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It was Friday, October 9th, when Cameron Swaim, Missy Michaelsen, and myself were making our way up to our home away from home, Quaker Meadow. Upon entry, we all noticed an unusual amount of water on the ground with its source being Ruby’s II. I parked the car quickly, fearing a leak had sprung in Ruby’s garage ruining all the linens. I was the first to examine this catastrophe, only to find that it wasn’t coming out of the garage at all. To the left of the garage was an electrical box next to the store room door that had water pouring out of it like a hose! As I relayed this info to the others, I noticed it coming out from under the store room door as well. I didn’t have the keys to open it, so I called the other two over. Cameron was the first to respond. He unlocked the door but was only able to open it a crack for the water pressure behind it was too much, regardless water gushed out like a mini-river. At this I ran inside to call Terry Taylor. I figured this was something she might want to know. I told her all I knew up to that point, and promised to keep her updated with any new info.
Just then my daring counterparts came springing into the office where I had just hung up the phone. They were talking excitedly at the same time. I heard the words “bear”, “pipes”, “bear”, “ruined”, and I think “bear”. In my disbelief I asked them very eloquently to clarify, “A what?!” “A BEAR!!!” They told me this time in unison. At this I picked up the phone and redialed. Terry’s response was very much like mine: we all laughed at the situation, for although none of us expected it, we weren’t the least bit surprised. I mean, it’s Quaker Meadow after all! “Hey, be sure to get good pictures!” She told us.
There were still two others coming up as staff, Dennis and Kathy Trzeciak who were also informed of the situation and took action with rangers and police before making the drive up the mountain.
In the mean time, Cameron, Missy, and I turned off the water, and opened the door to let out what water we could and hopefully the bear. As we stood at a safe distance we theorized that poor creature was probably in there for about two weeks. That during the last camp he was able to get in and pushed the door closed behind him. As he was resting after having all the Cheerios and Bisquick a bear could eat, they locked up camp on their way out, thus locking him in. We were able to see most of the damage through the half opened door. He (we decided the bear was a guy, and that his name was Geoff after a fellow QM staffer Geoff Breshiers) panicked and in his desperate attempt to escape tried to go through the dry wall ceiling. In so doing, he brought down a beam and broke a water pipe. We don’t know how long the water had been running, it could’ve been two weeks ago or just earlier that day.
Still, with all this going on, we had a camp to prepare for. So we closed and locked the door again to make sure everything else was ready to accept campers. When the Trzeciaks arrived they said the Fish and Game services who would normally come up were on Furlough that day due to state budget cuts, but not to worry, the police promised they had dispatched someone who would be there in about two hours… they never came.
That night, when all the campers were asleep, we resolved to open the door through the night to let the bear come out. We thought maybe all our screaming and laughter from before might’ve caused the bear to reason it’s now safer in the prison than outside. My heart went out to the scared little teddy bear. Well, actually, it wasn’t so little. I sneaked a peak at it before the campers arrived, Geoff was a big bear! We found the gnarled door knob from the inside as it washed out with all the water. The way he thrashed the room and ceiling showed his horror and desperation. I kept telling the others as we fell asleep that night that I wished I could bring the bear inside where it was warm and dry, and feed him chicken noodle soup and pet him as I sang him to sleep. They laughed at the idea and told me I could be the one to open the door... So I did.
That morning, five hours after the door had been opened, we looked inside and sure enough, our friend was still there. Cameron and I talked to him sweetly, like one might coax a scared puppy. We could tell Geoff was not doing well. He seemed sick, and we figured on top of everything else he was probably severely malnourished. But he hadn’t moved from his spot and campers were beginning to walk the camp grounds so we had to close it up and try the Fish and Game services again.
All five of us staffers gathered around the phone in that little office, as Dennis called Fish and Game, “It’s just the same recording I got yesterday.” I decided that was unacceptable, “Give me the phone.” I demanded. So I called 911, and told them of our situation, reminded them of their broken promise, and ordered them to do something about it immediately. “Stay by your phone, you’ll get a call in about 10 min from Fish and Game” and the promise of the dispatcher was fulfilled. I talked to man named Doug who said he was on is way.
We spent the morning waiting for this Doug guy and his team. At about 11:30a, they finally arrived with full gear and two trucks with guns and ammunition. At first they had the persona of “I know what I’m doing, I’ve done this before. Step aside, we’ll save you!” But as they assessed the situation, they realized it was not your average call. The store room is a windowless, cement wall room, with only one door and the bear was behind it. There was no electricity going to that building, we had turned it off for obvious reasons. So all they had to do was go blindly into a room where a large black bear sat waiting in the darkness with only one exit. We tried to tell them we think Geoff is sick, and that he hasn’t moved from his spot even with the door being open for so long, but all they heard was “You’re walking into a trap”, and “a HUGE bear is waiting for you!” Soon their strong, heroic posture shrunk into a nervous second-guessing boy scout. They took a look at the bear after much hesitation and came out with the conclusion, “That’s the biggest damn bear I’ve ever seen!” They shooed everyone indoors as they feared “it might turn into a rodeo.” Disappointed to not get front row seats, we complied.
About an hour and three tranquilizers later, they asked the staff for help to pull the limp mass of wet bear out of the room. Gladly accepted, just thrilled to be able to tell people “I’ve touched a live, wild bear!” We got it loaded, and took many pictures, then waved good-bye to our new friend, Geoff the bear.
