Big Bruin on Staircase trail

[Norman_Clyde]

Coming back down this morning from Flapjack Lakes, a mile from the parking lot, jogging down the trail at a pretty good clip, I came face to face with the biggest black bear I've ever encountered. We startled each other for sure. I felt myself jump a mile, and the bear did the same. However, he fled only a few steps, then turned around and stared at me. We sized each other up for a minute or two. He appeared to be about 5 feet at the shoulder while on all fours. Not at all skinny from the winter, looked like 350 to 400 pounds. I didn't shout and wave right away, because it seemed ridiculous that this would work. How could this bear find a creature like myself intimidating? But he didn't move. I took my pack off. Ski poles make pretty flimsy weapons, but maybe the pack would serve as a distraction. "Hey-yaah!" I shouted. He didn't move. I waited a minute and tried again, a little louder, at which point he leaped like a scared rabbit into the brush.

[mneagle]

http://colonialsuperior.com/bearmace.htm

 

[dkemp]

Wow, you had yersef a full-on bear encounter. They mostly just want to be left alone - probably the only reason he didnt leave right away was that he was curious. I'm sure you consider yourself very lucky - not just to escape unhurt but to have had that moment.

 

Hey, you're a rich man.

[Nathanw]

It's best not to use the bear mace unless you have to. If shouting works do that. If people go around macing bears, you'll have a lot of angry bears. The mace is best as a last resort, beside the bears can usually be scared away with out it. Also black bears eat mostly vegetation, it's the cat that like to hunt.

[gapertimmy]

nice! that will get the heart rate going. do they have problems with agressive bears in the Elwah valley and perhaps the Ho? I noticed that there are quite a few food cables and such, wasn't sure if there had been some not so good encounters with Yogis in the Olympics yet.

[Nathanw]

The cables are there because bears a scavengers. The bear problem is usually started by stupid people. If a bear gets your food it will associate humans with food and the park will then kill the bear. The cables are there for the bears as much as it is for you.

[PLC]

Pepper spray doesn't work on black bears anyway:

 

"Blasted black bears didn't seem as affected by the spray, especially those with a taste for garbage... Pepper spray also didn't send black bears running in the four cases where people sprayed them after aggressive sudden encounters... black bears seem to be more resistant to the physiological effects of pepper spray than brown bears."

 

[faust]

PLC said:

Pepper spray doesn't work on black bears anyway:

 

Interesting statement, can you site the source?

 

We once sprayed a blackie that was on our back porch looking for garbage (Wanted to know if the stuff actually worked). From about a two foot got him right in the face and he was GONE. Definately worked in this situation, the bear had been about regularly and we never saw him again.

 

However, I would be curious to hear about a more scientific study, especially for aggresive or attacking bears.

 

On a side note, I was sitting on a beach once and a black bear snuffled the back of my neck and scared the living crap out of me. Anybody been closer?

Edited May 6, 2003 by faust

[dkemp]

a black bear snuffled the back of my neck

 

Wowsa, now *thats* close

[Norman_Clyde]

I am not aware of any recent problems with aggressive bears in the Olympics. You see the usual notes on campground bulletin boards. I called the park dispatch that afternoon, but they couldn't tell me if Staircase had been having unusual bear problems. The only other time I saw one in the Olympics was on a backpacking trip into the Elwha with my kids. We camped in a big open field under a tree, and watched a small bear dig up insects in the grass, about 150 yards away, for about 2 hours. We even cooked our lunch while he was there, but he was so busy he never looked up. That was a much smaller bear, only about waist high.

[mbcracken]

faust said: Anybody been closer?

I almost fell on one, which I guess is not all that much closer but had the same affect on me. I was coming down a hill behind a fishing cannery up in Excursion Inlet in SE Alaska. Kind of dark with all the trees and no trail. Busted through some brush and fell a couple feet and landed right next to one. I am not sure which one of us took off faster, but am glad it was in the opposite direction.

 

-Mike

[PLC]

faust said: "Interesting statement, can you site the source?"

 

Here's the source -

Alaska Science Forum

July 27, 1995 Article #1245

"Pepper Spray Works, But Don't Bet Your Life On It"

 

From the article it makes it sound like pepper spray works almost 100% of the time on browns, but is much less effective against blacks (maybe 50%).

 

As far as I can tell, there have only been two known cases of pepper spray being used against polar bears, and it worked effectively each time.

 

[PLC]

I go to the Olympics once or twice a year and I've never NOT seen a bear - usually I see two or three. I think it's a combination of enjoying the same types of topography as the bears (alpine meadows) and being more aware that the average tourist...

 

Last year I took some folks from back East to Hurricane Hill and there was a big male bear about 100 yards away eating flowers and another bear about 1/2 mile away doing the same. Probably 200 tourists walked by with not one of them noticing the bears despite staring right at 'em...

[PLC]

The closest I ever came to a black bear was actually in Alabama. We were exploring the Little River Canyon, trying to find virgin rock and had gone about 4 miles up canyon and then a half mile or so up a side canyon when a cinammon colored bear stumbled out of the woods about 10 feet from me. We stared at each other for maybe 10 seconds before (I swear) he "shrugged", turned around, and ambled back into the woods.

 

Up in Alaska, however, I was scrambling up some unnammed hills off the Denali Highway when I came over the ridge and came face to face with the butt of a brown bear digging up a ground squirrel. He was maybe 5 feet away. I immediately turned around and headed back downhill. I don't think the bear ever even knew I was there. A minute or two later after I calmed down, I realized that I had somehow pulled out my .357 without even thinking about it. Not that it would have done any good....

[faust]

Thanks for the article reference, I had never heard that before. Still, 50% is better then nothing, I guess. Black bears rarely make me nervous anyway.

 

Pepper spray got some bad press a while back about it attracting bears. Turns out some ignorant backpackers were spraying in a circle around their camp, thinking it acted like mosquito repellent.

[faust]

5 feet from a brown bear , sweet Jesus! Now that's frightening.

[Dan_Harris]

. Anybody been closer?

Wow!! Not quite that close. Had one walk right by and brushed my tent at Paulina Lake in Oregon. Man he stunk.

Another time I had hiked up to the ridge above Eagle Creek Campground to sit and watch out over the Columbia. As I started down the trail I heard a big racket and thought "cool, a deer crashing through the brush." That is when I saw a jet black bear ripping an old log apart. As the thought that I was up wind from him went through my mind, he turned and looked right at me. I slowly walked backward down the trail until he was out of sight. My closest contacts.