You can't drive a bear away with pennies

Over the weekend, a bear tried to steal our food. We were in the Pike National Forest near Colorado Springs, Colorado. The little food bandit attacked in the night and was not deterred by our forces. It was us agaisnt the bear; nature vs. man.

He came right up to the car, where we were sleeping. The bear woke me and my fiance by trying to pull our food box away from the bumper. Our dog ended up sleeping through the first part of the encounter -- great dog.

I yelled at the bear. Slightly startled, the bear backed up. Then he came forward again. I yelled some more. Yelling wasn't working. I started to think: What do people do in this situation?

I crawled out of the car, raised my hands over my head and started screaming like a crazy man. It was me, the bear and nothing in between us. I think the bear laughed. In other words, I don't think he was impressed. He wasn't coming any closer, for now, but he wasn't leaving our campsite either.

I needed something to drive him away. So, I grabbed a handful of pennies (yes, pennies) and threw them at him. After the second penny toss, the bear backed away.

After 13 minutes of sleep, the bear returned. We did the same things to drive him away for a second time. I started to wonder if this bear was waiting until I threw dollar bills.

Ten minutes of sleep later and then more bear. We bail from the camp spot and sleep in a Wal-Mart parking lot = no sleep.

If you've ever encountered a black bear, please let me know what you did to drive it away. If you've come face to face with a grizzly bear and you drove it away, I'll call you "master" from this day forward.

Also, if you've ever camped at a Wal-Mart parking lot, you'll have to tell us your story. That is an adventure in and of itself.