Bears: A brand new experience!

I moved to Elizabethtown 12 years ago to get closer to good hiking. For at least my first 9 years I hiked alot. At least twice weekly year round. I've seen a lot of things on the trail, and I hiked a lot of trails. But somehow I've never seen a live bear on the trail. I've seen them from the comfort of my car. I've seen them in camp, certainly around Marcy Dam and Flowed Lands. I even saw one peering through the dining room window at the Baxter Mountain Tavern. Today however, I saw one on the North Trail to Giant. It was standing in the middle of the trail about 100 feet uphill from me, not far below the Owl's Head turnoff. My dog stopped in his tracks and wagged his tail but the fur on his back stood on end. I told him to "stay." The bear looked up, saw us and jogged up the trail. I stood there for a couple of moments wondering what to do, and decided to continue on my way. All the way up to Owl's Head I clapped my hands every 30 seconds or so just to let the bear know where I was. I didn't see any evidence of the bear after it took off up the trail.

Anyway, lots of people have asked me if I ever run into bears. I've always said that I have never seen them on the trail and that they pretty much stay out of the way of hikers--particularly hikers with dogs. Today's experience was exciting. How is it I've gone so long without seeing a bear on the trail before?

Lucky you

Your lucky. I have never seen a bear on the trail. I've seen evidence plenty of times. I have seen them raiding dumpsters and the such but never in the woods on the trail.

Keith

I've spent close to three decades in the woods in the company of dogs, all of it in states with healthy bear populations. I've come across bears that I was aware of only a few times while I had a dog with me.

One of my SAR dogs stumbled on one near midnight once -- each departed the spot immediately (the dog horizontally and the bear vertically.) I was once foolish enough to bring canned fish into a tent on a winter camp, and my Newfoundfland kept a bear away. I also had a sow growl at my dog when we stumbled onto Mama and cubs in thick brush near a noisy stream. Finally, on Vancouver island a largish male black bear would not move away from a trail, even though we had a German Shepherd Dog and two terriers with us. Of these four occasions, the last was the only time that I felt I really didn't have control of the situation.

The noise that you make while hiking with a dog is enough to make 95% of the bears nearby slide off into the woods before you even know they're there.

yes, lucky you indeed! in all my hiking, backpacking and travels i have never seen a bear, although i smelled and heard one once. my friend said it was a bear or moose....we were in jersey so we assumed it was a bear

and speaking of freakin' moose, its been a very, very, very, very, very bitter part of my life having never ever seen a moose, not on the kanc, not in moosehead state park, not even the one that was in Hartford, CT a few years back! nowhere.... never....until two weekends ago when i quickly saw one driving to camp on the kanc and another spotting, an even better view, when leaving a few days later. i didn't see any hiking the Hancocks though.

did you get a photo?

Didn't get a photo of it. The bear was facing away from me when we came upon it. I told my dog to stay, the bear looked over her shoulder, saw us and jogged up the trail out of site. Whole thing took 10 seconds.

We had an encounter last summer with a sow and two cubs, a little too close for comfort, she was no more than 30 feet away and the cubs quickly ran up two nearby trees. We backed away instead of doing the planned loop. They were feasing on blueberries.

My son had an up close and personal encounter with a bear on the trail last summer. Hiking back from Marshall along Lake Colden, as you cross a brook on a bridge near the ranger outpost, the trail makes a sharp swing to the right. My son was probably 10-15 yards in front of us and had "turned the corner" on the trail and came face to face with a bear who was feasting on the food in someone's pack they had dumped apparently as they were climbing Algonquin.

I did not see the bear myself, but my son -- who is just under 6' said he was face to face with it. I think both the bear and my son were each as scared as the other and both ran.

I took pictures of the bear prints but the pictures don't do it justice.

The contents of the pack were pretty much trashed, some very nice tupperware containers had large teeth marks in them. We notified the ranger but didn't stick around -- I'm curious to hear what the conversation between the ranger and the hiker who dropped their pack was.

Bob

Last Sat. my dog Frodo and I were hiking the Uncas trail near Black Bear Mt., ironically enough, and I was thinking when was the last time I seen a bear on the trail (mid '80's, Lower Wolfjaw Mt.), when one crosses the path about 150' in front of us. I watched in amazement as it swiftly ran thru the trees and disappeared (Bug Lake area). I thought how lucky am I ?! Actually, I became even more blessed. On the way out, just minutes from my car, I heard a splash in the wetlands behind me, turned around and there was another bear about 75' away. Again, upon seeing us it wheeled and hightailed back into the forrest. Besides the 2 bear, we also seen 3 deer and 2 loons. Man, what a great hike!

the starchild said:

and speaking of freakin' moose, its been a very, very, very, very, very bitter part of my life having never ever seen a moose, not on the kanc, not in moosehead state park, not even the one that was in Hartford, CT a few years back! nowhere.... never....until two weekends ago when i quickly saw one driving to camp on the kanc and another spotting, an even better view, when leaving a few days later. i didn't see any hiking the Hancocks though.

