[pct-l] Northern Cascades Bear Safety Advice

[Jeffrey Olson]

You'll be lucky if you see a bear, or bears.  If you start hiking at 
first light you might see them feeding on ridges across creek valleys.  
You might turn the corner on the trail and see one grubbing a log, 
minding its business, snorting and snuffing and pushing and pulling.  
Make a noise, and s/he'll bolt and be gone in the wink of an eye.  If 
the berries are out and you're among them, walk softly and you might see 
one, or as I did, four, sitting back, stripping the berries into their 
mouths, and chewing with a far off look in their eye.

If it's in the park bears aren't hunted.  If it's outside the park 
boundaries, they are hunted.  The difference is hunted bears shun 
humans.  Inside they might see you and not bolt as quickly.  The trail 
is in the park only for a while south of Rainy Pass.  I forget if bears 
are hunted in the National Recreation Area. Because it's so densely 
thick in this area, there are only a few camping areas, and the bears 
know of them.  I only hung my food for the one night I spent before 
spending two nights at Stehekin Ranch, eating all I could eat (within 
reason).  North of there I didn't worry and slept with my food.

There are grizzly alerts and they shut down whole sections of trail, but 
this doesn't happen very often, and I've never heard of it happening 
outside the park.  I did a three day hike over Hannegan Pass on the west 
side of the park to copper ridge/mountain and the trail had only just 
been opened.  Bears are hunted where the PCT goes through the 
Pasaytens.  They are afraid of us...

Just my experience and opinion...

Jeffrey Olson
Rapid City, SD

On 8/20/2012 8:00 PM, Katie Kistler wrote:
> I will be hiking through the Northern Cascades region of the PCT in early-mid September and was wondering what sort of precautions people usually take against bears in this area. Thanks so much,
>
> Kate
>