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[pct-l] JMT bears - story



Bill R. and others have queried me in the past about Bears in the Vidette
etc region. Saw this posted on the internet and got the author's
permission to send it to you guys, vis a vis the recent "Bears On The
JMT" thread:

>. Anyway, as for bears, back then [many years ago], hanging was the only
way to go. >Now, as has been my "personal" experience (I had an
interesting face-to-face >encounter with "buba" last year at 11,000' in
Center Basin), expect bears >everywhere and at anytime. 
>Seems you can't even leave your food "exposed" while you're cooking.
Bears 
>are becoming more aggressive and I speak from first hand experience on 
>this, so be forewarned. 

I deleted a strong bear-canister recommendation as being "prejudicial"
<G>. The writer sent  his full account, if you want to read further:

>We were on a Sierra Club trip perhaps in August '98, to bag several
peaks around >Center Basin in the Sierra Nevada. This is just south of
Kearsarge Pass. We had setup >camp on the northwestern "edge" of the
Basin around 11,000'. Several of us assured >ourselves we were high
enough up and far enough from the JMT where bears >wouldn't be a problem.
Only a couple people brought canisters. Myself and a couple >others made
feeble attempts to hang food in the dwarf pines near camp. The first
>night, there were no problems. The second night, a bear snagged one bag
of food. >Again, the third night, the bear came back looking for more
since our food was now >squished into bear cans now that there was room
and we didn't want to attract any >more bears. So, the fourth morning, we
decided to get an early predawn start for the >hike out. About 5:30, in
near twilight, I was sitting on a large flat boulder facing my >friend
Steve, my bag of unused oatmeal sitting inches away. It was still pretty
dark and >peaceful, we even heard coyotes up that high -- weird. Anyway,
the tranquility was >shattered by a sudden scream of my name from Steve.
I was startled by that, but even >more so when I noticed a bear swiping
to get my left-over oatmeal bag. I was within >about two or three feet of
a nose-to-nose encounter. I dropped everything, did a >tuck-and-roll to
avoid being mistakenly swiped by its claws. During this time, the bear
>had snagged my food bag/oatmeal and run off. Steve went off in vocal
pursuit while I >threw a few rocks that sparked on the boulders I was
hitting. Well, I didn't need any >more coffee after that. Steve kept on
chasing the bear but we never retrieved the >bag. After that, I am
convinced that bears are a real threat, even in out of the way >places. I
never reported the incident to the USFS/NPS. My personal belief is that
I'm >the intruder and I don't want to motivate or contribute to an
"innocent" animal's >demise.

>Mark  

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