[pct-l] sound devices, poles, and bears

[Trekker4 at aol.com (Trekker4@aol.com)]

My theory about why many hikers don't see bears is  that most hikers use 
poles these days; poles make noise, scare off  wildlife, and tear up the 
trailside. On the AT I could hear poles coming up  behind me, long before I could hear 
boot noise or see the hiker; sometimes  it was 5 minutes or more before. I 
won't use poles unless I have to; I bought  the Komperdell umbrella/pole, 16 
ounce combo for the PCT; I've always carried an  umbrella; and on the PCT I'll use 
the umbrella for sun and rain, but pole only  for stream crossings, 
snowfields, and my new Lunar Solo - a triple duty 16  ounces.
    I don't remember the shelter name, but in PA a bear  wandered past a 
shelter with a bear box while 3-4 of us were eating dinner. 20  minutes later 2 
guys who'd done 25+ miles that day came clattering up to the  shelter. I told 
them they'd just missed the bear; one of them said he hadn't  seen any bears 
since GA; so, I couldn't resist politely telling him I'd seen 12?  to that point, 
in my 10 section hikes to that point. I also politely told him  the poles 
were the reason he wasn't seeing any. 
    Ultimately I saw 14 on my 12 section hikes; I saw 6  in Shenandoah NP, 
including a mama and 2 cubs at the far north end of  SNP. I almost got a photo 
of the 2 cubs up a tree; I probably missed it  because I was trying to keep 
track of the moving brush where mama was on the  ground; I did get 1 cub up the 
tree. 
    I was following a turkey family down the AT in  NJ, with my camera in 
hand taking pictures, when I heard a noise to my left; it  was a bear walking 
parallel to me; I changed my camera settings, got 2-3 shots  of bear #13 or 14 
before it walked over a ridge, reset my camera, and continued  following the 
turkeys until they left the AT. The turkeys had stayed just ahead  of me on the 
trail for maybe a city block.
    Another bear I almost walked into at a shelter,  perhaps in PA or NJ. 2 
of us were stopping for the night and had just  arrived. I heard the loud sound 
a bear makes crunching through the woods,  behind and off to the left of the 
shelter. My pack was standing (Alpenlite  Pac-Eze) on the picnic table; I 
grabbed my camera hanging on it, and walked  quietly around the right side of the 
shelter. There was no bear and no more  noise; after a few moments I walked 
back around the front of the shelter just as  the bear came walking close to the 
left side of the shelter; I had thought the  bear had gone elsewhere, and had 
started to say something to the other  hiker just as the bear came into view 
about 15 feet away. Luckily I still had  the camera in hand; we both were 
startled, my voice having surprised the bear,  but the bear turned and ran towards 
the gradual AT slope we'd just come down. It  started up the trail, but 
slipped off the downhill side, slid down about 4 feet,  and disappeared; somewhere 
in those few seconds I snapped a photo of it's  retreat. That shelter had a 
bear pole, but we heard nothing else that  night.  
      
Bob 
Big  Bend Desert Denizen
(Naturalized Citizen, Republic of  Texas)