Black bear sighting here
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Hiking along Skyline one afternoon, I was going up a ridge with a path that was about 30 feet wide; it wasn't so much a path as it was maybe an old fire trail. Anyway, I heard some rustling in the trees to my right and this cute little black bear cub sprawled out into the open! Cute little guy slid sideways on his belly.
I didn't even check to see if I shit my pants; I just ran the hell out of there. Cub's close = mama's close = death by laceration's close.
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There are two colors. Black and brown. If you go hiking on a mountain trail where both colors are present, there are a few things you need to know.
The black ones are by and large vegetarians, eating nuts, berries, stuff they can forage for.
The brown ones are primarily carnivorous, and prefer meat.The black ones tend to be easily scared away as long as you don't make them feel cornered.
The brown ones are aggressive, and see you as food.when hiking where both may be present, you should carry a can of pepper spray, and tie little bells onto your shoelaces, as the sound of the bells let the black ones know you're coming and usually they will run away.To know which color of bear you're dealing with, just examine the scat (bear poop) you find along the trail.. scat from a black one will have little berries and nut shells in it. The scat from a brown bear will smell of pepper spray and have little bells in it...
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The poop is known as black bear's matter.
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@Larry good advice
@Aqua-Letifer good story and ending!
Remember that one time we were camping at Lovers Leap (no jokes, @jon-nyc ) and we thought a bear was by the campfire (as we were on the cliff) and it turned out to just be a bag? Also, it was 80 that day and 4” of snow in the morning. -
@Aqua-Letifer said in Black bear sighting here:
Hiking along Skyline one afternoon, I was going up a ridge with a path that was about 30 feet wide; it wasn't so much a path as it was maybe an old fire trail. Anyway, I heard some rustling in the trees to my right and this cute little black bear cub sprawled out into the open! Cute little guy slid sideways on his belly.
I didn't even check to see if I shit my pants; I just ran the hell out of there. Cub's close = mama's close = death by laceration's close.
My nephew was on the Apalachian Trail, hiking with a couple of guys be had fallen in with for a couple of days. They had a cub cross in front of them and they froze.
Mama got there about a minute later and turned around and just stared at them. Scared to death, all three guys raised their ponchos over their head and yelled their heads off.
Mama just kept looking and finally figured hikers weren't on the menu that afternoon, and besides, her cub had already toodled on off. She gave a little "huff!" , and followed off behind her cub.
Leaving three hikers who decided they needed to do a little jogging on down the trail...
