A Naif in the Forest by Darrell Berger

Wing Tips to Hiking Boots: Musings of a New, Full-Time Poconos Resident

Violet the Corgi has a perfunctory bark for the UPS van. She has a more annoyed one for any squirrel that attacks the bird feeder on the deck, or any deer grazing in the yard. Twice I have heard a much louder and more urgent report that turned out to be directed to a raccoon at the feeder.

One particular night in late spring I assumed her bark was caused by a considerably larger and more annoying raccoon. I opened the door so she could scare it away, and followed her onto the deck.

I saw the feeder in pieces, the iron rod that had held it bent to a forty-five degree angle. I heard a rustling to my left, at the end of the deck, about ten feet away. Then I saw the bear, and the bear saw me. We locked eyes briefly. He executed a Fosbury Flop over the railing to the driveway below. He disappeared into the night.

In the foyer at PEEC there is a stuffed bear close to his size, 250 pounds or so. In the following days I received much good advice about bears. Don’t put out bird feeders in the spring. Keep your garbage cans inside after the snow is gone. Secure garbage cans with bungee cords. Everybody here has a bear story or several.

My wife and I have been weekend people in Dingmans Ferry for seven years, taking our garbage back to the city. Since I retired last fall and moved here full-time, we consider the bears as never before. My first encounter required only a bit of adrenaline, no blood. Violet was proud to have scared the moocher away.

I now feel like a real resident of the forest, no longer a visitor. Though I am a beginner and have much to learn, I have passed the local rite of initiation: I have encountered a bear, eye to eye.