Re: Bear Activity Summary

Bears have been VERY active this spring. Bear incidents have remained high in the Yosemite Valley Campgrounds, Curry Village, and Housekeeping Camp. Additionally bears have been seen along the roads between Yosemite Village and El Capitan, wandering through picnic areas and at the base of climbing routes. Additionally in the past two weeks we have started to see backcountry incidents. If you are on a day hike do not leave your pack unattended. If you are backpacking, please carry a food storage canister.

A bear can isn't just a good idea it's the law.

Oh, and if you are one of the idiots that stopped their car and jumped out into the middle of the road just a dot west of the Crane Flat junction of 120 and Big Oak Flat Road Sunday afternoon with a camera stuck to your eyeball oblivious to traffic just to get a shot of a bear's ass as it wandered off through the woods consider yourself lucky to be alive. The road has a curve there people and even though the speed limit is 25MPH drivers go through there around 50 regularly. I actually had to stop my car, a big massive hard as steel with no give Suburban, as the photographers were completely unaware I was there. They were in the middle of the lanes in both directions.

One of my passengers did get to see her first bear though.

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Old Dude

I saw a Bear, Butt it was walking in the other direction from the hordes perched on Tee-oh-gah road. BTW, the scene reminded me of a Chinese Fire Drill, except that the cars were in the middle of the road and the passengers did not get back into them...!

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Bee
I saw a Bear, Butt it was walking in the other direction from the hordes perched on Tee-oh-gah road. BTW, the scene reminded me of a Chinese Fire Drill, except that the cars were in the middle of the road and the passengers did not get back into them...!

Sounds like Yellowstone.

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eeek

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Bee
I saw a Bear, Butt it was walking in the other direction from the hordes perched on Tee-oh-gah road. BTW, the scene reminded me of a Chinese Fire Drill, except that the cars were in the middle of the road and the passengers did not get back into them...!

Sounds like Yellowstone.

That's exactly what I thought! I was unceremoniously awoken from my sleep in the back...
And I hear "bare butt" and all I see is another dumb Black Bear.

When we went to Yellowstone the same thing happened and it was a Black Bear... not a Grizz...
man was I pissed!

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bill-e-g
When we went to Yellowstone the same thing happened and it was a Black Bear... not a Grizz...
man was I pissed!

Ok, here you go:

Solution: $50 entrance fee? Maybe. How about all those rangers start writing tickets?

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Vince
Solution: $50 entrance fee? Maybe. How about all those rangers start writing tickets?

I am not sure that any rise in the amount of the entrance fee could cure this sort of stupid....

I would definitely be up for fines when caught in the act of being stupid

(perhaps there should be an IQ test before you enter the park with questions like: when is it safe to climb Half Dome? a) during a snow storm b) during a rain and lightening storm c) none of the above d) most likely picked answer:ALL of the above!!)

Bear jams seem to be pretty common in the Crane flat area. I've been stuck there before.

There must be a bear family that lives in that meadow just east of the Tioga / Big Flat Oak junction.

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RobE
There must be a bear family that lives in that meadow just east of the Tioga / Big Flat Oak junction.

They like to eat wild onions in the meadow early in the season. That's probably what you are seeing.

Here are the cubs we saw playing last week. The only picture I got of them.

They look pretty big. Maybe yearlings?

I don't know enough about bears to estimate their age, but they were extremely playful, chasing each other around like 2 puppies. Completely oblivious to us and the other people in the vicinity.

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Bob Weaver
I don't know enough about bears to estimate their age, but they were extremely playful, chasing each other around like 2 puppies. Completely oblivious to us and the other people in the vicinity.

That's my experience with black bears. They pretty much do their thing and really don't pay much attention to humans until they see one, then their hair raises up like yours does (except theirs isn't quite as noticeable...watch the ears, that's the tell).

Grizzlys? Hmmmm...Yellowstone isn't all that far away from Sparks, day's drive.

We spent 4 full days in Yellowstone last September and never saw a bear. Plenty of elk and deer, coyotes, lots of bison, even antelope, but not a single bear in 4 days. I think they don't come over much to the areas where people go to now, since Yellowstone has basically the same rules about food that Yosemite has. So the bears are rarely seen. The days of cars in a row tossing bread out to the bears waiting for it are long gone.

I saw two grizzlies and one black bear in Yellowstone last May. On the previous trips (both during the first week of October) I saw none. I suspect they were napping already.

I was leaving, about 5 years ago, Mineral King and its 600-something turns in the road, and a male bear, full grown, decided to run in front of my Mustang. I was only going maybe 15 mph, it had nowhere to go but up, really up to the right, or down, really down, to the left, or just run. I wish I had a picture of it but that wasn't available at the time (I was too busy driving and put the camera stuff away). Anyway, for about 50 yards this bear ran just in front of my left-front fender, finally it found a spot to ditch me and disappeared to the left (down).

If you want to see wildlife in the raw, go to Mineral King. Most of the animals in the area have no idea what humans are and other than running away from wayward Mustangs, they aren't all that frightened, they are as curious as you are.

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Vince
If you want to see wildlife in the raw, go to Mineral King. Most of the animals in the area have no idea what humans are and other than running away from wayward Mustangs, they aren't all that frightened, they are as curious as you are.

Wha!?!?

So then what the heck is up with the marmots dry humping the cars and stealing the anti-freeze?
Or is that nature in the raw?

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bill-e-g

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Vince
If you want to see wildlife in the raw, go to Mineral King. Most of the animals in the area have no idea what humans are and other than running away from wayward Mustangs, they aren't all that frightened, they are as curious as you are.

Wha!?!?

So then what the heck is up with the marmots dry humping the cars and stealing the anti-freeze?
Or is that nature in the raw?

I was there in late August of '05 and did ask a ranger what is up with marmots, since I hadn't seen any. She said the marmots are active in June and July when things thaw out, and she said she wasn't sure but the assumption is the chewing thing might be part of the mating ritual. It was a guess, but I'll tell you what, when I get horny, well I don't chew...

Yessssss....

Back to seriousness, there was chicken wire strewn about the campground. Wasn't needed that weekend, but you can use that to keep the oral fetished land beavers off your brake lines if you have to.