What's That Over There?

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For our grand opening, I want to share this year's bear story. On the Mt Minsi hike, which is known for its bear sightings, we had an interesting scare. Before the hike, I warned and prepared the campers about how to deal with a bear on the mountain. For better or worse, we did not see any bears during the entire first half of the hike. Most of us kinda wanted to see a bear, but you cant make them just come out when we call them.

I set up for my speech at the viewpoint overlooking the Delaware River and the surrounding valley. The view is stunning, and I like to think my speech is too. I am very particular that everyone sit and pay attention and look in my direction during this speech.

In the middle of the speech, Yaakov and a camper interrupt the speech -- "Bear!" the famous one word exclamation that always stops us in our tracks no matter what we are doing. As the campers got up to look, I ordered them to return to their seats. Issue number one when you see a bear is to keep the group under control and out of panic mode. Once they are in panic mode, even an imaginary bear will cause damage. Panic will cause people to do harmful things accidentally to themselves and to each other.

I checked out the bear sighting. I saw trees rustling, but I decided even if it is a bear, its better to avoid panic now and continue with my speech. if it is a bear, Ill tell everyone what to do when the time comes. After all, I know bears dont just jump out of the trees and attack. They are curious. They like to see what's going on first before they act.

I continued with my speech. Suddenly, the rustling noise returns, and with it the sound of rushing paw-stomps. I turned around right on time to see 2 advancing Y3 campers, roaring like amateur bears. They certainly surprised us.

How did they get there in the first place?