In 2014 a riding buddy and I went on a motorcycle trip to Yellowstone, Bear Tooth Pass (rated the #1 motorcycle road in North America), and Rocky Mountain National Park pass. The plan was we would camp along the way and get hotels every few days when people could no longer stand down wind of us. Hot water and soap are one of those things that truly separate us from the animals.
My buddy was fairly new to riding a motorcycle and had just purchased a used 2004 Ducati Monster 866. I wanted to make sure he was okay and had taken him on a 4 day trip the year before, mentoring him on touring, and helping him gain confidence. It was the least I could do, as we had been friends through work for years. Kyle had never been to Yellowstone before and enjoyed outdoor activities, but camping in this wilderness was frightening to him.
I assured him it would be fine and told him how I had been to Yellowstone on a bike camping 3 times before and never ever saw a Grizzly bear. Once with my 14 year old daughter in 1998. Three months leading up to the trip and as we planned the exact dates, I found random videos online of Grizzly attacks, mountain lions mauling back packers and sent them to him. I was having fun. He was not amused though. I let him know that the rangers do a great job and keep the bears out of where people are at and watch for all of this stuff. “Grizzlies eating Twinkies and potato chips is not good for hibernation,” I stated. “The Rangers know this and deliberately keep them away from people and tourist areas”.
We started on our trip and all went fine, until we entered into Yellowstone at the south gate about 9:05 AM (to ensure we got a campsite – sites would go fast in late July). About 1 mile into the park we came upon a van stopped in the middle of the road, and on the other side of a two lane road was a full grown Grizzly. Trees and pine needles lined both sides of the road. The van edged forward blocking the other lane and ours as they snapped away taking pictures. When the van edged closer the Grizzly looked up and started ferociously scratching his front paws and claws into the pine needles like a bull about to charge. I knew from the many videos I had sent Kyle earlier that that meant trouble. This 600 lbs. Grizzly was only 15 feet from us and we were completely exposed. I was ahead of Kyle on my 1998 BMW R1200C and I spotted a small opening to the right of the van on the side of the road was a small patch of pine needles and slight bank I could make and get through. I was not waiting around… I gunned it and pointed the bike. I hoped to God that Kyle was thinking the same thing and would be right behind me.
We both made it and pulled off the side of the road in a paved pull out about 3 miles after that. I was off my bike first and peeled off my helmet. Kyle, who is very fair skinned and has his head shaved (for receding reasons I think) got off his bike. He took off his helmet and he was three shades redder than I had ever seen him in 10 years! He said, “you left me there, just left me there?!”
I replied amusingly, “I was going to spray you with honey and yell ... sacrifice!”
“That’s not fucking funny at all,” he blurted.
Kyle is also usually very calm and even keeled, barely an emotional response of any kind in any situation – that’s his norm. He finally calmed down, and I assured him again, that that was the first time I had ever seen a Grizzly in 4 visits to Yellowstone, and it was the truth.
I explained, "that when we camp in the designated areas the rangers would know if there was any Grizzly activity and shut down the campground. They watch that stuff." I continued, "that if we pee around the campsite that Grizzlies know that it is human’s scent and it will stop them from entering the campsite. I had read that in a few places”.
I lied - I had no idea if that was true – or if that was exactly the opposite, and the bears knew it was human and associated FOOD to that smell. Kyle was shook up, I had to say something to reassure him…
We grabbed a camping site about 30 miles later in the park. Near Old Faithful, the geyser. Started a campfire and settled in as it became dark. Kyle drank an enormous amount of water all evening…. all night long (every 5-10 minutes) Kyle was walking around the campsite peeing on trees, around his tent and everywhere he could!
The rest of the trip was uneventful, but Kyle peed on everything at ALL the campsites while we were in Wyoming and Montana! I didn’t say anything and just smiled to myself!