It’s common to see a bear on a hike, especially if you’re in places like the Pacific Northwest, or Yellowstone, Yosemite or Glacier. Now, seeing a bear is one thing, but reacting to a bear on a trail, well, that’s a whole other story!
Have you ever seen a bear while hiking? If so, what did you do? Was it a calm, exciting experience or were you shakin’ in your boots (probably literally)?
If you have seen one, please leave a comment and tell us the story after voting. We love a good story beary much!
Yes, at Yosemite walking down from one of the waterfalls. He/she seemed to be use to people and just laid in the shade next to the trail. At first I did not know he was there as he came up from behind me, I left the area quickly however some very dumb people were purposely getting within 10 feet to get a photo! Luckily I ran into a Ranger about a half mile latter.
Those are the people who sit in Central Park and toss peanuts to the squirrels and go to Yellowstone and think they can walk up to a bison and take a closeup picture.
This question will depend on where you travel. We have been in Yellowstone now for well over 6 months on two occasions and your chances of a bear encounter go up when you are in places like this. Be prepared and carry bear spray! Enjoy your surroundings and the wonders of the beauty around you!
We had the ultimate bear experienced while hiking above Mt Rainier’s Paradise Lodge one September (berry season!). We first encountered a mother and two cubs on a steep hillside about the trail, gorging themselves on the ripe berries. We watched them for a good half-hour, then moved on up the valley. About a mile further on we came across ANOTHER mother with 2 more cubs doing the same thing at the end of a steep ravine. We were really excited to have seen so many bears in one hike. And the Rangers back at the lodge were amazed as well. Next morning we went back out to cover the same ground again, and the same bear families were there again, in roughly the same places, still woofing down that berry crop. So: even though we actually saw “just” 6 bears, we counted it as 12 bear sightings, and have since referred to that as the “12 Bear Weekend”. For the curious: these were all black bears. We don’t believe Rainier NP has any Brown Bears – for which we are thankful!
Back in 1989 we took a trip to the Smokies, on a day trip to explore we stopped at one of the day use areas. We had my wife’s brother with us who was recovering from back surgery, our teenage son, DW and me. We parked and the BIL, son took off towards the site. DW and I were behind them by a couple of minutes. As we got down the trail a hundred yards we heard BEAR, BEAR! As son and BIL went charging by(BIL was having no trouble running, he had been limping around like he was crippled for life) we continued on another 20 yards and saw a bear cub and sow looking for food in the trash can, we quietly turned around and left without incident, we still tease our son by catching him not paying attention and yelling BEAR BEAR!
Yes, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We were berry picking and so was she. We left so fast that our son was walked right out of his shoes.
Driving on Skyline Drive, in Virginia, drove around curve and there was a black bear cub feeding just off the roadside. Lots of tourists getting close. Did not see Mom and left the area. Reported cub the ranger. He moved the tourists. No such thing as a safe distance between a mother and her cub.
For those of us RV’ers from the Deep South you should ask about alligators!
We camped in Glacier Park, for years. We did many hikes and saw bears often. Usually they were pretty far away and we tried to not get their attention. We always made noise and they knew we were there. Your heart always beats faster.
After 45 years of backpacking throughout the USA (1972-2017), the closest I’ve come to seeing a bear is the tracks it left behind. Upon determining its direction, I took the opposite.direction.
While Fly Fishing in Colorado my buddy and I were in waist deep water when a large cinnamon colored bear just appeared across the river maybe 20-25 feet. Not knowing what to do, we started to back up towards the bank slowly. I almost fell on some rocks and turn for just a second to look at my footing. When I turned back around it was gone. We did not see it or hear it again. Stealth for such a big animal. BTW, we promptly returned to our vehicle and fished elsewhere the rest of the day.
While backpacking the JMT, my husband and I encountered a bear. Thankfully he or she crossed the trail several yards in front of us. We stopped, waited for a bit and then proceeded on our way. Thankfully we never saw the bear again.
I marked no.
