jamawani 

Perhaps a little light reading - - -

https://www.amazon.com/Night-Grizzli.../dp/0943972485

Doug64

[QUOTE=Zurichman2;19591388]I believe Zurichman2's advice was not paranoia, but good advice. However, you are free to make your own choices.

stevepusser

I also have to wonder if that was really a grizzly instead of a black bear in Washington, which is out of their present known range.

Interestingly, the species has also not been in North America any longer than humans have, as the oldest fossils date back to 13,000 years ago, and there is pretty strong evidence of human occupation at least back to 15,000 ybp. I wonder if the naive megafauna extinction that just happened to coincide with the Clovis point culture's arrival opened up a niche for the bears to move in from Eurasia, where they had coexisted with man for many thousands of years.

skookum

Yikes. That book scared the crap out of me when I read it at as a teenager.

BikeliciousBabe

[QUOTE=Zurichman2;19591388]There's a difference between leaving chili beans out on a rock and eating in your tent. We don't store food in our tent and discard the empty packaging when done. You've gotta be a pretty messy eater to worry about that. Which we are not.

It was in North Cascades National Park in the southern portion near Mt. Baker. There's a known population of grizzly bears in that part of Washington and there has been for sometime. There's not very many of them. Maybe 10 in that area they think I'd heard. We're certain it was a grizzly though because it had been seen in the vicinity by DFW earlier that day.

BikeliciousBabe

Older map but that brown section in the NW corner of Washington is essentially North Cascades National Park.

Zurichman2

[QUOTE=BikeliciousBabe;19591686]For sure there is a big difference between eating in your tent and leaving chili beans on a rock. I was just trying to give some advice as the smell of food probably still lingers in your tent and for that reason I wouldn't eat in my tent. Bear do have an incredible sense of smell and can smell things a great distance away.

Zman

indyfabz

It appeared to have more than a dozen sites. I stayed there on Monday, June 20th. I'd estimate that the place was 2/3 rds. full. Maybe a little less. I stayed in a nice site with good shade that was close to the river. Can't remember the number, but it was on the left not long after you pass the fee station. I am pretty sure the number was in the single digits.

BikeliciousBabe

Good to know, thank you! I'm so impatient. Wish we could leave now. Except West Yellowstone got several inches of snow last night

indyfabz

Don't be in a rush. I heard it snowed in Missoula the other day (Glacier N.P. got snow as well) after being in the 70s and 80s last week. Last year they had a weekend in the 90s about 1.5 weeks before I arrived. When I landed on June 15th it was in the mid-40s and raining, and it was below freezing when I woke the next morning, but it warned up nicely until the cold rain started between Darby and Spring Gulch. Then I got hailed on climbing Lost Trail Pass. Sun came out, and then I got hailed on again maybe 10 miles outside of Wisdom. That night in Jackson it was damn cold with a stiff wind. Ended up staying indoors at the bunk house/hotel after the owner (who smelled half in the bag) offered me a room for half price.

BikeliciousBabe

Yeah I heard about all the nasty weather last year. When my other half did the ride he got stuck in a blizzard between Wisdom and Jackson and ended up staying at the lodge there. He was bummed to hear the owners husband had died. The photos of the lodge and his cabin (for $75/night) looked amazing.

I'd really like to find a campground on the way that has teepees!

BikeliciousBabe

Does anyone know if the campgrounds there take debit/credit or should we plan to have cash? Madison and Bridge Bay will be free for us but the others....?

Happy Feet

[QUOTE=Zurichman2;19591388]Yeah.. Tim Treadwell had it all figured out too.

Zurichman2

There is a reason they have the camping sites and eating sites separated by a little bit of a distance in the wild. I guess my 1st clue was you said in an earlier post that you heard a bear close to your tent in the North Cascades. Good luck on this trip and any other trips you two take.

Zman

Doug64

Eating in you tent was probably safe in this campground, but they still had food storage lockers, and wanring signs

Zurichman2

That must be some serious bear country.



I checked into the Rocky Mountain NP once time and asked them to give me the hardest hike they had. They said they had 2 the one required renting a bear canister. I said I would pass on the bear rental canister one.

The other one in Glacier the pit toilet was a 1/4 to 1/2 mile from camp. That should have been a clue for me. After the chili bean encounter and bear in our campsite that night and using the pit toiler that morning before my hike. I saw bear claw marks all around the toilet. I didn't have the National Geographic moment last too long and finished my business.



Zman

BikeliciousBabe

Where is that? Looks similar to something I saw in Alaska!

Yeah! He was wandering through the campground that night. He woke up a lot of people up. I guess if I wanted to get rid of my other half I know how to do it

stevepusser

This apparently scares off black bears--there's a market for a ultralight version for tourists.

Of course, a fleeing bear could plow right through your tent.

Doug64

It was just outside of Lake Louise in Alberta.

BikeliciousBabe

Oh! I haven't been there. In the next few years we'd like to do a Seattle--->Alaska bike tour. We've been working on the details for awhile.

We just discovered the Trolley Trail in Portland that connects the city to Oregon City. We're going to ride that on Sunday. It's about 40 miles round trip but we're so bored with the same routes. The Springwater aka Homelessville Corridor and the West Hills.

Doug64

Give the Old Columbia Gorge Highway a try. It is a very scenic route with some challenging hills available for fun.

skookum

That's the campground where a grizzly attacked people in their tents in the middle of the night in the 90s. Luckily nobody was killed but there was one who was hospitalized and later sued the National Parks.

indyfabz

Brilliant!

And great fodder for a Touring thread. "Do you carry a creepy clown doll in bear country?"

pdlamb

I keep it on my folding camp cot...

indyfabz

Next to the Tanqueray and olives.