Bear stories

We had a bear encounter on a Happy Isles trail. I was slowly pushing my Mom in her wheelchair, enjoying the scenery (and as an aside, this is a part of the park that I would label a "must-see" as it is beautiful and refreshing, especially when the river is in full flow.) As we were making our way back to the car, suddenly a woman ran past us from behind, and as she came in front of us, she yelled, "bears!" and kept running. I started pushing the wheelchair faster, but also looked around behind me, and there were 2 cubs playing and frolicking. They were kind of a light brown color, almost golden. One of them was no more than 10 feet behind me. It was like they were playing tag or something, like 2 puppies would be running around playing with each other. They were completely oblivious to us and any other people that were in the area. They scampered off in a different direction, one of them jumping up on a log, then the other one jumping up too but the first one had already jumped off. Several people were yelling loudly, but I turned the wheelchair around so my Mom could see them, just as they were running away from the area. We kept going to the car, because someone said the mother of the cubs had to also be nearby. I got one picture of them from pretty far away, but I dropped my camera later in the day and I can't transfer any photos until I buy a new camera or at least a card reader. Later we were talking with a couple who have been visiting the park since 1948, and we discussed the firefall a little, and they also mentioned the "bear pit." This was in the old days, when they would take the trash from the hotels and throw it into a pit somewhere and let the bears have at it. This became an entertainment event, as park visitors would enjoy watching the bears fight over the more choice finds. This is what the couple described to me. Does anyone else know about the "bear pit" thing? Please don't chastise me for not doing a search of this forum first, as I am at a public computer at the hotel and I can't sit here for a long time researching it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/05/2009 11:41PM by Bob Weaver.

There used to be a garbage dump with amphitheater seats around it. Every evening the bears were allowed at the garbage but this was discontinued in the sixties I think.

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Old Dude

Quote
mrcondron
There used to be a garbage dump with amphitheater seats around it. Every evening the bears were allowed at the garbage but this was discontinued in the sixties I think.

I believe the location was approximately where the current Backpacker Parking lot is east of Curry. The seats were bleecher type seats if I recall correctly.


edit: the Backpacker lot may have just had a garbage dump rather than a actual Bear Feeding area.

the following links seem to place an "official" bear feeding area near El Capitan, west of Eagle Creek. (apparently practice stopped in 1940)
bear platform below El Capitan:
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/yosemite_nature_notes/9/9-7.pdf
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/yosemite_nature_notes/11/11-2.pdf (see article on bear-coyote)

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/2009 07:16AM by Frank Furter.

Quote
Bob Weaver
We had a bear encounter on a Happy Isles trail. I was slowly pushing my Mom in her wheelchair, enjoying the scenery (and as an aside, this is a part of the park that I would label a "must-see" as it is beautiful and refreshing, especially when the river is in full flow.) As we were making our way back to the car, suddenly a woman ran past us from behind, and as she came in front of us, she yelled, "bears!" and kept running. I started pushing the wheelchair faster, but also looked around behind me, and there were 2 cubs playing and frolicking. They were kind of a light brown color, almost golden. One of them was no more than 10 feet behind me. It was like they were playing tag or something, like 2 puppies would be running around playing with each other. They were completely oblivious to us and any other people that were in the area. They scampered off in a different direction, one of them jumping up on a log, then the other one jumping up too but the first one had already jumped off. Several people were yelling loudly, but I turned the wheelchair around so my Mom could see them, just as they were running away from the area. We kept going to the car, because someone said the mother of the cubs had to also be nearby. I got one picture of them from pretty far away, but I dropped my camera later in the day and I can't transfer any photos until I buy a new camera or at least a card reader.

Sounds like quite a scene!

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan