Yes, bears are scary. They will eat all your Ramen and then you will get hungry
If you really really really want to see a bear... You won't. If you don't think about it or sweat it, you will round a corner of the trail and boom - two surprised species staring at each other face to face...lol.
Respect that you are sharing territory and most encounters will be brief but worthwhile, just like seeing fox, turkey or other wild life.
"gbolt" on the Trail
I am Third
We are here to help one another along life's journey. Keep the Faith!
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My only experience with a black bear went as follows: Hiking in VA, I heard a noise in the bushes around 25 to 30 yards in front of me. The trail was midway on the side of a hill as it often traverses. The bear went up on its rear legs a little to look at me, made four pouncing leaps in my direction to startle me and then did a 90 degree turn and ran very fast down hill crossing the path. I believe he was trying to startle me to give him time to run away. I did not run and just made a little "hey bear" noise. As far as food goes, I think if you hang it with the PCT method or on the bear cables, you should be fine. That is more than a lot of other hikers do.
Whether you think you can, or think you can't--you're right--Henry Ford; The Journey Is The Destination
I remember one bear encounter in GSM. Had a 16 y.o. boy with me. We saw a dead tree falling on a hill ahead of us. Then kept hearing crashing. Figured it was limbs breaking as it fell. It was a young male that had pushed the dead tree and scared himself, then ran back towards us in the laurel. We started yelling at him and it took a few leaps for him to realize there was someone in front of him. He was about 20 feet from us when he spun around and headed the other way. I still don't know who's eyes were bigger, the 16 year old or that bears!
My first of three bear encounters on the AT.
Shenandoah National Park, 1975
It was getting late in the day, and I had goofed off a lot during the afternoon so I was trying to get in a lot of miles in a hurry. Finally reaching a point where I didn't feel like I had another step in me, I popped my waist belt, loosened my shoulder straps (pre-sternum strap) and just sort of dumped the pack in the middle of the trail. This was shortly after crossing Skyline Drive near some kind of park facility. As I was lying there, getting my breath back and using the pack for a pillow, I started hearing the sound of something snapping twigs somewhere behind me. It didn't sound like anything big. In fact, at the time I thought it was a squirrel rummaging around on the ground. The sounds stopped, and I took this to mean that the squirrel had left the ground and gone up a tree. In a minute or so the sound of twigs snapping returned, this time off to my right. When I turned my head to see what was making the sound I was surprised to see an adult bear passing by about twenty feet away. I have always thought that during the period that I wasn't hearing anything the bear was probably using the trail. Finding a smelly, stupid backpacker blocking his/her way, the bear elected to go around rather than get too close. This was a National Park bear that was probably used to humans. I have no doubt that a bear that associated humans as a danger to itself would have beat feet in the opposite direction.
My other two encounters with bears were a mother and two cubs while climbing Whitecap in Maine and one of last year's cubs a few miles northbound from the Groundhog Creek shelter this past October.
In the first, both mother and cubs had climbed a tree, and the only reason I was even aware of them is that I had taken a break, and, being quiet the mother thought I was gone and it was safe to come down. She and the cubs were maybe 100 yards away.
In the second, the bear was also in a tree (I think, feasting on acorns. I was able to watch it for twenty or thirty minutes.) When it became aware of my presence it did something I would not have believed if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. It actually moved from the tree it was in to another tree, and then another one before coming down the trunk. When it got to the ground it headed the opposite direction with a speed that was really impressive to see.
Nothing has changed
In the last six months
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...t=#post1979837
Lots of good advice in the previous posts, I just wanted to add that trail life is a lot like home or work life. Each of these have a variety of concerns associated with them that you mitigate to reduce the problems that can occur. For example, at home or work you may be concerned with fire, burglary/theft, slippery walkways that you mitigate. The same holds true for trail life.
Should you be concerned with bears? To a degree, yes. Your home/work concerns will be replaced with real-time trail concerns that will include a number of things. For example, a short list in no particular order: insect bites (ticks especially), falling, lightning, widow makers (trees or branches that can fall on you), resupply, road crossings, UV exposure, hypothermia, and water. These and other concerns will replace the concerns of home/work, however like home/work concerns they are all able to be mitigated so the impact or danger is greatly reduced if not eliminated.
The issue of bears, as you have read here, is relatively low on the scale of things you should be concerned with. That said, if it makes you feel better to have bear spray handy, carry it with you. Many do if for nothing more than the assurance it provides.
Some more statistics... The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park in the U.S. and has existed for just over 75 years. To-date, the park service has never recorded a death by snake bite within the national park. Car accidents are actually the #1 killer in GSMNP.Originally Posted by johnnybgood
For those who aren't from around here (e.g. the UK), along the Appalachian Trail you'll only see black bears. There should be no grizzly bears seen from the AT. I'm sure most have seen this, but this warning sign helps put the difference into perspective:
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m...ar_warning.jpg
I was out with my kids (then aged about 8 and 10) and see came upon a full grown black bear foraging for food about 10 yards away. We just watched it for a while. It never ran away, but gradually meandered far enough into the woods we could no longer see it.
