Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Bears

Last year I saw Yogi on the road just below the trail head parking lot in Onion Valley, he was pretty big and when he saw us, he ran up hill to a wooded area, I must say that I cannot run up hill that fast or with that endurance; the bottom line--he wanted nothing to do with people, we didn't even have time to get the camera's out to take a worth-while photo.

I've been doing solo Sierra wilderness trips for 23 years and have had probably 10 encounters with bears. Either I surprised them by approaching from downwind, or they were after my improperly stored food.

Get yourself a big enough bear canister to store all your aromatic stuff (I carry a Bearicade Expedition), head into the wilderness exercising appropriate judgement and common sense - and hope for and cherish any opportunity you have to observe these magnificent creatures.

The #1 Sierra bear rule: they don't care about you; they really care about your food.

While watching PBS show on Bears of Alaska, I remembered that I saw mom and two cubs heading north on the PCT just south of Owens Peak Saddle a couple of weeks ago...

The heart was racing for a few seconds at the thought of being face-to-face with mom, but they were as scared of me as I was of her and bolted off into the trees.

The one and only bear encounter i've had was way back in the early 80's on the death march up the Copper Creek trail out of Roads End in Kings Canyon.

We were passing upper Tent Meadow and saw a deer pop out about 50 yards in front of us. As we reached the spot where the deer had just been, the bear came clambering out looking the other direction. We just froze and stared at him. after about 15 Sec, the bear turns around and see's us. We all freak out (me-partner-Bear)and the 3 of us all take off in opposite directions like you'd see in a cartoon. I still laugh at myself about that.

I follow the simple rule; The bears don't see you as food. They see you as a food source. If it smells, can it.

Saw 2 bears several miles apart in the middle of the trail in the Cascades. One didn't even look up just kept eating. One bolted through the brush with a mighty crash.

Another 80's story: Middle of the night at Kearsarge Lakes, three grown bears and two cubs enter a campsite and start into a backpack and stove. Camper sat in his tent and banged pots and pans all night to try to scare them off. Next morning a ranger came around the lake and told everyone the camper had left since he didn't have any more food.