights.  Since we were in a developed camp area, there were toilets available, along with sinks and running water.  Outside water faucets were placed all over, along with great big garbage dumpsters for campers to dispose of their trash.  I like to try and get a campsite near all of these amenities for convenience sake.  Well, the first night at the campsite, at around 11:30PM, I began hearing pots and pans being banged together quite some distance away from us.  But this immediately brought to mind what my brother, David, told me when he went camping in Yosemite in 1998 or '99.  He mentioned that whenever a bear would come into a campsite, the campers were told to bang together their pots and pans to scare the bear off.  So I figured that this is what I was hearing, a seasoned camper scaring a bear off.  A bit later, I heard more pots and pans banging, and this time it was closer.  Then I heard the dumpster near us being rattled (about 100 feet away).  Then the banging started.  It sounded like someone was opening and closing the lids to this dumpster, and letting them crash down.  Of course I was scared to death!  Then I looked over at Diane and I saw her eyes looking up at me and I whispered to her "bears!"  With her eyes still on mine she replied "Oh great!"  So for about a half hour we heard this banging, chewing, crunching, snorting and shuffling about.  We were not feeling tired at this point.  I whispered to her, "We don't have to spend both nights out here you know.  We can pack up and go home tomorrow."  Anyway, I got up the courage to unzip the very tip top of my door and peer out towards the dumpsters.  I couldn't see anything at first because it was so dark.  Then along came the sound of a vehicle and some lights.  Then I

saw the shape of a bear climb out of the dumpster.  I zipped up the tent and laid back down, looking with chagrin

at Diane.  Then it was quiet for a few seconds... Then we heard a guy yell at the top of his voice, "BAD BEAR,

BAD BEAR, BAD BEAR" and then rifle shots ... KaPow, KaPow, KaPow!!  This was followed by a few seconds

of quiet, then a few dogs started barking and then again in a loud voice "GIT, GIT!" and KaPow, KaPow!!!!  Yes

sir, I was wide awake now!  I was afraid to look outside my tent.  It quieted down though after this and eventually

we fell asleep.  Then at 2:30PM came the howling and screaming of the coyotes.  My eyes were wide open again there for about 20 minutes before I was able to fall asleep again.

Well, when morning came the terror of the night wasn't so bad anymore so we figured we would go ahead and stay as planned. Alas, the night came again and we wondered if the bear(s) would come back.  At 10:30PM I was awakened by the sound of the dumpster being rattled again.  But this time it was kind of quiet.  I thought that perhaps a camper was dumping his trash.  (Of course in my mind I was thinking "what fool would dump his trash at night!")  After a while I also heard some chewing noises and some snorting.  The bears were back!  A fierce snarl was heard once also, for about 5 seconds.  This time, although scared, I wasn't quite as terrified.  I had unzipped the window portion of the tent before going to sleep so that I wouldn't have to make noise unzipping it if I wanted to look out.  So, I looked out.  I could faintly see some movement by the dumpster.  I looked over at Diane (I left my camplight burning very low, hanging outside the tent, so we could see each other faintly inside the tent).  Yep, she knew the bears were back also!  Luckily, little Christina (the baby) slept through all of this!  (I was kind of afraid that she might wake up and start crying and the bears would hear her and come to the tent.)  This went on for about an hour.  At 11:30PM, I saw the Forest Service truck show up with spotlights shining at the dumpster (this must have been the same truck as the night before).  Sure enough, there was a big brown bear right there.  The Forest Ranger got out of his truck and began moving towards the bear.  The bear began backing off.  Then the guy yells, "BAD BEAR" and then the rifle shot...KaPow!  (He didn't shoot at the bear, but in the air... and probably just VERY LOUD blanks) I couldn't see too much but I heard a bunch of rustling noise.  The guy began shining his flashlight into the trees right by the dumpster.  Sure enough, the bear ran up into the trees, along with her two cubs!  After about 45 minutes, the mother came down and meandered about, staying near the trees but keeping quiet.  Then one of the cubs came down and went with her mother.  But the third cub wouldn't come down.  The Rangers sprayed the dumpster with some pepper spray to keep the bears away for the rest of the night and then decided to leave after waiting around for another hour or so.  I zipped up the tent and we went on to have a fitful sleep, wondering if the bears would be back.  The coyotes woke me up briefly at around 4:30AM, but they were far away, and I went back to sleep.

So much for the rest and relaxation!  Even with all of this commotion at night though, I would still get up early to begin the new day.

Billy D