Bear Encounters

“I've never seen a bear in the wild, which is weird considering where I've hiked in Northern CA... I've always wanted to see one (preferably without having it trash my camp). Have you got any good stories about bear encounters?”

“Bearpaw Meadow

We photographed him for 45 minutes”

“I was over in the shenadoah taking an unintended blue blaze when we ran across one fifty foot off. he stood up and sniffed us out and shadowed us for a few minutes. we just ?calmly? kept walking. best wrong turn i ever took.”

“Great picture, Snownymph! I'd love to see one that close!”

“We had a group of 7 or 8 when the 3 bears got our stuff in Yosemite (my bag and another stayed up in the tree). Medium size bear knocked down the rest of the food, SnowDude went to grab it before the bear got down, but it was gone. The Big bear got it, and when we headed out towards the grunting, he stuck his head up and snarled at us (he was BIG). We let him finish. We heard a noise and turned our lights to it. It was baby bear, probably taking lessons. We cleaned up the mess, but we never got the smell of bear spit off of the bags.”

“Also saw one at Iva Bell Hot Springs. 3 of us were trying to get a photo, but weren't close enough. We kept running around Alex's bivy, and the next morning he said "what bear?". He slept thru it!!!”

“Wow, were you skert?!

No but my brother likes to tell stories about being chased by a bear all night in Yosemite. Also he was driving somewhere in the NE and saw a grizzly on the side of the road. It stood up and was all flexing muscles. Scared the crap out of them and they were in a car.”

“Griz's from a distance at Denali.
Scanned from slide

Saw another griz much closer driving down the Parks Highway, south of Denali. I always scan, looking for wildlife. Looking in the brush right by the road, passed a giant bear face looking at us, 15 yards away.

Tracks up close Footprint with size eight boot for comparison

Black bears below trail in Sequoia, quick passing view. They were as surpised as us.

In the Sandias, east of ABQ Bear Scat

And in the Sandias riding up the chairlift in the summer saw a sow and two cubs.”

“Hey Pathman, do you live in ABQ? I moved from there about a year and a half ago.

I've taken that chair-lift probably 20 times, hiked the La Luz trail probably 30, and never ONCE saw a bear or any sign of a bear. I must be blind or bear-repellent.”

“My coolest encounter was on a canoe trip when a black bear swam across the river right in front of us. It was a powerful current but he had no trouble.”

“Phaedrus, I do live in ABQ. They are definitely in the Sandias, as are cougar. I'm still waiting to see a cougar.”

“I was with tarabull and her family in the Porkies in upper Michigan. We pulled into camp right by a nice lake in late afternoon. Pretty soon, we could hear screams (and I mean bloody murder screams) from a group at the other end of the lake. From what we could make out, they were having trouble with the problem bear reported to be in the area. All was quiet for a half hour or so until a large black bear ambled into our camp right at dinner time.
So there we are, everybody has their dinner cooking or about to be cooked. The bear probably thought he had hit the lotto. We hollered and yelled until he strolled off, looking for a quieter dinner. Got the old blood pumping plus we got to see a balck bear out in the woods. Tarabull didn't sleep a wink that night.”

“I wrestled a muzzled and declawed bear in a sports show. I recall that the bear tried to lick me to death once I was down. Two things I remember. Bears have longer tongues than you would think they need. Secondly, imagine the worst breath you have ever encountered and multiple that by a million.

I won't get a second chance because I believe insurance and legal challenges put an effective end to bear rassling in the USA which was once common in certain parts of the country.”

“I know i've said it before, but this seems like a good time to bring it up. The polar bear is the only animal in north america known for stalking and eating humans, at first i thought it was cool to see one of these monsters on hudson bay, but isolated in a cabin with no contact, a plywood shack is more like it, better than a tent i suppose, but still, if it wasn't for the gun we brought with just for the possible encounter with a polar bear... i may not have survived... Check it out ”

“Yeah. I don't think I'd like to see a POLAR bear up close unless there are bars between us.

Glad you made it out. Ever hear of anyone finding the bear?”

“Scary story simer190!

I remember seeing a gruesome story of a Polar Bear attack on the occupants of a camp. I won't relate the details but you were definitely lucky.”

“One of my college profs did some graduate work on the tundra. His supervising prof gave each of the grad researchers an air horn. He told them to blow it if they saw a polar bear, that they were afraid of them. Yeah right, he just wanted fair warning so he could get away. How long does it take for a polar bear to eat a grad student, anyway?”

“Polar bear eat humans because in their environment, they're the top of the food chain. To them, everything they see is a meal. When they see humans, they probably think something like, damn that is a BIG seal. How did it get up on its flippers like that? Boy it sure can run fast. Well, I guess I'll eat it anyway.”

“If you want to see a bear go to Yosemite and hang your food in a tree.
Of course, you might see a ranger writing you up for not having a bear can first. 8^)”

“Yellowstone, 1998
Near Yellowstone Falls.

Stopped along a road where a young grizz was diligently ripping apart a rotten log and helping himself to ants and grubs for lunch. The bear was maybe 75 yards downhill in a meadow with a hedge of lodgepole pine along the road partially obscuring our views of each other. After watching a few minutes, a station wagon with Connecticut plates stopped and a family piled out. I motioned to the family to be quiet and told them just sit still here quietly and we can watch for along time. Other cars stopped and all stayed quiet and still, and everyone passed binoculars among the kids for a closer look.

A car with Kansas plates stopped and before anyone knew what was happening some yahoo was running through the meadow towards the bear with a videocamera to his face. Several people shouted to get back but he didn't stop. I thought "#&%!$, we are going to see a mauling!" But the bear turned and ran into the woods.

