High elevations and Bears in the Sierra

[TurboHike]

Acres of toilet paper.

Sounds smelly. Where? Whitney zone?

[Lumbergh21]

Acres of toilet paper.

Sounds smelly. Where? Whitney zone?

I don't know about acres, but I saw quite a bit along Cold Creek just upstream from where the Fish Creek Trail crosses it. No where near Trail Camp levels on Whitney though. That's 3rd world squalor levels there.

[AlmostThere]

Acres of toilet paper.

Sounds smelly. Where? Whitney zone?

I don't know about acres, but I saw quite a bit along Cold Creek just upstream from where the Fish Creek Trail crosses it. No where near Trail Camp levels on Whitney though. That's 3rd world squalor levels there.

Nope. I do trail crew in the Sierra National Forest. Trust me, there is plenty of trash and poo to keep us busy.

[Harlen]

Daisy writes:

Seriously, an old friend of mine, who is a biologist, was the author of a book on "scat" back in the 70's. He did the photography himself. It was a field guide to Sh**! He did not get rich off it. LOL.

Thanks for all the bear notes. Since I see people with an appreciation of bear scat, and a sense of humor, I will lateral off to a brief section of the long Andrew Skurka video of his Alaska-Canada thousands of miles journey, which I had earlier placed in the Beyond the Sierra section, and titled: "Andrew Skurka's Alaska Trip."

The Section of his video that contains a very funny bear story along with some film, is within the youtube attachment below, and begins at about 13.50 minutes into the video. It runs for a few minutes- please stick it out till the "bitter cherry end." [actually, it would be soapberries up there.)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMf7TypZwtc

[balzaccom]

He's laughing on the video. but you can also see the fear and excitement he experienced.

BTW, it's 13.50 MINUTES in.

[Harlen]

Hey Paul, et al.

Thanks for the time correction. It is a delightful scene isn't it? Do you suppose that at least some of these encounters are fun for the bears too? I love to think that bears sometimes charge at us just to watch us jump up and down, and to hear us shriek!

I believe that they do know how to have fun. I once watched 3 grizzlies (Mom and her second year cubs) in Alaska sliding down a snowfield on their rumps and backs- seemingly for the sheer fun of it. And we once watched a Mother bear and her 3 spring cubs seemingly rolling and bounding downhill through the chinquapin shrubbery that coats the south slope of Mount Bago above Junction Meadow. That time it also looked like pure fun! Who knows?

[Lumbergh21]

I'm sure bears do things for the fun of it. I mean we see dogs, foxes, coyotes, wolves, etc playing. Why not bears?

[AlmostThere]

There are many videos on youtube of bears playing, in hammocks, on porches, in water... I think they are probably much more intelligent than most animals.

[robertseeburger]

When I initiated this post a little over a year ago, I never thought I would be the one who would add to it.
I was just curious more than anything, and I had fun reading responses. I confess I sometimes am a little bit "sloppy" when camped above treeline also.

But in a trip in Kings Canyon in October, I saw a bear at 11,100 feet, above treeline. ( I posted a picture in the TR I did). But I thought I would add here for the post. This is now the highest I have seen in my 50 years more or less .

While it was at 11000 feet, it seemed like he was coming down from a pass as well . That pass would have been over 12000 feet. My impression is that he might have been migrating from one area to another as the season was changing...I am not sure though.

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[Wandering Daisy]

Are bears territorial? Perhaps he was being booted out by a bigger alpha bear.