Who Wouldn’t Want to Camp with a Grizzly Bear?

Dear Friends and Family,
My mom was always very good at getting a Christmas letter out. I have always had good intentions, but as you can see, even getting a card out on time is quite a challenge for me. But, this year, late or not, I am getting this one out!

I wanted to tell the story of the photo on our Christmas card. We titled it the Shortest Camping Trip Ever, and it’s just a very good glimpse into our adventurous, somewhat unpredictable life.

After Mark had been bear hunting for what felt like months, he came home ready to go back and figured he might need to not leave his family. Thus, the family camping and bear hunt plan was launched. Now, if you know Mark at all, you know that when he tells a story, the exact details are slightly less than what he describes, but when you are going on a hunting trip, everything is further and more difficult than he lets on. It’s all part of the adventure.

So, we headed out on “four” hour drive to a beautiful spot right by Glacier. The plan was for he and Eli to hunt bears and Emme and I to hang at camp and relax. On the way, Mark always feels obligated to tell me it is CRAZY Grizzly country, which I don’t actually want to know.

When we left, it was nice and warm but of course as we got closer to our spot, it was more like 45-50 degrees and rainy. Not ideal, but we pressed on. Arriving at the road, it was a typical backwoods Montana road that has not been maintained and thus had about 10 GIANT potholes that were full of water due to the rain. These are the potholes that are so big you do not know if your vehicle will make it through them. Oh, and we of course have no cell service.

We finally made it through all the potholes, park and load up the llamas so we can hike into our “beautiful” spot. At this point, I am hoping that it is somehow magically more beautiful than where we are parked. Though we are in the general vicinity of Glacier, aka 40 miles away, this is clearly NOT Glacier.

As we are walking in, we have the great pleasure of noticing some really big fresh bear poop. This might not bring you pleasure, but again, we are with Mark, and it is quite exciting to him. He assures me that he does not think it is Grizzly poop. Hmmmm….

Finally, we land at our “beautiful” spot about a half of a mile away from our truck. It is raining and in a desolate burn area, but we are all making the best of it. Mark still thinks it is beautiful.
We set up our tent, blow up our sleeping pads, gather some wet wood, do our best to get a fire going and have just boiled some water to put into our freeze-dried meals when I hear some minor, but urgent cuss words coming from my husband’s mouth. Then “That’s a big grizzly.” Lo and behold, a sizable bear is meandering across the slope and 350 yards from us. Now, just to be clear, you cannot shoot grizzlies in Montana, only black bears so we are not hunting grizzlies. We can’t shoot it unless it is actually attacking us, which if you are unaware, pretty much ensures that someone is going to get chewed on. Not ideal.

Some tense moments ensue as the grizzly walks along and disappears over the mountain top. Does that mean it is safe to stay? Does that mean he isn’t interested?

Well, I am not sure, but it seems pretty stupid to go to sleep and wait to find out. After about 10 minutes, Mark says, “We have to leave.” Oh praise God for some sanity! I’m think he realized that getting eaten himself is one thing but allowing his whole family to get eaten is quite another!

We packed that camp up so fast and were super happy to be sleeping in the Suburban and the llama trailer. I think we were camping for all of 30 minutes J This is a picture of us just before we walked out, still wondering if the grizzly was going to track us. You can see our llama Summit and our dog Boomer in this photo as well.

Even though we sometimes get in a pickle, we are all really thankful for our many adventures and hope you are having some as well!

I must mention that we lost my mom this year as well. She lived with us the last year and a half of her life and we are super grateful to have been given that opportunity. We will miss her ever positive attitude, her smiles, her love and just her presence. It is hard to think that both of my parents are gone. It has certainly challenged me to think more urgently about my own life as I pass into a new season.

Yet, it is still a Merry Christmas! May we all celebrate and know the true meaning of the season. God sent his son into this very broken world as a baby to live a sinless life. His death on the cross provided atonement for our sins that we can come boldly to the throne of God through belief and fellowship with Christ. This is not by work but is the precious gift of God that we celebrate this season!

Much love to you and yours this season and always….
The Livesays