The Sniff Test

It was an unusual sound. I’m a light sleeper, and anything above a whisper close by will easily wake me. It often causes me to have a hard time sleeping in the backcountry, so I often pack earplugs. I had hiked into the campsite just before dark. In my haste I had forgotten my earplugs. I set up the hammock before putting my food into the bear box a few hundred yards away.It was around 10 or 11pm when the sound roused me instantly from sleep. Let me describe it this way: If you placed a plastic bag over your nose and mouth and inhaled, then allowed your breath to push it away from your face. The tarp near my shoulder ruffled. It was pitch dark in the hammock. I lay still. Perhaps it was the wind? It didn’t continue, but I thought I heard the crunch of leaves as something walked about the campsite, and the grunt of breathing. It wasn’t human breathing. There was a bit of a throaty grumble to it. 

I pictured the bear wandering just outside the hammock. I stayed silent. I thought, should I identify myself as human and not prey? I didn’t want to startle the bear, and following bear country rules, had placed all food and “smellable” items that might attract a bear inside my bear canister far from my sleeping space. Soon what ever it was wandered off, and I drifted back to sleep.