Reply #34: That's right, and it's good advice. [View All]

Some years back my husband and I backpacked through India for several weeks, including doing a trek in Kashmir (before the Home Office in the UK started recommending that tourists not go there anymore). We decided to forego using sherpas or going with a group, so it was just the two of us, alone in the mountains in the northernmost section of India.

On the final day of our little trekking adventure, we had walked nearly 20 miles back down from viewing a glacier and were fairly near the village where we planned to stay the night.

My period had started earlier that day, and I thought about the same thing you mentioned in your post because I was given the same advice once while camping in northern California. I knew there were bears in the woods in Kashmir because the vistors' centre in Srinigar contained an immense stuffed specimen, so I kept my eyes and ears open for anything unusual.

The trail we were on ran more or less parallel to and about 50 yards above a wide, fast-flowing stream about 2 feet deep. Towards the end of the day I became aware of a kind of droning type noise that I could hear even over the sound of the water, not quite a growl and not an angry sound, but a relentless one nevertheless. I glanced down the hill towards the stream and, sure enough, there was a large black bear slowly making its way up the hill towards us.

I know you're not supposed to run from bears - I've been told that so many times - but, honestly, when I saw that bear headed our way, my legs took on a life of their own and I took off down the path, with my husband beside me. Even carrying a heavy backpack, I felt like I was breaking a world sprint record. It was pointless to run, because if the bear had really been interested in us, it could've outrun us easily, but somewhere in the back of my brain I guess I figured that running would give me something to do in the 10 seconds or so before the bear ate me.

After tearing down the path for about a minute, we slowed down to a walk and looked around - no bear. It obviously wasn't coming after us because we were no threat to it, and what we finally decided was that it had caught my scent and was coming to investigate, but in the end found it not worth the effort to pursue us!