I Saw 3 Bears in the Garden State

“Since it was so nice out today and I couldn't go backpacking this weekend, I figured I'd at least sneak out for an afternoon dayhike to nearby Mt Tammany at the Delaware Water Gap.

While hiking up the Red Dot trail to the summit of Tammany, I heard some rustling in the bushes down in a glen about 100 ft of the trail. At first I dismissed it for some squirrels or something, as I couldn't quite see what was causing all the stir. But then I noticed the rustling was way too slow for a squirrel or other such small animal. A moment later, I made out a couple of bear cubs just fooling around in the bushes of the glen, and immediately started to look for mama bear (as I figured this could quickly turn catastrophic if I'm not careful). After examining the entire area (including trees) and not seeing mama, I figured I'd take a quick photo op before hi-tailing it out of there, but just then, mama pops out of the bushes just on the other side of the glen (about 200 ft away) and I decide it's now time to get out of there. Unfortunately, I have no pictures, but fortunately, mama bear decided to not maul me, and I was spared. And thus was my first bear encounter in the woods.

I ran into a couple other hikers on the trail coming the other way about a 1/4 mile up and decided to warn them about the bears. However, it seems more like I freaked them out instead. Oops?

Anyway, the views from Mt Tammany summit were spectacular -- quite possibly the best view in NJ. After spending some time up there, I took the Blue Dot trail and Dunnfield/Appalachian trails back down. A nice 5-mile loop with about 1000 ft of elevation gain and loss.

No pictures of the bears, but I do have pictures of the views and Dunnfield Creek ”

“Click here for pictures.”

“Nice shots Phantom!! Looks like a great time. Lucky Dog!!”

“The view from Mt. Tammany is spectacular because you're looking back at PA and Mt. Minsi! No pics of the bear? tsk, tsk... I saw a radio-collared bear on Tammany a few years back. Speaking of sightings, I understand you missed another photo opp - Stormbringer/Crash/2scoops was at the Water Gap yesterday, too bad you didn't run into him!”

“PhantomSoul...nice pics. I never saw your post for the hike or I might have met you yesterday. I love the area and I especially love those bear encounters. I'll see ya' in Ithaca. Lookin' forward to it!

Capn Bobo...radio collars= AM or FM? ....LOL!”

“... actually, it looked like the new Sony MP3 player!”

“The Gap was always my favorite area of the Poconos when I lived out there. Beautiful shots, PS!

And speaking of Scott, he was rescued yesterday by an old friend of Maple's, who was good enough to pick him up and take him back to her house in the Jim Thorpe area. PS, I need to talk to you concerning him. Here's the scoop (or 2 scoops, if you will): Scott wants to go to Ithaca this week with us. We have no room in the car for him, as my family and gear are going to be packed in there tight. I am going to e mail you and give you my phone # and hope that maybe you can help us here. I apologize for the late imposition, but I would like to make this work, if possible. I am going to e mail you now...”

“The trip was a last minute sort of thing that I decided on Friday night -- didn't even put it on the trips page; just posted a thread that got 2 rejection replies (I'm so popular) and then sunk like a lead pipe. So, I figured suit yourselves.

Hey Bobo, MP3 players? It seems like those bears get better treatment from da govmint than we do...”

“I knew that it was Mt Minsi on the other side of the gap. I was just too lazy to look it up..... ;)”