Bears on the Road

[Moxie]

Came across this on another forum

http://tinyurl.com/nz33mt

Right up there with going up in the van with Ryan in the driver's seat!

[CHRIS]

HOLY CRAP as much as I would love to see a bear I do not believe I would want to be that close. I definetley would have had to change my shorts when I got to the top if she did not eat me first.

[JimS]

Whoa...very cool!

[Breeze]

Yes,this is the reason every traveler on the Auto Road now receives a "Bear Alert". Drivers/passengers are reminded NOT to leave the vehicle for pics, or offer food, and riders are advised NOT to stop for Photo Ops.

There are a LOT of folks ( Road Staff, Obs Staff, State Parks Staff, as well as NHFG and USFS) pretty concerned about this particular bear situation. It is not a good thing for the bears to get habituated to close human contact. This is a young sow, her cubs are very small, and she hasn't a clue that her behavior is a danger to herself and her cubs.


No one at MW in any capacity wants to see a NHFG intervention become necessary.


Breeze

[mtruman]

YIKES

[mrohssler]

Not a swift move. You endangered both yourself and the bear family. You for the obvious reasons and the bears by making them trust people and getting them used to being around man and machine. Just my opinion

[Knapper]

Right up there with going up in the van with Ryan in the driver's seat!

I hope I am not the "Ryan" being quoted. If so, I hope my driving isn't as bad as being attached by a bear.

We had heard about motorcyclist but didn't know there were pics.

Unfortunately, I hope NHFG steps in and removes them. Yeah, they are cool but two things make me feel this way. First, it is only a matter of time, warnings or not, that a tourist gets badly injured by mama. Or two, one of the cubs gets run over. Mama is big but the cubs, currently, are about the size of Marty the summit cat. Eiether way, I would hate to see us or them getting hurt.

That being said, the obs crew (ie, me and the rest of the down going shift) saw the three little bears. Here is what I captured while slowly driving by and staying in the van.













And the other mammal of the summit:

[JimS]

Awesome pics as well Ryan...

I just signed up at the other forum to PM the rider, in hopes she would submit the photos for the photojournal...or perhaps windswept if Marty would like.

Such a unique event, I hope she responds!

[Brad]

Yes,this is the reason every traveler on the Auto Road now receives a "Bear Alert". Drivers/passengers are reminded NOT to leave the vehicle for pics, or offer food, and riders are advised NOT to stop for Photo Ops.

Breeze

Breeze,

Another question to ask is if they have food on the motorcycle. If they do, the whole pack should be left with you at the Toll House. The food smell could be too inviting to them.

[Breeze]

Brad, you are spot on about the " food in the pack", I appreciate your understanding

"how-sum-ever" tomorrow starts the week++long marathon of "bike week" and over the next 7-10 days we will host something close in number to 10 K (not a typo, thats ten thousand) motorcycles on the road if weather and previous experience hold. Thats a lot of packs and space and negotiation ( and much of it en francais, for which few of us have the en francais vocabulary).

Optimists among us hope that the constant roar of straight pipe Harley's for the next ten days will send this sow and her cubs deeper into the woods.

She NEEDS to find browse elsewhere, and I talked with the AMC trail host for Madison Gulf Trail today. He may need to re-evaluate his scheduled trail work, to accommodate Ursa because she is stubbornly claiming "residence" between 2 mile park and Meiko's Bridge. That is a major trail junction ( Old Jackson Rd, Nelson's Crag, Madison Gulf/ AT, and the Lowe's Bald Spot walk). He wasn't happy to hear it. That conversation left me sad.

Its a hard thing to live and teach. Leave wildlife alone for THEIR lives sake.

Its another learning experience.

Breeze