BFRO #9654: Various incidents around Paul Lake Provincial Park outside Kamloops

📍 Location

📝 Description

We were camping in Paul Lake Provincial Park at the upper end of Paul Lake campground over the Canada Day holiday. We were told by the park operator to be "bear aware" because the Saskatoon berries were ripening and "every bear within 100 miles knew it". We did notice much more wildlife this year than last year, which was our first time staying at the park. We saw two large black bears moving up the mountain past our campsite the first morning we were there. Three separate events occured during our stay that merit the attention of BFRO. The first occurred at our campsite on the 3rd night we were there. We had been having problems with a wood rat trying to make a nest in the engine of our car. For two nites straight we had heard him knocking around in our car. I was concerned about flammable straw/gnawed tubes/gnawed wires and had chased him out twice. He usually showed up about 5-10 minutes after we went to bed. On the night in question I was lying in my sleeping bag, waiting for the rat to show up. He did, but instead of going to the car he scampered under the tent floor very near my bag. Surprised and not quite believing, I felt the lump he made in the floor of the tent and felt the warmth of his body, and I noticed that it was shaking like a leaf, like it was scared. I assumed a coyote or something had scared him, got a house shoe and banged him a couple of times until he left (I was really tired of this rat), then laid down and assumed I'd be able to get to sleep. My wife woke up with the banging but almost immediately dozed again. About 5 minutes after the rat had left, I heard footsteps very near our tent, very quiet, but definitely bipedal. I only heard 2 or 3 near our tent, but my wife says she heard it circle our campsite a couple of times. Whatever it was was walking very slowly, as if stepping and looking around, then stepping again. Thinking it was kids looking for something to steal (though impressed by how quiet they were) I was just starting to get out and look around when the strangest yell I've ever heard in my life sounded out very close to our campsite, in the woods up the mountain. It wasn't a scream, but a very complex set of warbly type sounds that sounded almost like an owl but much deeper. I've heard wolves, coyotes, loons, squirrels, and been scared by owls more times than I care to admit but this was just WEIRD. It woke my wife up completely, who asked what the hell was THAT? We asked the next morning if anyone else had heard anything - the folks in the next campsite said no but were a bit standoffish. The park operator suggested a cougar but I don't think so. It was definitely not a bear. I've searched various sites looking for sound bites and I found a site with courting calls of Barred Owls and that's closest but not deep enough and this was only made by one animal. This lasted much longer (total about 10-15 seconds). It sounded like an animal, not a bird. We didn't hear anything else and eventually got to sleep, thinking that an owl had spooked us.The second incident happened the next day (1-July). Thunderstorms had moved through the area and cooled things down nicely. My wife and I decided to walk in the rain from the day use parking lot to the west end of the lake and back. No one else was on the trail or in the day use area - the rain had kept everyone close to home that evening. We went over the shoulder and down to the lake level on the other (west) side where it started raining hard with lightning. Concerned about the worsening weather, I convinced my wife to return and we did. By the time we regained the shoulder, the storm had skirted us and it was only lightly raining. As we descended the shoulder to return to the day use lot, I noticed how quiet the woods were but ascribed it to the just passing storm. It stopped raining and was what I call "spitting", i.e. a drop every now and then. It was about 7:00 pm in the evening. About 2/3 of the way down the trail, I had gone ahead of my wife (who was taking a picture of a tree or something) when I transitioned from a duff-covered portion of the trail to a portion with gravel/rocks. I scuffed a foot (i.e. made a noise). I was surprised to hear a loud GRUNT and immediately afterwards the very loud snap of a large branch being broken off to my left, up the mountain from the trail. I looked up and to the left, where I saw a large, fallen tree, 40-50 ft from the trail. Crouched by the log was something large, with reddish-brown hair. The colour of the hair and the size made me immediately think "grizzly" but grizzlies aren't really known around Paul Lake (I had checked after we saw the black bears). I also thought of an orangutan but I know there are none of those in BC. There was a significant amount of undergrowth, and there were a couple of saplings obscuring my view, so all I was able to see was a large amount of reddish-brown hair and vague outlines of a form, greatly obscured by the plant material. Then it stood up (I assume

🔍 Circumstances

My wife heard the footsteps, the cry, and saw the splashes from the rocks. Our daughter slept through the cry, wasn't with us on the hike. Don't know if she paid attention to the rocks or not. We asked some folks if hey had heard anything but they said no.

🌤️ Weather Conditions

Campsite visit - around midnite. Cloudy, warm but not hot. Lake "bear sighting", see above, rock throwing calm, clear evening no wind. Very quiet and peaceful.

ℹ️ Additional Details

Campsite visit - around midnite. Cloudy, warm but not hot. Lake "bear sighting", see above, rock throwing calm, clear evening no wind. Very quiet and peaceful.

🔗 Sources (1)

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