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Then you need to get to Baxter State Park and the surrounding area my man(The Golden Road to Ripogenous Dam), I bet you'll get your fix there.

I've only seen a handful in NH, only two on the trail, Garfield trail and on the Tripyramid trail below the south slide. Maine seems to have the mother load, they seriously seem to be everywhere around Millinocket, and very unafraid.

I saw a mother with two cubs off the Attitash trail last year. A totally amazing experience watching them while they didn't realize that I was there. Very cool.

I saw a cub scampering across the Elk Lake Road once, going in to hike in the Dixes in the Adirondacks, another in between our tents at Colden Dam, another from a canoe near an island in the Georgian Bay while canoeing the French River, and another cub on a trail out toward Success Pond Rd. Four bears, thirty years of hiking.

Clear cuts are often grown up with raspberries or blackberries, which attract bears. Check out these areas when the berries are ripe, and watch out for bears! I've startled two when walking in the woods near the edge of clear cuts.

I saw a buck moose on the Livermore Road yesterday. He had antlers that were about the same size as his ears. Does that make him a youngster, or are the antlers just growing in now? He was headed toward me walking down the road, but he turned around when he saw me. After watching for a minute, he headed off into the woods.

the starchild said:

and speaking of freakin' moose, its been a very, very, very, very, very bitter part of my life having never ever seen a moose, not on the kanc, not in moosehead state park, not even the one that was in Hartford, CT a few years back! nowhere.... never

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Get thee to Pittsburg, New Hampshire ...more moose than people.

Moose, damn thing scared the hell out of me!!! Sitting under a hemlock comming down garfeild it poped up less than 15 feet away as i spooked it by running by. Bear only seen two one driving down zealand road, the other breaking into my girlfriends house.

JasonPatrikz said:

Moose, damn thing scared the hell out of me!!! Sitting under a hemlock comming down garfeild it poped up less than 15 feet away as i spooked it by running by. Bear only seen two one driving down zealand road, the other breaking into my girlfriends house.

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You or the bear?

boombloom said:

they pretty much stay out of the way of hikers--particularly hikers with dogs. Today's experience was exciting. How is it I've gone so long without seeing a bear on the trail before?

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I'd guess it's the dog, as you say. In my experience, bears are scared of dogs. Even females with cubs. Not sure why, although I imagine a dog may act more aggressively (perhaps due to naivete) and smell different then similar wild creatures like coyotes, thus frightening the bear. Dogs can be used in bear hunts, and that might have something to do with it too.

jrichard said:

I'd guess it's the dog, as you say. In my experience, bears are scared of dogs. Even females with cubs. Not sure why, although I imagine a dog may act more aggressively (perhaps due to naivete) and smell different then similar wild creatures like coyotes, thus frightening the bear. Dogs can be used in bear hunts, and that might have something to do with it too.

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Actually, I would not say that all bears are scared of dogs. I have seen black bears charge dogs, which then ran towards the nearest humans (us), leaving us to deal with the oncoming bear. This is known as a classic stupid mistake in grizz country, but it does happen with black bears.

Loose dogs and bears, a bad combination. The dog is likely to lose any confrontation, unless you have a Karelian bear dog.

In all my years of hiking I've yet to see a Bear in the wild. In NH & MT I've come upon recent signs; fresh tracks in mud, scat, etc.

I even had one waltz around my tent in Yosemite one time at 3am; thankfully I had no food, toothpaste, etc in my tent - it was all in a bearproof container a distance awy. Needless to say I didn't get up to look at the bear with my flashlight. I didn't sleep much more that night.

One of my younger brothers came up here afew years ago to attend a october conference in Bartlett, NH. He took one day off to hike while I was inside getting lectures. He saw a bear 30 yards or so away while on his hike...

--LTH

Have seen plenty of bears in the valley where I live and crossing the roads but never while hiking. I think that's because my friends and I talk too much and probably scare anything wild away!
When my daughter was in Alaska they were told to wear bells to keep the bears away.

thuja said:

Actually, I would not say that all bears are scared of dogs.

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Certainly true. Wild creatures are difficult to predict. It just happens that when hiking with a dog, all the bears I've come across were terrified. But they were just about as terrified of me too, so I'm guessing it's the strangeness of the encounter.

When I've bumped into them near dumpsters/dumps, they aren't scared of me or dogs.