Yes, There Are Bears In The Forest....But That's Ok!

As Autumn approaches, I realize that I'm "Fall"ing behind in my blog entries.  Fact is, I've never been on time with my blog postings and I resolved myself to not write unless I felt inspired or motivated to publish my thoughts in this forum.  This "take life as it comes at you" approach is never so natural to me as it is when I spend time alone in the actual forest.  Thus was the situation during my Olympic National Park trip in July, and recently during my North Cascades hike in August.

 

 

Looking North from North Cascades NP

After Makenna started full-time preschool in July, I decided to try and get out once a month for a mid-week four day backpacking excursion in order to spend some quality me-time in the wilderness.  I need this from time to time, not only for therapy for my Adult ADD, but also it helps me recover from the general noises, congestion, and mundane experiences of civilized life.  For me, nature re-calibrates my psyche and brings me back to a level where other people can tolerate me.  People who frequent natural areas might understand what I'm talking about, but either way, it will be alright.

I left on a Monday morning and drove through Seattle for a pleasant experience on I-5.  Traffic was good, and I ventured onto Highway 20 (the North Cascades Highway) and visited the town of Concrete, WA.  Pressing on to the Park Visitor's Center, I arranged for my wilderness back-country permit, and left the trail head sometime after four PM.  The sun had already set over the mountains when I left and I realized that I would arrive at my first camp near dark, so I ate dinner at the car and brushed my teeth.

Hiking the first three miles, I arrived at Neve Camp and set up alone and enjoy a blissful sleep next to the Thunder River.  Prior to departing the visitor's center, I asked if bear-proof food containers where required, and the policy will mandate them next year.  For 2011, the requirement is to properly store food in such a container or suspend it overhead appropriately.  Neve Camp had no prepositioned food poles and since it was almost dark when I arrived, I decided that it would be fine to sleep with my food.  Besides, I didn't see any track or sign of bears on the way up, and bear activity seemed low at this elevation so late in the year.

The night was uneventful and I had a great breakfast with coffee in the morning.  Mosquitoes were not present and the weather was great.  I packed everything up dry, and after one last check to leave no trace, I donned my backpack and headed up the path to the main trail.  Feeling a presence, I looked up and made eye contact with a bear at about 40 yards away.  I stood there for a second and knowing my black bears from my brown bears, I stomped my foot, clapped my hands and shouted "go away bear" as this is a good technique to thwart off black bears that are intimidated by backpackers standing 6-feet plus with huge loads on their backs.  However, this is not necessarily a good procedure for dealing with a mother bear and her cub.

The bear staring me down at this moment didn't move initially, but after my attempt at scaring the bear off, I heard a noise and noticed baby-bear bolting up a lodgepole pine tree, reaching an altitude of 20 feet.  Momma-bear then retreated aback a few feet behind a couple of trees and resumed her foraging for food.  Meanwhile, I understood that I needed to give these bears their space and I backed down to the camp area, keeping the bears visible off in the distance.  From momma-bear's behavior, I gathered that she was used to people in the park and since I hadn't startled her in her personal space (about 25 yards) and wasn't threatening her cub, she granted me the audience and went about her feeding without incident.

Often when I'm mountaineering or climbing, I tell my friends that the most common injury in this sometimes-hazardous sport is sunburn.  The same is true about hiking in bear-country, except for mosquitoes are more aggressive than bears at biting me.  This was exactly the case when I hiked up that day to Fourth of July Pass.  Due to the late snow melt and mosquito hatching, August was the new July (like 40 is the new 30) and stopping for more than a few moments invited biting flies and hungry female mosquitoes to your blood supply.  Occasionally, a slight breeze will come up and fend of the bugs for me, but most of my afternoon and evening was spent in the tent reading.  By morning, the insects took a break and I was able to have breakfast and break camp without attack.

As for the rest of my trip, the views from down low weren't too revealing, and I'd decided that the biting insects weren't my desire for the next few days, so I decided to head back down and discover more areas of the Pacific Northwest.  I drove east on Highway 20 through Twisp and Winthrop, and then down to Lake Chelan.  Hot and dry best describes this part of the drive.  90+ degrees and definitely in contrast to the Western Cascades and alpine meadows from the first two days.

After stopping in Wenachee to visit an online gaming buddy, I decided to go to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness just west of Leavenworth, WA.  However, a wildfire just outside of Leavenworth and poor air quality provided the perfect excuse to get a hotel room and take a shower.  The cable TV and comfortable bed weren't bad either.  Next morning, I drove south, stopping at Starbucks in Union Gap, WA and back to home by 2 PM.  Trip over, lots of driving and great adventure, although I'm still searching for the 2011 journey that leaves me unaware of civilization and the hustle and bustle of city life.

More later,

Don