One thing you should read up on is deer ticks and Lyme disease; Lyme disease is especially a concern from VA to NH.
If you will be in Maine, NH or Vermont in June, black flies are miserable if you're unprepared.
Bears aren't much danger in the Eastern USA. Store/hang your food at night so bears and raccoons don't get it.
Because the bears learn about human food and go looking for it. After a while , those bears are hunted and usually killed when the become nuisances. Rule of thumb....never feed a wild animal.
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The chance of a violent encounter with a black bear is very low. However, I so think it is prudent use safe practices to minimize the chance of a bad encounter.
I do this, albeit in the Central & Northern Rockies, not so much for my safety, but for the safety of the bears. Once they get habituated to human food, they rarely can be re-rehabilitated.
Some things to consider:
Cook & eat at least 100 yards from your sleeping area, preferably downwind.
Store food, trash, and toiletries in bear proof containers, bear cable systems or PCT hang method preferably downwind 100 yards
Keep a clean camp site removing all foods and anything with a scent.
Stay aware on trails that are dense in forage with limited line of sight and/or have natural food sources
Avoid campsites that show signs of burnt trash, litter or uneaten food.
Be aware of signs of bear activity such as scat, tree rubs, foot prints etc.
Treat sows with cubs with extra caution and try not to get between them
Moose where transplanted in central Colorado about 25 years ago. I think they are much more of a safety threat than bears.
Your post reminded me of the first time I hiked the Wonderland Trail. One of my goals for the hike was to see and photograph a black bear. For that reason, I carried my heavy camera in my hand at all times. One morning a hiker going the opposite direction informed me that there was a bear ahead, so I should be alert. I rounded a curve and there was the bear in the middle of the trail about 20 yards from me. The bear stood on its hind legs and posed for me. After a couple of seconds, the bear ran off into the woods and I realized that my camera was still in my hand. I had been so frightened that I didn't get the picture.
Since then, I have seen and photographed many bears but I have learned -- the fastest way to scare off a bear is to point a camera at it.
Shutterbug
Yes, you should be concerned about bears.
Yes, you should be concerned about bears along the AT.
While US biologists have concluded thier population is healthy and sustainable, my fellow citizens lawful choice to hunt them puts them all at risk.
In the North, they may be killed by a paying customer stationed in a deer stand over a pile of stale donuts.
On the AT you will never see this, however. That is a good thing, I think. Likewise,you will never see one struggling to free itself from a so-called humane leg hold trap.
In the South (if you hike southbound) you will also likely never see a bear cowering up in a tree with a pack of dogs underneath. That is how they hunt them down there, by and large. You will see plenty of dogs out on the AT working towards that end, however.
I was unlucky enough to come across a bear running from a hunter with an arrow in its side on the AT. This was not a joyous wildlife encounter, but hardly my problem. At least compared to the bear's.
Yes, you should be concerned about the bears along the AT.
Last edited by rickb; 01-05-2016 at 17:21.
Respect all wildlife, don't try to feed them or pet them or be pals. They don't want interaction with you. Admire them from afar.
As far as hunting goes, it seems like we've beaten that horse to death on Whiteblaze. There are a lot of people here who hunt and people who don't. We aren't going to come to an agreement on it anytime soon.
"You're a nearsighted, bitter old fool."
I resent that characterization. I always use fresh donuts. Using stale donuts would be cruel.
If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.
In SNP, I saw 8 bears while hiking. One was within 5 feet of me! I scared it up while walking by the bushes! While I was freaked out about bears at that time, I learned that if I hung my food bag and did not have food on me at night, I would be fine.
I also made sure to never get between a mama and cub!
I have a healthy respect for bears now, and I was actually disappointed to not see one in NJ this past year (many people sighted them there!).
I think "a few fatalities per decade" is overstating it. As I recall, the number of fatalities due to bear attacks in the 13 of the states the AT goes through is six over the past 115 years.
Sounds about right on fatalities, (but it's 14 states)
Here is a list, but it's not sorted by state:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List..._North_America
Last edited by rickb; 01-06-2016 at 05:10.
That's not the big deal with black bears that everyone seems to make it out to be.
Male grizzly bears try to kill cubs so that they can then mate with the mama and have her sire his offspring. So a mama grizzly might react to a human similar to how she would react to a male grizzly.
But black bears will only kill cubs as a food source, so a male is only likely to kill a cub that has become separated from its mother.
Actually, what researchers have typically found is that when a mama with cubs senses danger, they all scurry up trees until the danger has passed. Even if the cubs start to cry for mama, once she's up the tree, she will stay there. So basically researches have learned that a safe way to get access to cubs (say for tagging) is to find a family, scare them up trees, then climb the trees the cubs are in.
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