Bears in Whites

[frytz]

Saw my first bears in the Whites this year on the Red Ridge trail at the base of North Moat. Heard a sound like rain patter on the leaves and saw momma, then noticed baby. They knew I was in the area somewhere, but didn't know where. She kept standing up partially and looking about, and I slowly raised my arm so that she could see me and they slowly headed straight away from me and into the brush. My heart was pounding at being allowed to see these great animals. What a sight, one I won't forget.

I have run into mother and cub bears a number of times, and was never threatened at all by the mother - usually I was completely ignored! I did have one "close encounter" and it was in New Jersey. I was on the Sunfish Pond Fire Road in the Kittatinnies (near the Upper Yard's Creek Reservoir - if anyone knows where that is!). I came to a bend in the road, and suddenly heard a loud thumping sound. There, about 30-40 feet ahead was a large bear, standing on his rear legs next to a large dead tree. He has thumping his paw against the tree, and "grunting"! I guess he was warning me! I started talking loudly and walked backwards the way I had come. That apparently satisfied him(her!!??) that I was no imminent threat! I ended up bushwhacking through a hillside of blueberries to get where I was going! Halfway through, it came to me that the blueberries were probably the reason the bear was there! I had thought of trying to get a picture, but thought better of trying to point something at the bear!
It was a sight that I too will never forget!

Fred

 

[dRitter]

I've seen bears several times this year but only once in the woods. 3 times they were either on the road shoulder or not far off, once I saw one up on the Cannon slopes while driving by. The one encounter I had was in early fall near the Emerald Pool on the way up to South Baldface. It was a mature but young bear that was more afraid of me than I was of it. It slid down from its tree roost, took one look and ran off.
I'm far more wary of startling a bull moose than I am a bear....

 

[Rob S]

Hey Fred,

I've seen several bears at Yards Creek as well. On one occasion, prior to JCP&L closing the picnic/parking area after 9/11/01, a ranger was watching a very large bear with binoculars near the entrance to the upper parking lot. We started talking with him, and he actually opened the gate that goes to the upper reservoir and let us follow him up to the first bend in the road. I was amazed that he let us drive up that road and equally amazed that the bear didn't get scared off. He/she just glanced up at one point, but was more interested in pulling apart a fallen tree apparently looking for bugs to eat. We watched the bear for about 20 minutes from a distance of only about 60 or 70 feet. It was very cool.

Another time, after just coming off the Turquoise (sp?) Trail and making a left onto the Sunfish Pond fire road heading in the direction of the pond, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It startled me, and I think I actually jumped. It was a bear, maybe 25 feet away, on the ground, and rolling on it's back like a puppy trying to scratch it's back. My first reaction, since it had surprised me, was to quickly walk backwards away from it. The bear was out of sight after just a few backward steps and I stood there, heart pounding, but then suddenly wishing to see this amazing sight again. I took a few cautious steps forward, trying to peek around some brush to see the bear without it seeing me. But the bear started walking parallel to the fire road, but in the opposite direction. I just stood there, big grin on my face, realizing that I had just seen something so cool and so rare, something so few people get to see in the wild.

Very seldom can one hike in the Kittatinnies without seeing bear scat, paw prints, or a bear itself. Now if I could only see a bobcat in the wild .......

Rob

 

[frytz]

Hey Fred,

I've seen several bears at Yards Creek as well. On one occasion, prior to JCP&L closing the picnic/parking area after 9/11/01, a ranger was watching a very large bear with binoculars near the entrance to the upper parking lot.
Another time, after just coming off the Turquoise (sp?) Trail and making a left onto the Sunfish Pond fire road heading in the direction of the pond, I saw something out of the corner of my eye.


That's pretty close to where I saw the one I mentioned! Most of the bears I've seen in NJ were in the Kittatinnies or Bearforts (especially in and near Wawayanda!). I saw one on the Sussex Branch Trail (Warbasse) and on the L&NE ROW near the Wallkill River! Then there was the one that tied up rush hour traffic with rubbernecking, that climbed a tree in a condo complex here in Little Falls next to Rte 46! He was tranquilized and relocated!

Fred

 

[drewski]

bears!!

hey giggy--thought of you today..

while hiking the tripyramids today we saw several sets of FRESH bear tracks..my hiking friend asked "what will will we do if we encounter a bear"???
my reply was "cathy bend down,put your head between you legs and kiss you ass goodby...