Most of my hiking was when my sons were in the Boy Scouts, that group made enough noise no respectable bear would stay within a mile of us 😎
I’ve seen bear walking around a development I lived in and also in my back yard and one on my deck. A couple years ago I was archery hunting for deer and a mother black bear came by with her four cubs. The cubs played around my tree stand for fifteen minutes. One cub tried to get in my backpack I left on the ground underneath my tree stand. Then they moved about 100’ away for forty five minutes playing and trying to climb a tree. Could have been a dangerous situation.
I have encountered a black bear in my home base campground (our property) in North Central MN though. He was behind my boat, looking for food. We no longer fill our bird feeders.
I was in an air boat at a mouth of a river in Alaska fishing when a mother grizzly came down showing her 3 cubs how to fish. The fish were stacked up so you could almost walk on them. I felt ok on the bow only being six inches off the water until she started swimming to the boat. Man almost fell off getting to the stern of it. Was glad she started back to shore. That same night now still light out 3am we had eight bear came down to the shore. That was the most cool fishing I have done.
Never seen one in the forest, only on my front deck, sitting against the front door, watching her cubs. Yikes!!
Went for a morning walk with my mother in law in the northwoods of Wisconsin. Turned a corner and there it was, looking at us. We froze and then both of us turned and walked home. A little faster than the speed we were walking. Haha.
Even though I have never actually encountered a bear while hiking four of us thought we had! We were walking to a trout stream in the Yellow River State Forest in northeast Iowa many years ago. We walked up on a black form and we all immediately said “bear” and scattered in different directions. The next thing we hear is “MOO”. Our bear was the rear end of a cow! 🙂 At least we all felt like idiots.
While in Alaska we were sure they were around, but never saw or heard one.
We went to Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park a few years ago and stayed 4 days. We had several “encounters ” with the bears. The most memorable was walking from our cabin to breakfast. On the side of the path was a sleeping bear. Obviously, we were quiet and went another way. Brooks Falls is a great experience. Explore.org is another way to see the bears if you can’t go in person.
I second the recommendation to watch the bear cams on Explore.org. That whole site is fantastic! (I mostly watch Warrior Canine Connection’s service dog puppy cams but the Katmai bears are my second favorites.)
I used to walk with a bear biologist and study the Black Bear. The greatest thrill was to study the bear and her cubs while they were hibernating. Holding a cub while mom was being examed by the biologist was the greatest feeling of my life next to holding my own babies for the first time. ❤️
Not hiking, but right near my home last fall. Poor thing was trying to break into the trash to fatten up for winter hibernation.
My wife and I were the second hiking party to start up the Huckleberry Mountain Lookout Trail in Glacier National Park one morning. We would just about catch up with the leading party, which was a young man hiking alone, when he would take off and put some distance between us. He was about 100 yards ahead of us in an area where we could see the trail when suddenly he turned around and started running as fast as he could down the trail towards us. His backpack was flopping wildly from side to side and about 40 yards behind him was a grizzly on all fours running after him. As my wife and I each grabbed for our bear sprays, I started screaming as loudly as I could “HE’S RIGHT BEHIND YOU”. After my second outburst the grizzly stopped, raised up on his hind legs and was scanning the area trying to find the source of all the noise. I continued yelling and jumping around waving my arms. The grizzly left the trail and disappeared in the brush down the mountain.
Our up close bear experience occurred at Brooks Lodge in Katmai National Park. First day, just after our safety briefing on the path to the falls viewing platform, we heard the sound of a bear coming up the path behind us at full speed with a fish. We ducked in to a thicket just off the path and realized this bear was stealing another’s catch. The thief passed us without notice, the pursuing bear however stopped at the site of us looked us over decided we were not a threat and continued the chase. Took a long time for us to recover from this chance encounter and the experience of staring into the eyes of a huge brown bear at a distance of no more the 20 feet.
