Bear Stories: The Bear Are There!

#1: The first nearby siting was a few weeks ago.  A bear was moseying along the creek across the road from us.  The creek is not visible because of the trees that line it.... and it occurred in the early hours of the morning... we're not out before 6am.

#2:  About a week and half ago, some campers in our campground forgot to bring in their hummingbird feeder at night.  They heard the rustling of the trees as the bear tried to release the feeder from its branch attachment.  A few minutes later, they heard a crack of the plastic.  The campers in the next site also heard the bear activity.  The evidence was found the next morning.

#3: Last week, fishermen and hikers sited a bear along Lake Alice across the road from us.  All were being quite amused by the bear's presence until a driver stopped to see what the commotion was about.  The driver's dogs immediately made a mad dash for the bear.  The bear took off into the hill.

#4: Yesterday, a hiker came down from the upper campground, Soda Pocket, by way of Deer Run Trail (see our last post on this trail.)  Since the trail is very easy to come down, he was very hesitant to hike back up the steep grade and was hoping to find a ride at the Visitor Center a mile further down another trail.  He asked about the bears along Deer Run Trail, and Mary assured him that we had just hiked it and didn't see any.  

Later that evening, we went on a bear hunt looking for our own bear experience.   We met that same young man coming from the Little Horse Mesa Trail.  He was so upset with Mary!  Not finding that return ride earlier, he hiked his way up Deer Run's steep grade.  When he stopped to catch his breath, he saw something move.  It was a bear!!!  Of course, he didn't stick around for the bear to realize he was sharing the trail and moved on quickly.  However this man's experience with bears didn't end with this encounter.  He said that while up at the top of Little Horse Mesa, he  saw a whole family of bear at the other end of the mesa.  Luckily, the bears were a great distance away.  And, once again found himself speeding back down the hill.

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Of course, we would much rather have one come into the campsite.  This way we have the dominance and can scare it off.  This would be much safer than meeting one on a trail.

So, you can see we do expect to see a bear eventually.  But they sure are avoiding our paths!

July 17, 2009

#5: Wouldn't you know it!!!  A bear came into our site today while we were away doing our grocery shopping.  So, you can see that at this point, we are in no danger... they are avoiding us!!!

July 19, 2009

A Weekend Party Animal

#6: What's all the hubbub, Bub?  We got a knock on our door last night at 3:30 am.  One of the tent campers came to complain about a bear that wouldn't leave them alone.  We called the ranger out of a dead sleep to come and check it out.

Well, this bear created lots of havoc last night.  (Of course, we were comfy/cozy asleep in our trailer and heard nothing.)  The campers who knocked on our door were up late having some hot chocolate and some raspberry danish when their uninvited guest showed up.  She did all the right things to do, but this bear was standing his ground and was not going to give up on those goodies.  The bear drank all the hot chocolate and ate all the danish before it moved on.  The bear couldn't find what it wanted at the next two sites so it moved on to Site #10.  Well, well... this bear knows the difference between soda and beer.  Beer has hops, a natural food for bear.  So, in the ice chest the bear pulled out and drank all the beer and left the soda!  (They know how to crush cans with their claws.)

Meanwhile, he made a clean getaway after his party.  This morning we awoke to find many guests taking an early leave out themselves.  It was the buzz talk of the morning as everyone gathered around with their cups of coffee in hand to share their bear stories.  The kids were so excited to have had such an experience.  Game and Fish just met with the park manager to determine what to do about this big nuisance.  It was decided that, since the bear did not cause any human harm, a ranger will be stalking the bear tonight to "mace" it and send it on its way into the forest.

Stay tuned for further developments...

July 31, 2009

The Culprit is Caught!!

For over the past week, there has been havoc in this campground.  The bears have been making themselves very well known here.   The bears, two cubs are suspected, have caused damage to RVs and their presence has been literally felt brushed against another pop up trailer.  A man felt the bear actually push his feet through the canvas.  Fortunately, these guys are just foraging for food and are not aggressive to the point of harming humankind at this campground.

However, because they have aggressively made their presence known here and have decided that they will not stop to find their food source elsewhere, Game and Fish set a trap on July 28, 2009.  We were advised that once the bear was trapped it could be very noisy and possibly smelly.  

From the subtitle, you know that the trapping was successful, but not accomplished before this cub left his mark throughout the campground.

One tent camper had his food source in the trunk of the car.  This bear made every attempt to open it that night.  He even bit into the bumper.  No success, he moved on.  Outside our bedroom window he pulled up a boulder to forage for some grubs under it.  Hooray!  Some normal dietary consumption!  However, I guess this made him thirsty and he attempted to get a drink at a jug set outside another campsite.  At this point, it is hard to say how he decided to pass the bait in the trap and go into the site next to the trap. His last attempt to get to human food was through the window of an RVer.  He tore the screen, but the owners managed to scare the bear away.

By now the watermelon bait was very appealing.  Once in the cage the door slammed shut.  All this was from ten and midnight.  There was no screaming, but a constant rattling of the cage.  At five thirty in the morning, the nearest camper knocked on our door to let us know the deed was done.

We called the ranger and got dressed to go see the capture.  The bear's face was so sad and he knew he did wrong.

Since his departure, it has been peaceful once again.

Unfortunately, our photos have not been available due to thunderstorms every day.... that's another story!