 

[DrewKnight]

One sighting on trail -- on Livermore Road, just below South Slide cutoff, 4th of July weekend a couple years ago. I was riding up on my mountain bike, making what I assumed was God's own amount of noise between the clanking of the bike parts and my huffing and puffing... so imagine my surprise when I surprised a juvenile bear browsing berries on the bank beside the road. He looks up at me and says the bear equivalent of "huh?", then crashes off into the brush. Based on his size, I turned my bike around to point downhill, in case Mom was close by... up hill, I am a snack. Downhill, I figured I had a good chance...

When Mom didn't materialize, I turned back around and continued up, but I sang the rest of the way, which was sure to scare away wildlife, hikers, low-flying commercial airliners, etc.

Having never seen a bear in NH up until that day, I was equally surprised when were driving back down from the Welch-Dickey trailhead the next afternoon and saw another juvenile bear about the same size clambering up the bank below Judge's Hill Road.

Since then, I have seen bears along Rt 49 a couple times, and in town in Waterville (heading for the trash barrels, no doubt) late at night, but in every case (whether I was in a car or on foot) they beat a hasty, or occasionally reluctant, retreat before I had to.

 

[skiguy]

I do find it hard to think there are bears in tuckerman - but it guess its possible.

Definitely possible........http://www.mountwashington.org/photos/journal/index.php?month=06&year=2002

 

[marty]

I ran into a medium sized bear that was right on the Kinsman Mt. Trail, just above a sugar shack. I stopped and tried to figure out the best emergency escape route and decided I would run and jump up on the sugar shack roof. I slowly backed up to where the sugar shack was. After about 10-15 minutes, it thankfully wandered off without incident.

Later that day, I met Dave Metsky and Seeker on the trail. Dave had observed scat on the trail. I confirmed that it was a bear's and not mine.

Marty

 

[Kevin Judy and Emma]

Yes

Quite possible...

"Skiguy- Definitely possible"........http://www.mountwashington.org/photo...h=06&year=2002

or this...

http://www.mountwashington.org/photos/journal/index.php?month=07&year=2006


KDT

 

[Steve-o]

Two sightings in the whites this year.

1. On our failed attempt of the mighty Mt. Hayes (2555) in Gorham, I spotted a bear on the other side of Mascot pond.

2. Backpacking out of the great gulf.
You were on this trip Gig!.
Saw one about 150 ft. off the trail near the great gulf/osgood tr. junction.
It did'nt see me but, I noticed it was heading where I wanted to go.
So, I made a bunch of noise and it scurried into the woods.

Have'nt had an encounter in the campsite yet.
But close.

 

[The Lisa]

While doing the Tripyramids in early March a few years ago I saw bear tracks ALL day, so much that I thought it was inevitable I'd run into it. Never met the bear in person though, despite having an epic day that resulted in getting back to the car at 11pm. I did see two moose though, that was very cool.

 

[evilhanz]

When my wife and I were dating, I introduced her to backpacking in the Whites. She spent a summer at Yellowstone, so one of her first questions was about bears. I rolled my eyes and told her not to worry. I had never seen one other than at Desolation Shelter, many hikers go their whole lives and never see one, and *she* would most certainly never see one.

Wouldn't you know, in the first year, she had close encounters three times with four different bears. In one memorable day, she was on point when a bear came charging up the Gale River trail (apparently scared by other hikers below) and another one by the river a few minutes later. On a later trip, she startled one who had bedded down just off the North Twin Trail. I call her my bear magnet, but she doesn't think that is as funny as I do

 

[giggy]

Haha I remember this thread

Was literally talking to frodo about this on sat - how I still have a complete irrational fear of bears when backpacking - not enough not to do it of course but enought that noises at night make me narky

The chances are so slim anything would ever happen with good camping skills but I still take it to the extreme on occasion like eating very far from my tent etc

I can laugh at myslef about it

I like keeping a distance from animals - I am sure folks like forestnome know what they are doing and I love the pics - but that's too close for me personaly

 

[forestgnome]

I know they are there and was wondering if anyone ever has and more importantly - what did you do? (I know what the books say to do)

Since the "experts" author contradictory advice, I have absolutely no faith in them. How could I? I've read one "expert" giving advice that depended on the gender of the bear, as if a scared hiker could/would distinguish gender.