I’ve encountered black bears several times while hiking on the Appalachian Trail (GA, NC, NJ) and in national forests out West, particularly the back side of the Tetons. No problems with them as I respected their space. Have had black bears (which can be brown, but aren’t grizzlies) in our campsite in VA and AK (and one in the back of our truck in AK!). Have observed grizzlies in AK but from a safe place on the trail, such as on a deck overlooking the stream where they were catching salmon.
Closest we’ve come outside of a zoo was 700 or so yards away from a momma black bear and her two cubs walking across a meadow while we were driving through Yellowstone NP. Traffic came to a standstill like they’d seen a 200 foot tall Marshmallow Man.
Hiked a trail to a waterfall in Gatlinburg, TN.
On the way back to the parking lot we are coming down the trail and a bear and her
three cubs are coming up the trail. A group of people behind us were laughing and making
noise, not knowing there was a bear ahead. The bear and her cubs ran off the trail and
headed into the woods.
Two times. Once on a trail to BoyScout camp north of Auke Bay, Alaska. Our friends had a dog that scared it away..and the dog came back after calling it! Thank goodness. The other was on a trail in the White Mountains, AZ. It looked at us, we looked at it and it decided we were too scary and ran off the side of the mountain.
I have seen a few in the last couple of weeks as my wife and I do our evening walks. We live in the Ocala National Forest in Central Florida. Black Bears are everywhere here. It is thier mating season.
Never have seen a bear. Did come across bear scat several times while hiking in Alaska. Thankfully, never actually had to use our bear spray, or even see a bear while hiking.
When on a shore excursion in Alaska, I visited a salmon hatchery that my group had to walk about a mile to get to from where the float plane was able to land. About a half hour after my group arrived at the hatchery, bears started showing up for their lunch. My group kept at least 100 yards away from the bears but, if the bears decided that they wanted more than just salmon, they could have easily closed the distance and added a human or two to their menu.
As a kid in the Black Hills, vacationing with my parents. We were just on a sight seeing pull off and a black bear just came walking around. We stayed still and let him do his thing. He went on his way and we went on ours. Even bear acted more civil 60 years ago.
In our sleeping bags in the Yosemite high country, my wife and I awakened to a couple of cubs on the other side of the log that was our headboard. No one got too excited and they sauntered off in the darkness.
My Wife and I were fishing on the upper Yellowstone river a few miles outside the southeast corner of the park. She had some misgivings about us being in grizzly country and in trying to ease her fears, I told her that all of the bears were still up in the high country. We continued fishing upriver and no more that fifteen minutes later, a sow grizzly and two nearly grown cubs came barrelling down the side of the mountain toward the river and way too close for either of us. We wasted no time in backing down the river to our campsite. Now she doesn’t believe much of what I have to say about bears.
In Great Smoky Mountains N.P. , several times. Luckily not too close, and was able to keep a safe distance.
Encountered a mama grizzly and two Cubs while hiking near Bear Lake in Seward, Alaska. Fortunately we saw them in time and were able to stop and slowly back away with no issues.
While camping in Yosemite High Country with my family as a teenager, I was sitting on the picnic table washing my feet in a dishpan. I put on my shoes, walked over to the bushes and threw the water — right into the face of a very surprised bear. It took off running down the trail and came face to face with my little brother as he started to exit the outhouse. Needless to say, he retreated back in the outhouse and slammed the door. He says that he memorized all of the poems written on the walls, while waiting for the bear to leave. I don’t know who was more surprised by that encounter – the bear, my little brother or me! LOL
Oh, my belly hurts, I laughed so hard.
Great story.
I answered no because it said while hiking. I have encountered bears while RVing. I encountered a sow with two cubs while fishing and we’ve had bears in the campgrounds a couple of times. I grew up camping in the hills of of WV, TN, and PA so I was taught about camping in bear country.
Yes. Hiking during hunting season which turned into great bear rug. And I have observed them just pre-scouting areas summer and fall. The issue is always have in your mind what action you are going to take as defense if need be and be it swift. Always be alert and aware of your surroundings. Care a firearm or bear spray be prepared.