


Big Jim Pleyte and I were finishing off a great day of hiking, trekking on a trail near Specimen Ridge , a favorite area of ours in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone. My suspect body was holding up to the challenges of elevation and a lot of up. What can happen in the wild turned a leisurely hike into an adventure. Midway in the hike, Jim wanted to do a little exploring. I would rest at the dead tree. Jim would continue to a point beknownst to him. After a while, I wandered a bit. I was never more than one hundred yards from the anointed tree but because of terrain and high wind we never saw nor heard one another when he returned. After not finding me at the tree, Jim then worked his way to the road. I stayed put for 1 and ½ hours as boy scout trained and bellowed “Pleyte”!!! ineffectively into the wind. I then spotted a bear like animal on a distant slope. Without bear bell or bear spray a nervous tension gripped my stomach. It was time to leave. I was paralleling our original route up when 50 yards to my left lumbered a grizzly with its distinct hump and confident air of an animal on the top of the food chain. My Pleyte pleas now included arm waving with the idea of looking bigger than my 155 lb reality.
I proceeded out thinking worst case scenarios. Jim was still looking for me in the fading light and approaching snow storm. What would I tell his wife, Flo? Who would pay for the helicopter search for Jim? I waved and yelled in case Jim was glassing the terrain for me.
I soon found out that a search had already been initiated for me, ME!, the seasoned hiker assumed lost, like a wandering old soul with Alzheimer’s. 200 yards from the road, Zula, a black and white collie mix, was the first to find me. A quick excited sniff and back to her handler. “Are you David Maertz?” She asked “Yes, I am. How is Mr. Pleyte? “ “ He is back on the road .” After a greeting and a manly hug, we told our stories. It turned out I wasn’t staying at said tree as instructed. Blame aside, all ended well with the moral of the story- Stay with the guy with the bear spray.
photo of bear by Jim Pleyte
