If that idiot had stayed up on the road and zoomed he could have had a lot of great video footage.”

“I was dayhiking solo on untracked snow in the San Bernardino Mtns, and I stopped in my tracks. Saw big prints coming towards me, then they disappeared to the side. He must've heard my trekking poles. When I stopped for lunch, I kept looking behind me.

San Bernardino Peak Bear Prints

Like Pathman, I've seen bears, but not cougars. I want to see one this year.”

“You in CA that want to see cats might check out Pinnacles NM. See the NPS Repotrt.

http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/msg01122.html”

“hmm not too far off I-5 between LA and Sacramento?”

“Glacier National Park
August, 2001.

Wall-Man, Orin, and I had just got through climbing Mt. Siyeh in Preston Park. We were going back out when a young couple came running up from the direction of the trailhead and said that they had seen a Grizzly in the bushes a few hundred yards down the trail. They said it just looked at them from the bushes. They were too afraid to go past it. The five of us decided to make a lot of noise so we would alert the bear to our presence as we headed back to the trailhead. A few hundred yards down the trail we came across the Grizzly in an open field. It was rooting around on the ground. It stood up on its hind legs to check us out (BIG BEAR), then continued rooting and didn't pay much attention to us. Wall-Man and I decided we'd get a closer look and some good pictures. Wall-Man was carrying a good camera with a 400mm lens. We got to a creek about 50 yard away from the bear. I had my bear spray out and ready. Wall-Man undid the safety strap on his canister but left it in his belt holster. While fiddling with his lens, Wall-Man bent over. When he bent over he compressed the trigger and accidentally discharged his bear spray right in his face. It was just a short burst, just a small white cloud. He immediately started to talk about how much it burned. Luckily, he had his sunglasses on, so it didn’t get in his eyes. But he started to sweat from the chemical heat, and as he rubbed his eyes, he went blind. He was trying to flush out his eyes with water from the creek, but it wasn’t working too well. Not realizing how seriously blind he was, we walked a little ways down the creek to get around the bear. But poor Wall-Man couldn’t see a thing, couldn’t move, and had a grizzly bear about 50 yards from him. He called me and I went back to stay with him until he could see well enough to make it down the trail. It was a good 20 minutes before he could see again. He was in intense pain for about 7 hours afterwards.

We got a good close up look at a full-grown Grizzly for about a half-hour. It was the most exciting wildlife encounter that I’ve ever had. Too bad Wall-Man’s camera malfunctioned. I got a couple of shots with my 28mm wide-angle lens, but the bear is just a brown blob in the distance. And after seeing what happened to Wall-Man, I have pretty good faith in bear spray.”

“Arclite, I accidently maced myself when I borrowed a girlfriend's car, actually she borrowed my pickup and I had to work so I took her car. I was fiddling with the mace she had on her keychain, and squirted a bit of that stuff on my shirt. That stuff hurt me so I can't imagine what bear spray would be like.

I've seen 4 black bears in the wild and taken bad pictures of two of them. I'm just about as big as the black bears grow in New Mexico, so I guess they didn't want to mess with me. Right?”

“Hey Bear,

They'll mess with you if they want food. Be safe with it and your cooking.

I've started taking a small compressed-air horn. I figure that being safe with my food and cooking, my 205#, and carbide trekking pole will be enough to avoid or whoop up on any NM black bear.”

“Check out:

http://www.griztrax.net/mishaps.html

That scent stays around for a week!”

“For solo trips I carry a small alarm, 20 dB? I figured a bear probably hasn't heard one of these, and would scare it. I've never carried bear spray.”

“In planning a JMT trip for this summer I had been pondering using one of those alarms hooked up to a Ursack, instead of a bearcan. My final decision is to just buy a bearcan-then I can sleep worry-free. It'd be kind of cool to watch a bear playing soccer with one.”

“In 30 days on the JMT, we didn't see any bears. What a disappointment.”

“I hope I'll see one at the campsites at happy aisles at least.”

“Go to Iva Bell Hot Springs if yo want to see a bear. The map at Reds Mdw store has a bear on the map at Iva Bell. Been there 3 times and saw the bear 3 times.”

“Safety tip:

To avoid being attacked by a bear in your tent at night spread peanut butter on the tents in the next campsite over.”

“Do they like creamy or chunky?”

“ Heres a picture of the bear it's the best one i've got, the night before the attack”

“oops, sorry here it is ”

“I got caught skinny dipping by a ranger once, oh that is bear not bare. Sorry, never mind.”

“Another Bear safety tip: Always hike with someone you can out run.”

“ok, never mind, just go to my webpage if u really want to see the bear The Bear ”

“Sequoia NP, Lodgepole campground. Leave an open box of twinkies in your car. About 3:00 a.m. have your camera ready. NO!!!! just kidding! Seriously, Sequoia & Kings Canyon in the summer. Heaps of bears. Try Crescent Meadow in the wee am hours.”

“I just go to the town dump any night to see all the bears I want.

Bring a six pack and the wife, sit in the car and watch the show. Better than a drive-in movie.”

“Don't go backpacking near gordon, garbage bears are dangerous bears.”

“Simer190, why was James sleeping completely naked? Wasn't it cold?”

“What type of gun was used against the polar bear?”

“we had a 12 gauge shot gun, short barrel, brenneke steel slug, didn't kill it... and james was naked... well, it wasn't really cold, some days it was, but usually it was fairly nice, and i guess he liked the freedom... it's his own decision i guess, it leaves questions though... only he knows, or maybe not”