A few months ago Stewart and I visited the Grand Teton National Park with my cousins. All very beautiful, diminished somewhat from the smoke from Western fires, but since the human race has wholesale botched the entire climate change crisis I suppose that will be the new normal. Anyhoo, bear spray. Perhaps a little overkill in the front country where every third person has a canister of it and who collectively could expel an ecosystem full of bears from the forests, but on one of the last days I went hiking alone and so picked up a can at the grocery store before heading out.
The spray’s directions begin with the bear charging at you and still about 40 feet away, although it then clarifies that the 40 feet translates into 2 to 3 seconds before being mauled to death. So release the safety pin, aim like you life depended on it because it really really does depend on it, pull the trigger, and pray you are upwind of the bear. If you are not upwind, and/or the wind gods are not in your favor, the instructions state you may have to wait until the bear is quite close before initiating the spray. Just going on intuition here, 2 to 3 seconds feels pretty close to me, which is where the instructions started best case, so I’m not sure why they felt obliged to tell you to wait another..half second?…before letting the bear have it.
No bear sightings that day, so I felt fortunate, but hardly comforted by the orange can I held in my hand for most of the hike.