I'm calling BS on the story about the DII runner hiding in a tree to avoid a bear attack

These fake bear stories are getting more consistent.

My question is, would she have run if it was a grizzly bear or is the only reason she ran is because it was a black bear? #blackbearlivesmatter

At a minimum I think there is some embellishment. She has a dramatic flair.

We have merged to threads on the same topic into one:

One was entitled "Some of the RW commenters don't believe the story about the DII runner hiding in a tree to avoid a bear attack, do you?" The other was called "Calling BS on this bear attack story ."

pancho sanza wrote:

All I know is, the mansplaining is strong.

I can see why this thread makes some uncomfortable but we have decided to allow the discussion to go on as there have been a number of running hoaxes exposes on Letsrun over the year - normally perpetrated by white males. So her sex and race have nothign to do with this. Plus it seems to me that this story can very easily be verified or exposed.

Hardloper wrote:

Until it's on Strava it didn't happen

I think you were joking when you posted that (or a moderator did as it was deleted) but it's actually a great post.

The article says she was wearing a Garmin but it died when she went into the tree. "Smith’s Garmin watch—and her only light source—died at 9:47 p.m., leaving her in total darkness."

So there pretty much should be proof as to whether the story is true or not. All she has do is post her Garmin file.

Hardloper wrote:

Until it's on Strava it didn't happen

rojo wrote:

I think you were joking when you posted that (or a moderator did as it was deleted) but it's actually a great post.

The article says she was wearing a Garmin but it died when she went into the tree. "Smith’s Garmin watch—and her only light source—died at 9:47 p.m., leaving her in total darkness."

So there pretty much should be proof as to whether the story is true or not. All she has do is post her Garmin file.

Yes! Someone call Derek and MI! Let's get "Doubler" on the case!

Bad Wigins wrote:

Both threads about this completely miss the point of tall tales. It doesn't matter if you believe the story, only if you like the story.

The helicopter being "too far away" to see her in a dark forest at night is classic. What would it have done if it had seen her? She's gonna be saved by a passing helicopter?

You seriously don't think if the helicopter saw her that they couldn't have radioed in for someone on the ground to pick her up? I think it is more believable that she ran 5 miles from the bear that someone is stupid enough not to know about radios......

What allegedly happened, well...this is how you get on Ellen, period.

Anything is possible, but this story not probable. 5 miles is a huge exaggeration. If she had said 1 mile, people would have still been skeptical.

The cubs could not have kept up anywhere near 5 miles and the bear would have lost interest long before that.

If the tree were too small or the branches too weak for a bear to climb, the bear could easily have pushed the tree back and forth till it toppled or shook her out of it (yes, they can do that---research it).

Most likely, she saw the cubs, saw the Mama bear and ran. If she truly climbed up a tree, her body would surely have evidence of that with scraps and marks from the bark. If she did, it doesn't mean that the bear was anywhere near her.

Bears can't run quickly around larger things, like a big tree, like a dog can do. Ponder that.

Zante wrote:

Use some common sense guys:

1) I think it's reasonable to doubt some of the details but you also have to consider what happens to one's perception of time and details during events like these. Usually people overestimate the numbers (how long, how far, etc.) which can muddy up the recounting of the story. So it's not out of the ordinary for the details to sound off.

2) Why on earth would you assume total BS if an entire town went searching and the runner was not found til morning in a disheveled state (to put it lightly)?

This.

The broad strokes of the story are totally plausible. I'm inclined to believe it.

Grizzly Adams Family wrote:

But...I question how Rojo can make the statement that it's "normally perpetrated by white males."

How would "anybody" know that?

If I remember correctly, the great majority of BQ-qualifier cheats, "run across America" cheats, "fastest to the top of Everest" cheats, world age group record cheats, etc., that have been exposed on LRC have been white males. Not gonna name names but you all know who these people are.

simplicity works wrote:

Zante wrote:

Use some common sense guys:

1) I think it's reasonable to doubt some of the details but you also have to consider what happens to one's perception of time and details during events like these. Usually people overestimate the numbers (how long, how far, etc.) which can muddy up the recounting of the story. So it's not out of the ordinary for the details to sound off.

2) Why on earth would you assume total BS if an entire town went searching and the runner was not found til morning in a disheveled state (to put it lightly)?

This.

The broad strokes of the story are totally plausible. I'm inclined to believe it.

