R02 TR: Hetch Hetchy to Lake Vernon Out&Back June 2019

[rlown]

actually, it was a troop throwing rocks.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm ... story.html someone won.

[windknot]

Thanks for the report!

[kpeter]

I'm glad you got there and had a chance to see that outlet area. I've been through three nocturnal bear visits and they can be unsettling--all of them for me were in the 1990s when I still hung food. One thing I do now is to put my food canister--and I am scrupulous about including repellent, chapstick, even first aid ointments in it--a longgg ways away from my tent. Not so much for safety but so that if a bear comes exploring his entertainment will be out of my earshot.

My 2010 Vernon visit did have a bear encounter--a big cinnamon colored bear. That bear wandered from camp to camp and sniffed at every single bear canister, in broad daylight. I had crossed the bridge to the area where your camp was, and the bear crossed the bridge behind me, and hung out around the bridge for more than an hour, cutting me off.

Bear crossing bridge at Vernon

I did get a good picture of him.

Bear at Vernon in 2010

IMGP1250.jpg (61.89 KiB) Viewed 120 times

I did meet someone on my 2019 trip who reported seeing a cinnamon bear. Given that bears can live 30 years, perhaps he saw the same one.

I saw no bears at Vernon on my trip a few weeks ago, though. I must have been there before they became active in the area.

How were the mosquitoes?

[rightstar76]

Hopefully you guys are able to access this link.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4bxoqVWVbA1gPTT28

Hi Dustybottoms21. This definitely wasn't the best June to go backpacking in the Sierra Nevada. But in a year where snowfall was off the charts, you gave it the old college try. Glad you got to go somewhere! And that second picture in the photo album of the flowers with Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in the background is really nice!

Hey, does anyone know if problem bears from the valley and Glen Aulin are being relocated to the Lake Vernon area?

[dustybottoms21]

Mosquitoes weren’t too bad. There were some spots that were downright terrible but as long as we had a little breeze and didn’t hang out in areas with standing water too long, we were left alone.

[AlmostThere]

Hopefully you guys are able to access this link.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4bxoqVWVbA1gPTT28

Hey, does anyone know if problem bears from the valley and Glen Aulin are being relocated to the Lake Vernon area?

That program stopped many years ago, because they proved it didn't work at all. The bears just went home. The problem bears at Hetch Hetchy have lived there for years, came back to it after they attempted to relocate them to Sonora Pass.

[Wandering Daisy]

Yes, bears have always been there. Years ago I ran into an average of one bear per hour, totaling 8 one day. Perhaps the resident bears are getting less fearful, more bold, as the years go on. They learn where everyone camps. I run into a lot of bears while hiking, but rarely have them in camp because I avoid those popular campsites like the plague. If there are any signs of bear I camp elsewhere.

An issue that I have is why bear spray is not legal in Yosemite. I carry bear spray all the time in Wyoming; thankfully I have never had to use it but am very glad to have it. Wyoming wildlife experts ALL carry bear spray and consider it the most effective defense, better than guns. It is odd that you can now get a permit to carry a gun in Yosemite, but not bear spray. Larger group size is one defense. In Canadian areas that have lots of bears, a group size of four adults (kids do not count) is required for a permit. Solo backpackers are at a disadvantage.

[AlmostThere]

I have no problems with bear spray being illegal in Yosemite. People would be shooting each other with it.

[MichaelRPetrick]

I have no problems with bear spray being illegal in Yosemite. People would be shooting each other with it.

Indeed, I second this. In the year I worked in Alaska leading volunteer trail crew, I believe the only NPS rangers I met who had used bear-spray had all used it... accidentally... on themselves... or their co-workers.



Don't see any reason to think the general public will be somehow more competent! Not that the gun alternative somehow makes sense or anything.

I'm just more tentative around grizz, though not sure if that's justified or not. I think of black bears as mostly obnoxious and somewhat wimpy Yogis looking to steal my picnic basket.

[ryanerb]

Great write up, really appreciate the post!!