Griz chases hikers near Hidden Lake

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calicotraveler
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Griz chases hikers near Hidden Lake

Post by calicotraveler »

The mountains are calling and I must go.
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Re: Griz chases hikers near Hidden Lake

Post by PeteE »

Morons!
You can't outrun a bear, especially if the bear is determined to chase you.
And you may induce the bear to chase you down if you do run.

pete :wink:
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And when you're born in America, you're given a front row seat."

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Re: Griz chases hikers near Hidden Lake

Post by brindledog »

My husband reminds me that he doesn't have to outrun the bear. He just has to outrun me! Seriously, a reminder to talk to everyone in the family about what to do in the event of a bear encounter. The kids need to know how to react, as well. And that the recommendation for black vs. grizzly bears is different.

Just like you should discuss riptides and sharks when visiting the beach.
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Re: Griz chases hikers near Hidden Lake

Post by calicotraveler »

We knew about not running from a bear. But when actually faced with the situation we didn't do the right thing. Several years ago we were at many glacier and just finishing up a hike to the Ptarmigan tunnel. We were almost at the end of the trail in a flat area where there is Hillside on one side of us and a drop-off on the other. We were not by ourselves but had gotten into a group of other hikers heading back for the day. Someone spotted a Griz grazing on the hillside area probably 75 feet or so above us. Everyone wanted to stop and take pictures. Then the grill started moving towards the group. We all started walking away down the trail. We were at the very end of this group. We look back and saw the Griz coming our way rather quickly. Everyone in front of us took off running. We said don't run don't run but they all ran. We got out the bear spray and could see the bear getting closer. At this point we started to run. I never knew I could run so fast. In any case most fortunately the bear lost interest and stopped coming in our Direction. It was a very scary situation and we did the wrong thing even knowing what the right thing was. We didn't want to be the only two left on the trail when everyone else ran on ahead.

I guess you never know what you'll do in a situation until it happens. By the way I messed up my knee and it's never been right since. I think I ran faster than I should have.
The mountains are calling and I must go.
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Re: Griz chases hikers near Hidden Lake

Post by MN Hikers »

I got scarred one time. I was on the top of the Siyeh pass with my Wife. We stopped to have a snack, I remember thinking good thing there are not bears up this high to meet a bear on this narrow trail would be bad. less than a minute later a big Gizz came around the corner from the sunrift gorge side. We started yelling but he kept coming at us, I said don't run, we scrambled up the side of the mountain the best we could maybe 5 feet up, it's really steep. I took out the Bear spray took off the safety and told my wife to hold it, she said I can't my hands are full of candy. The obsurdity of the situation is funny in hindsight. The bear came about 15 feet from us I was ready to use the spray, then he got off the trail and went strait down the mountain and stopped in a pond a few hundred feet down. Thankfully he wanted nothing to do with us.
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