Hiking and Biking in Wyoming

[chomp]

VSA and I spent a week out in Wyoming. We spent our first 4 days backpacking around the Tetons, which was just amazing. We were stalked by a brown bear, saw tons of wildlife (moose, marmots, pikas, etc...), blown away by the wildflowers and even saw a few nice mountain views.

The next three days, we camped just outside of Jackson and spent our days mtn biking. There are some fantastic mtn bike trails in Jackson, all with awesome views. Our last day, we had a midnight flight, so we took a quick 9 mile jaunt in the Wind River Range to Photographer Point before heading to the airport.

Here are the photos:

http://gallery.backcountry.net/chomp-wyoming06

Chomp

 

[sapblatt]

Nice

Wow!!
Chomp - that is some awesome trip...I hope the bear pics were taken with a 1500mm lens - looks too close for me.
Beautiful area I will have to add to the never ending list...
That wildflower area is awesome!

 

[David Metsky]

Damn, Seeker and I are headed for Paintbrush in two weeks. Nothing like those bear photos to scare the bejeebus out of us. Did you hang your food or use bear canisters? Did you carry bear spray?

The hike looks wonderful, hope the weather holds for us.

-dave-

 

[giggy]

great pix, - eps the black bear ones - yikes!!

looks like you guys had a great time. simply beutiful

welcome home to the rain.....................

 

[Jay H]

Nice pictures Chomp, did you bring your bike or did you rent them over there?

Jay

 

[darren]

Knowing Chomp he held his food in his fist and yelled at the bear "you want it??? Come and get it!"

Looks like a great trip. Glad you guys had so much fun.

So what is the deal with the bear? Chomp and I talked about it on the phone and it seems like it is a black bear that is brown in color. Out West, people commonly refer to grizzly bears as brown bears. However this bear is brown in color, but it certainly does not look like a grizzly bear. No hump in the shoulders at all and a narrow head. I know black bears can be brown, grey, and some close to white. But they are all still "black bears", right? I've always thought that only a grizzly bear can be called a "brown bears" or bruins.

- darren

 

[David Metsky]

Grizzlies and Kodiaks are "Brown Bears" but as you said, "Black Bears" come in many colors. I think blacks and browns share a range here, but I'm not sure. I know they do further south in the Wind Rivers, but it's mostly black bears there with only occasional Griz wandering through.

I'm doing the exact same hike in two weeks, I want to hear more about this bear encounter and bear precautions.

-dave-

 

[Rik]

Nice photos. I have many of the same shots from my trip a couple of years ago. Schoolhouse Glacier and pool, Hurricane Pass, the flowers on the way to Sunset Lake, Death Canyon, Phelps Lake, even smoke from a forest fire. Unfortunately no bears on our trip. Amazing place. Thanks for bringing back memories.
Black bears come in a variety of colors. Cinnamon is pretty common.

 

[chomp]

Thanks for the compliments, everyone...

To answer the easy question - I did not fly my bike out there. Its too much $$ and too much of a hastle. We were able to rent a full-suspension cannondale for 3 days for less than $90 each. Which is still much less than shipping the back and forth.

As for the bear... I have it on good authority that what we were looking at was a "brown" black bear. He wasn't that big - maybe a 2 year old? But he was curious. We first saw him chowing on some leaves just off the trail, when I took the four photos. After looking at him for about one minute, we moved along.

After a couple of minutes, Laure noticed that he was following us.. on the trail. No big deal, I faced him, made a lot of noise, and he ran off. We continued hiking - at a brisk pace - figuring that was the last we would see of him. I kept checking over my shoulder, and after 10 minutes, I figured we were in the clear.

Not so. Having not looked back in a while, I turned and there he was, about 15 feet behind me on the trail. This time, I charged him, waved my hands in the air, and threw rocks in his general direction. He ran, but not far. I could still see him in the woods.

Now, we were cruising up the trail. It was another 15 minutes when we ran into a couple of dayhikers going in the opposite direction. We told them about the bear, and as we were talking, he actually came into view, but kept his distance (must have been a numbers thing??). They kept going down the canyon and I heard the woman shaking a bear bell and yelling things at him. It must have worked, because in only a half mile, we were at our campsite for the night, and he never came back.

Needless to say, it was an exciting hike up Paintbrush Canyon...

As for what we did... no bear spray, and no bear canister. I did have a good length of rope, and never had a problem finding good trees to hang food from.

 

[danno]

great photos chomp, and good bear story. very exciting. I've had to go around a number of bears before, and make loud noises to scare them off, but never had one just following me like that before. Gotta love the wild wild west!

We're you on trails for most of the trip? or did you do a lot of off trail travel? I spent 14 days in the Tetons backcountry in the late 80's with all but the first day, last day, and a couple in the middle off trail. A wonderful place that I must return to some day soon.

thanks for the great photos! Awesome!!

 

[darren]

Chomp, I figured out why the bear was following you. It is because you always walk around holding a granola bar in front of your face.

- darren


ps: Jay - you insult Chomp by asking him if he flew his bike out there....Chomp own a Cannondale??? Never.

 

[Carmel]

oh i'm jealous, looks like you had an awesome time!! i need a vacation!!! I guess i'll just have to wait for mine (sept 28) and then i'll have one full month off!!!!

By the way, I like how your website shows how many times each pic has been viewed...i've had the conversation before on what types of pics people like to look at. I've always prefered a person in the pic with some nice scenery in the back...

anyways, with exception of the bear picture, every page on your website shows that the pic with the person (VSA is the star btw) is viewed almost twice as much as the photos without the person in it...

just noticing...

glad you had a GREAT trip!!!

 

[Jay H]

ps: Jay - you insult Chomp by asking him if he flew his bike out there....Chomp own a Cannondale??? Never.

And an orange one at that! Sorry, other than knowing that Chomp rides, I don't know what kind of MTB that he rides, the one avatar that I remember he had of him doing an endo, couldn't really tell what kind of bike it was, of course that was a while ago. I admit to having a Cannondale water bottle. I have heard that they do have a good frame replacement policy...

Jay

 

[pudgy_groundhog]

Nice set of pictures! Looks like you guys had a great time. Cool shots of the bear and I liked the one with the pika. A lot of the pictures looked familiar -- we did a similar trip in 2003 (going the other direction + some short side trips). Unfortunately, we were there in September so didn't get to see all the flowers you did. They looked amazing! Thanks for sharing!