I feel blessed and lucky to have arrived at the same place and time as a bear. I hope the experience lasts and I enjoy every moment observing the animal in it's habitat. I avoid prolonged eye contact and abrupt movements and noises. I draw my camera and enjoy the experience.

Ski trails that run through beech stands are great places to see bears off-season.

happy trails

 

[Barbarossa]

When are these party crashers going to bed?

I had an itinerary for Thanksgiving weekend that consisted of:

1) hike in a couple miles
2) build a fire
3) cook meat

Fortunately, I couldn't shake the tryptophan in time to pack a sleeping bag (or meat).

Sunday, I saw bear tracks, probably just a couple days old.

 

[Mattl]

Brutus!

There is a certain story... This story has been carried over for 10 years from person to person, telling the great tale of a bear named BRUTUS. There are some on here that know of him, some who should know of him, and some of probably shouldn't (since it is a slightly scary tale). Brutus was a huge bear (over 400 pounds, average NH bear is 150-250) who roamed the Pemi Wilderness region. He was the most dangerous of all bears, the bear who lost his fear of humans. Brutus learned how to get food from humans rather then in the wild, and he got very good at it. He went from 13 Falls, to Franconia Falls, to Ethan Pond, and down to the old Desolation Shelter. He became famous in these parts, and it was told that Desolation Shelter was his favorite area to lie and wait for people to go to sleep. At first he was just taking food from people in the night and taking off, but over the years he would become more and more bold. He would go into a campsite and take an entire backpack and tear everything apart, leaving the hikers without anything and having to cancel their trip. The forest service starting warning hikers about him. He then turned into an aggressive bear, with several lifethreatening situations. The first was a girl sleeping in her tent at Ethan Pond, Brutus broke into the tent and clawed right across her face. He used to bluff charge people on the trails all across the region. The worst one came on the Thoreau Falls Trail when a young girl was backpacking across the area. She was hiking along when Brutus snuck up to her and leaped on her back ripping her backpack off. The girl ran all the way back frantically. With all of the reports coming in of person after person getting into trouble with him, the Forest Service hired a specialized hunter to trap and kill him. After a period of time, they did actually kill him. I think I read that he was one of the largest black bears in NH history. His legend will go though.
---I have seen several bears and actually had a dangerous encounter in HellGate Brook at 3000 feet in May. It had been a bad winter and we had 2 bears harassing us all night for food, it was actually quite scary. The final thing, every single time you go into a remote part of the Whites, you have walked past a bear, watching you. You don't see them often because they are masters of hiding. The bear density in the White's is over 1 bear per square mile. -Mattl

 

[dug]

We chased a huge black bear out of a backcountry campsite well off the Cedar Brook/Wilderness Trail intersection. He wasn't intimadated at all, he eventually just got annoyed by 6 people and a dog yelling at him. We saw two other camping groups that morning: a father/son who had their food taken earlier in the evening and another guy who was walking up the trail, boots in hand, pack half-full, saying "bear is eating my breakfast".

We told the FS about the incident, and the reply was "That sounds like Brutus. It might be time to put him down." I heard a few months later they did that.

I heard the story about the female hiker was an urban legend, but I don't know for sure.

Anyhoo, I have seen bears a few times other than that, but fresh tracks and/or scat is relatively common.

 

[Danielle]

Wow Forestgnome! What wonderful photos. Thanks for sharing

 

[MindlessMariachi]

bears

i saw a bear and a moose about 2 hours into the first hike i ever did in the whites, (the hancocks) about 15 years ago. i thought the place was a petting zoo, but i've never seen a bear in the whites since. other parts of the northeast have lots more; i've encountered them in maine and vermont, and there are parts of new jersey where you should positively expect to see one if you go hiking.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

I had the opportunity to see 2 black bears with color variations I hadn't seen before earlier this spring. Both were in the Cascades - the first was on Shasta, below treeline - a large, cinnamon-colored bear, with a coat that had a shimmered red in the sunlight. The next day near Lassen I saw a yellow bear, with brown booties. Both were rather large - perhaps 300lbs +?

Great pictures, forestgnome. Thanks for sharing them with us.