By Jeff Delong, Reno Gazette-Journal

The bear gave him a bloody nose.

That’s getting off lightly, for sure, but Sam McClure’s predawn encounter with a black bear while hiking the Tahoe Rim Trail two years ago was a frightening experience.

McClure, then 16 and an experienced backpacker, had set up camp near the trail south of Tahoe Meadows on a Monday night in July. He was awakened shortly after 4 a.m. by a heavy animal “falling” across his tent.

Its silhouette in the moonlight made clear what the animal was — a bear. Not a big bear, but big enough.

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