in anticipation of climbing "alaska highway" this morning, i opted not to go to a late night beach party with Rich and some of his co-workers. instead, i looked for a free spot to camp. i initially decided to camp near the beach up a provincial park road. i found a flat, out of the way spot at 11pm near the entrance to some kind of mine. i started setting up my tent when something huge in the mine collapsed. it was dark and it scared to hell out of me, my reaction was to get in the car and speed away to another free campground called "the spit". i slept fine at the spit despite a few strange noises that i ignored. i noticed bear paw prints on my car trunk (where some of my food is) this morning. this means that there was a bear less than six feet from me scoping me out while i slept.