Bears

Bear Tracks just South of Dorothy Lake Pass.

Hiking along the Pacific Crest Trail on the South side of Dorothy Lake at the very top of Jack Main Canyon.

Yosemite National Park, just South of Dorothy Lake Pass where we entered the park. 

I decided to hike East a bit to check out the little unnamed lake a bit South of Dorothy Lake, and inspected the dried out little ponds that dot the meadow. 

I found a bunch of tracks, and the most prominent were the bear tracks.

Bear, Black, Tracks, High Sierra, Carson Iceberg Wilderness 

April 24, 2004

 The weight of the walker, in this case a bear, compresses the snow as they pass, leaving tracks.

As the snow mass melts the compressed snow creating the tracks melts much slower than the surrounding snow, pushing the tracks above the receeding snow.

This rather morbid story is out of Sibera via Australia, and describes Brown Bear behaviors which are totally unheard of in the Sierra Nevada. 

But this violent behavior is not unknown in Black Bears in Alaska, and by hungry or scared Brown Bears anywhere.

Mum, the bear is eating me: Final terrified phone calls of teen Olga Moskalyova, Daily Telegraph, au, 8-18-11

Encounter: Evan and the Bear North Mokelumne River Camp Irene

Coming South out of the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail from Camp Irene I met Evan. Evan was having bear problems.

This bear story is on the Camp Irene page of the trail guide.

Bear encountered heading North into Meiss Meadow through Carson Gap. Video and pictures on Carson Gap page of the trail guide. 

It appears to me that there is such a thing as "cranky bears."   Most times the bears are breaking trail posts by using them as itching sticks. If you follow the trail guide for any length at all, you will see examples of broken trail posts along the trail.  But there are other times it appears that the bears are intentionally taking them down. These are the bears I designate as "cranky bears."

Scientists uncover surprising features of bear hibernation

Metabolism independent of body temperature

Article: University of Alaska Fairbanks

It's good to know as much as we can about our furry friends. This facinating research enhances our knowledge about bear phisiology, which may also explain why bears are cranky in Spring: It takes them weeks to fully wake up!

Bear Encounter, June 2, 2010.

Backpacking West across the broken snow and muck of Poison Flat (where it is, how to get there) towards the East Carson River, one could not help but notice the tremendous amount of bear tracks in the soft terrain.

Yellowstone bear attack kills 1, injures 2

HeraldTribune.com,  July  29, 2010.  

Read the Article

I think we have driven nature crazy.

 I just returned from a nine day late Spring scouting trip to the Central and Northern High Sierras yesterday, the 9th of June. Because of the rapidly changing conditions in the Sierras, this report is a kind of moving snapshot of those changing conditions.