kenhutchings wrote:Rick Smith wrote:Ken,
Did you see any bears?
I have been to Yosemite twice, and several other National Parks but I have never seen a bear in the wild.
Rick
No bears this time, and I did hike a portion of the John Muir Trail, where bear encounters are supposedly more frequent. Saw a bunch of deer at Tuolumne Meadows, however. I have seen bears in the backcountry on a few occasions, but it's been a few years for me since I last saw one.
I spend a lot of time in the woods and have seen quite a few black bears and some grizzlies out west.
Funny story, but about 15 years ago I was at a conference in Banff with a work buddy and we took a day off to do a hike/scramble to the top of a local peak. There had been some bear sitings that week so we were aware of their presence. We hiked through a ski resort to reach the trailhead and just before we got there I climbed about 50 feet up a ski slope to get a photo of the area. Once I was up there I turned and surveyed the valley for a minute, then noticed my friend with the strangest look on his face, looking at me. He looked absolutely dumbstruck but was trying to say something to me, but no words were coming out. It was very odd and for a second I thought he was having a health issue or something. Finally he blurted out, in an audible, but still pretty quiet voice, "don't look back". Now that was an odd thing to say and needless to mention immediately caused me to look back, only to see a grizzly crossing the ski run about 15 yards behind me. It was just past half-way across and I just froze and watched it walk the rest of the way across. It never paid any attention to me. He had watched it walk all the way across and due to the elevation was not sure if it was coming directly to me or behind me. He said he didn't want to yell anything that would upset the bear and was really perplexed as to what to do. That explained the look he had on his face to a "T".
A much more exciting story is when I got chased by a rogue elk in Jasper National Park. But I will save that for another time.
Sat Aug 24, 2013 7:20 am
