[pct-l] Bear encounter

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good morning, Trail Zombie,

That’s a good story, and the bear’s reaction was prototypical of normal wild
animals on 90% of the PCT.  As soon as they sense a human they separate
themselves as quickly as possible.  About the only time they would hesitate
or rear up would be if they heard something unusual -- or saw some kind of
movement that was out-of-profile -- something that seemed to need further
identification.



Steel-Eye

Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09


On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 8:44 PM, Nathan Miller <erccmacfitheal at yahoo.com>wrote:

> My bear encounter was a bit more dramatic.  I was hiking SoBo last June and
> was making my way through Donomore Meadows in mid-morning.  I'd crossed the
> road by a small cabin and was about to follow a curve in the trail headed
> toward the footbridge over the creek.  I could hear cow bells across the
> meadow.  I rounded the bend in the trail past some trees and saw a large
> animal less than a hundred meters away (actually, that's a bit more than a
> football field...had to have been WAY closer) ambling nonchalantly in an
> intercept course.  At first, I thought it was a cow, until I noticed the
> tawny muzzle, jet-black coat, round ears and totally un-bovine posture.
>  "Oh, crap!  It's a bear!"  I retreated back up the trail and then realized
> that it would just walk out the other side of the trees and see me anyway,
> so maybe I could avoid a confrontation by avoiding detection and that by
> keeping a visual on it.  So I slinked back and decided to try and get its
>  photo.  Out came the camera (Canon 2IS, weighs 1 lb. [slightly less with
> lithium batteries instead of alkaline]).  The bear passed behind three small
> trees and when it emerged, I almost had a bead on it when it looked right at
> me.  Before I could really squeeze the shutter, or think, "Oh, crap, it's
> seen me!" it whirled around and ran off the way it had come, its feet making
> a nearly palpable thumping on the ground.  There was no rearing up, but that
> was pretty exciting anyway!  Are We There Yet, who picked me up in Seiad
> Valley, was thrilled I'd seen a bear.
>
> -Nate the Trail Zombie
>
>
>
>
>
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