High Sierra Topix

I just finished a hike from Baxter Pass, through Paradise Valley to Road's End, up Copper Creek and to State lakes, up the MF Kings and out Bishop Pass. I encountered numerous bears on this trip. I enjoy seeing them, but I usually feel lucky to see one. I saw 4 and heard 4 others (for sure). Just lucky I guess. The bear at State Lakes was a large, bold male who sort of freaked me out. I did get to watch him fish the shoreline for about an hour. Very cool.

Baffman, got any photo's of them?

I do, of three of them. I don't know how to post pics on here, but here is a link. If it doesn't work totally right, click on Rob's Gallery and then choose the top left corner album.

Baff

http://picasaweb.google.com/RobBaffrey/ ... Bishop2010" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ha! The link works. It was giving me trouble for some reason.

Thanks, that is pretty cool seeing so many bears, and not in an organized campsite
or in the front country camp ground.
I have yet to see a bear while off-trail, only scat, and paw prints, and this is since the
70's.
Now on trail, near bear boxes, or popular backcountry areas (1000 Is Lake, Rae Lake, Lyell
Canyon)it is a different story.

Wow, those are some impressive bears. In 45 years in the backcountry I can remember running into Bears only twice (versus many times in roadside campgrounds, etc), although I've seen many tracks, scat, etc. and have been camped at a place in the backcountry where other campers had their camps raided (didn't see the bear though). The best-looking bear I've seen in or out of a campground was a backcountry bear. It was a huge fellow with jet black (giving the impression of blue-black) fur that my wife and I saw in a drainage W of Bench Lake while en route to climb Arrow Peak. It didn't pay much attention to us. The only other time we've encountered a bear away from a road was hiking to Raymond Lake when we had a fleeting (fortunately) encounter with a mother and two cubs.

Hmm, I've had many encounters on the trail. I'm usually alone therefore quiet, but not always have I been alone. I bet over the years I've seen more than 20 bears in the backcountry. Some of which have been in the Carson Range east of Tahoe, but most have been in SEKI. I'm not counting campground bears either. Paradise Valley is so heavily used I suppose that you could call the whole valley a campground!!