I'm pretty sure the alleged 5 miles was taken from her GPS watch after the fact. So hard to place that as a recollection issue.

There's so many things that make no sense here. She was being chased by a bear for miles but then had the presence of mind to climb a tree she knew the bear could not climb. The idea of this is absurd for so many reasons besides the obvious distance reasons. The idea of throwing ones socks and bra at a bear is also absurd. Someone who had the presence of mind to escape not delves into hysteria when they have a moment of respite and thinks throwing ones socks at a bear will scare it away. Then she could not find the bra and sock? What did the bear take them back to its lair to keep with the bra and socks of other girls it had tree'd.

Some girl made up a story, never expected it to go viral and now unfortunately will be in the crosshairs. I think the biggest irresponsibility goes to whoever published this story. There are so many holes in it you have to be the most gullible person in the world to take it at face value. This is a perfect example of the decline in journalism as everyone races to be the first to post a hot new story. In the days before internet journalism, several people would have reviewed this first and at least one would have said, we should look into this more before sending it to the press. When I first clicked on this one I thought it might be something like an onion article.

I could be wrong, but I also immediately detected the faint smell of b.s. in this story, and I only read the first quote on the home page. I thought, "well, this sounds like b.s., so I won't waste my time reading any more of this." Sorry, to be judgy, but I can't ignore my b.s. radar.

complete and utter rubbish.

That chic is lying and getting her time in the spot light.

Wow after reading that story now all I can think is those drugs must have been good. "Toxins" in her blood and all or she has a serious mental problem.

I liked the part where she made a sports bra out of her rain coat. Such ingenuity. If you've been in the woods for any amount of time then you know a chipmunk can sound like a heard a buffalo running in the leaves. All she could see was the eyes?! Lmao. This is like an onion article.

VroomVroom wrote:

Wow after reading that story now all I can think is those drugs must have been good. "Toxins" in her blood and all or she has a serious mental problem.

I liked the part where she made a sports bra out of her rain coat. Such ingenuity. If you've been in the woods for any amount of time then you know a chipmunk can sound like a heard a buffalo running in the leaves. All she could see was the eyes?! Lmao. This is like an onion article.

If she visits letsrun, don't expect her to accept an invitation for coffee with you

hyperbole wrote:

She likely got chased, but I’m with you. You can’t outrun a bear...

I will agree that one most likely cannot outrun a bear but in the case of the following encounter it may have been best for the jogger to do as she did and run after the black bear took one swat at her, moved off, and then approached to her a 2nd time. At that point standing still was not working as far as getting the bear to leave her along. In this case the bear was not interested in chasing the jogger. Who knows what it wanted. Maybe it wanted her to move out of the area.

I friend of mine who spent a week hiking Glacier National Park every year hiked down a narrow path to a stream. It was the only access to that area of the stream and I think he said the stream could not traverse in either direction. As he got in sight of the stream he saw a bear. The bear sped toward him while he was still on the path a short distance from the stream. In this case my friend felt it was safer to turn around on the path and run away. My friend was eventually able to move off the main path and the bear continued on the path past him. My friend thinks the bear may have felt trapped in that area of the stream and just wanted to get out of the area.

This is interesting and very apropos as I saw a huge black bear on my run just this weekend.

After reading the article, I get the feeling the author of the article took some artistic license after having a very casual and candid conversation with the runner.

I can totally see this happening, but probably not exactly how it was described. The author makes it seem like she was running from a charging bear, but likely the bear was just pursuing her out of curiosity and never intended to do anything but check out whether she was a threat.

Some of the details seem to have been added by the author to embellish the story, but I believe the runner.

Her story is just too exaggerated for me to believe. Out ran a bear for appointments 5 miles. Climbed a tree that a bear couldn't. (Bears are excellent tree climbers). I guess the bear forgot about it's cubs for 5 miles. And i had to roll my eyes reading "i couldn't cry because i needed the water". But urinated to keep warm. SMH

Yeah, b.s factor of 10+

Old Forge NY is farm-fed black bear country. They are as non-aggressive as the typical overweight American slob. No way the bear is going to chase her for longer than it takes to scare her - in this case, about 50 meters.

As been said, black bears can climb a 100 foot, greased pole with ease if there was so much as a glazed donut at the top.

Not saying this girl is lying, but she may want to cut back on the shrooms.