A Camp At Hot Springs Near Colorado River

Not a ranger, but back in 2010 I had just finished a wilderness leadership class, and I had decided to go to Colorado to get some solo wilderness time. I found out about some hot springs near the Colorado River, that were only accessible during the winter. This is since, during the summer the melted snow raises the water level of the river, and they become submerged. So I decided to go and spend a few weeks out there. It was technically on Bureau of Land Management land, and I had about a 4-mile hike from where I parked, to where I was camping. The BLM lady who watched the land saw me when I arrived and asked me to just write the date on my windshield every week, to let her know I’m still alive out there.

Anyways, it was pretty pleasant out there – but every night I was terrified of the bears, they should be sleeping. But if they aren’t sleeping at night, it means they are hungry as hell and I’m a potential dinner for them. For this reason, I decided to set up my camp close to a cliff. It was about 40 feet down to the river, and I figured that in the worst-case scenario, I could jump and then get to the hot springs to prevent hyperthermia. Yes, I know! It sounds like a crazy plan, but once you are out there in the wild, you realize that the bear spray is kind of useless inside the tent. So one early morning I hear these loud animal noises outside my tent.


They were getting closer and very much louder, accompanied by grunting and breathing noises. I was too scared to open my tent, I just froze. And the steps kept getting closer and closer and closer. At this point, I could hear it sniffing my tent. I did not even dare to move – I just lay there. Frozen still inside my tent, I prayed and hoped for the best. The sniffing sound seems scary in movies, but when it happens for real, it is a different level of dread. A while later, the creature started to move away from my tent, but it was still out there, and now I could hear more than one animal. I did not know what to do. After a while when the noises were a little distant, I finally poked my head out, and it was a herd of elk! A bunch of harmless elk was exploring my campsite. And I assumed that it would be a bear or worse, two bears. I swear though, it was probably the scariest I’ve ever been out camping.
Location: United States

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