Peeing With the Black Bears
By Jeannine Patané • May 2004

     The most popular route from Alaska to the Lower 48 is the Alcan Highway. For a rougher, less traveled and more scenic route, I took the Cassiar Highway through British Columbia. When I got to the highway’s southern junction at the Yellowhead Highway, my car was low on petrol. As I pulled into the petrol station, the time was a few minutes past 9:00 PM, and the building window displayed a Closed sign. The station manager noticed me pull up to the fuel pump as she was locking the station door. “Do you just need fuel?” She asked.
     “Yes,” I said, “I want to keep driving tonight, but my tank is almost empty.”
     She was thoughtful and kind to let me fuel up. I followed her into the station to pay for the petrol. The lights were off and the floor was still wet from being mopped. As we waited for the transaction to process, the manager asked, “Which way are you headed?”
     “South,” I said, and I further commented, “Now I can’t stop and pee alongside the road anywhere I like. I have to find and use restrooms.”
     She laughed, “Yeah, and now you have to watch out for bears. They’re out this time of year.” I told her about the 12 black bears I’ve already seen along the road in the last two days. She told me about a time she was driving with her five-year-old son and he had to relieve himself. She pulled over to let him get out. As her son was peeing, she noticed a black bear in the bushes, no farther than six feet away from him. She did not say a word to her boy, who was unaware of what was next to him, for fear he would scream and startle the bear. As soon as her son was safely in the vehicle, she pointed out the bear. “Look what was over there while you were peeing!”
     Alaska, the Yukon and the more remote areas of British Columbia are not defined by borders, they are defined by a lifestyle. As I travel, I have to modify my lifestyle to accommodate the local culture. The roads south of here will have convenient 24-hour petrol stations with restrooms, but I will no longer be able to pull over and pee with the black bears anytime I want.