High Sierra Topix

A simple set of questions to everyone.. how many had bear encounters this year? how many were food storage related? If you had an issue, what was the issue?

Russ

Zero. 170 miles...and 23 days in the back country, Never saw a bear.

No bears for me either, don't even remember seeing any scat, or paw prints, which I
at least see on one of my trips during the year, but not this year.
I usually only see them in the front country, or back country trail camps
when I do see them, or at least hear the noises associated with them raiding
someone's campsite.
I have never seen a bear while I have been cross country hiking, I do see evidence
of them passing through some of the areas in the form of scat, paw prints, claw
marks on trees, or dead trees torn apart, but not the bear itself.

Since I've retained my amateur status as a backpacker I have not been lucky enough to encounter a bear anywhere. Like Maverick I've seen sign but no critters. In the old days in Roaring River country I encountered them several times a year when I was out and about--including off trail jaunts. Most of the time I was on horseback which gave me the advantage of elevation and more opportunity to look around, not having to watch where I put my feet. Frequently the bear never knew I was around and I usually turned the horse in another direction so the horse wouldn't notice the bear--they really didn't like bears and would get a little skittish for the rest of the day when they spotted a bear--but llamas were worse!

Mike

Over 100mls and more than 20 nights without a sighting this year. About the same miles and nights last year with one sighting near Half Dome and it moved away as soon as it saw us comming down the trail.

Plenty of sightings in the last 5 years...Kern river Canyon, SEKI, LeConte and other heavy usage areas...no bear problems. Along the Kern I even would smooth over sandy areas around camp and look for tracks in the morning. Nothing. I sat against a log near the Kern Lakes area and watched 3 bears forage across the river (Fall) and never was bothered.

Does this mean that all of the efforts with cannisters and the like are working? Or am I opening a can of worms?

I saw six bears this year...all in Yosemite. 3 out on the trail and 3 in the campground. The mom and two cubs (on the Panorama trail) were so great that I was almost disinterested with the ones in camp.

Saw the same amount last year and also, all in Yosemite, but I encountered one in the high country cross country hiking.

As for harassment, we usually take the opportunity to annoy the bears, not the other way around. These last couple of years, in the situations that we have come in contact, we have been quite content to just observe.

This was my bear encounter this year out of Hetch Hetchy. As I was hiking up the Moraine Trail I met face to face with a mom and her cub. We stood motionless for a few moments staring at each other until I looked away to get the camera. At that moment the mom and cub ran off.

I asked because I haven't seen a bear since 2007. In the backcountry, they don't even seem interested anymore in us since we went to bear cans.. Probably a good thing. I know back in the 90's when we hung our food on the cables at Vogelsang, it was a nightly attack and party to watch the bear's try and figure that out.. early 00's, with cans, nothing..

the last scat I've actually seen was in a duck blind near Little Dry Creek near Colusa (go figure). It was red. They are eating crawfish.

Love the pics you all posted btw..

Russ

On the other hand...when our company went camping at Calaveras Big Trees SP, the folks at the camp next door were idiots, left food out, and had some bear problems. But in the backcountry? nothing.