Bear Personalities

I imagine that most of you have seen this picture.  It usually has the caption: "Are you a runner?  You are now!"

 Now that is going to sound funny unless you're the one toward whom the bear is running. An adult bear can hit 40 miles per hour at a full run.  Actually Pamela and I had just this experience which prompts me to tell some bear stories. Actually only three but they all happened on the same day.

Every employee at Glacier National Park must attend bear school.  It doesn't matter how many years you've worked there, you go to bear school.  Since volunteers are treated like employees, we go to bear school.

Actually bear school is very interesting.  It is an entire day of information about bears from new scientific research to current numbers to a review of what to do if you encounter a bear.  Of course the odds against working for the National Park Service at Glacier National Park and not encountering a bear are astronomic.  Employees are asked to file a report each time they encounter a bear. This helps the park service biologist keep track of them. Pamela and I filed 14 reports in 80 days and some of those reports gave information about two or three encounters.

An interesting fact, which should be obvious but most people wouldn't think about, is that bears all have their own personality. Some of them are more tolerant. Some of them are grumpy.  Some of them are stubborn.  The picture above reminds me of a stubborn bear we met.

Going-to-the-Sun Road in June 

The famous Going-to-the-Sun Road is closed to automobile traffic most of the year because of snow. Last year it didn't open until July 2nd and then was closed again September 9th.  As the crews clear the snow and debris, hikers and bikers are allowed to go up the road to where they are working. It is really great because you have almost 16 miles of road going up to the Continental Divide without cars. It is a long steep ride (from 3,500 ft to 6,000 ft in only 12 miles) but the view is magnificent. We did the ride about once a week until the road opened.

One of the things they teach you in bear school is to always carry your bear spray.  Bear spray is a super-pepper spray.  It will stop anything. Rangers with 27 years of experience in the back country and who carry rifles the size of small canons will tell you that you have a better chance with bear spray than with a gun. We try to encourage campers and any visitors who are going to be out on the roads and trails to buy and carry bear spray. Most don't listen.  We have strips of Velcro next to our door in Willy (our 16' vintage trailer) where we keep our bear spray. We don't go out without it.

On June 22nd., a couple of days after our last big snow storm, we were heading up the Going-to-the-Sun Road.  We were about two miles past the closure - the point at which cars are stopped - when we saw two bears on the road in the distance. One bear turned and moved into the woods. The second bear came running toward us like the one in the picture above.  There were cyclist and hikers all around us, and guess what?  We were the only ones with bear spray.  Suddenly we were everyone's best friend and they were all trying to stand right behind us.

Pamela and I took the safety off our sprays and stood waiting.  First rule of a bear encounter is DON'T RUN!! If you run, it is guaranteed that the bear will chase you. We were ready for step 2. Move your arms slowly up and down to make yourself look big and yell at the bear. You can say anything because s/he doesn't speak English.  The bear slowed to a walk about fifty yards or so from us and we began to talk to him. Normally the bear, not really wanting a confrontation any more than we do, will move away. The idea is that the humans back away in the opposite direction and everyone leaves happy.  This bear had not been to bear school.  He kept coming and we kept talking becoming more and more convinced that we were going to learn how well bear spray works first hand.

The bear was showing no signs of agitation or concern about our presence. In fact, about twenty yards away he stopped at the side of the road, had a nice large, steamy bowel movement, and started back on his way toward us. The road is only 16 feet wide. By this time Pamela and I were standing on the opposite edge of the road with the cyclist and hikers behind us. We had given up on trying to persuade the bear to go the other way. He was heading south and nothing, including a group of humans, was going to stop him. Since he wasn't acting aggressive and Pamela had her spray ready, I took the picture above. That, my friends, is a stubborn bear.

McDonald Creek

We had a great ride about 10-12 miles up the mountain until we came to an avalanche and had to turn around.  We were coming to a place where the road goes right along the side of McDonald Creek. McDonald Creek is really a raging river most of the year. As we came out of heavy forest we saw a small group of people standing on the side of the road with binoculars trained on the trees across the river.  We stopped and learned that there were two bear cubs at the top of one of the trees. Everyone was sharing binoculars and trying to take pictures. The top of the tree waved back and forth as they moved around and jockeyed for position. Where, everyone wondered, was the mother?  Could there be some sort of predator and mother sent them up the tree for safety.  A really small bear cub might fall prey to a mountain lion, but a full grown bear is at the top of the food chain. Could it be dad?  It didn't take long for Pamela to figure it out.  Mother was about half way down the tree taking a nap.  When I turned the report in to the head Biology Ranger I told him that Pamela had called it a bear play-pen. He laughed. He liked that term because that's exactly what it was. No way those two were going to get into trouble up there.

The bear play-pen

Feeling exhilarated after a full day of cycling up a mountain and having an up-close-and-personal encounter with a bear we were heading home as fast as we could get out 24 speed bikes to take us. We had just passed the spot where we had our first bear encounter for the day.  We looked ahead. There was a man and woman standing on the side of the road. They were looking into a thicket. The man had a camera. Pamela and I looked at each other - 'please, don't let it be a bear.'  It was a bear. Their distance would better be measured in feet instead of yards.

A four-footed calorie machine, aka Black Bear

We were not in uniform, but we identified ourselves and suggested that they were too close to the bear who was, thankfully, still foraging with his back to the intruders.  The man gave me a haughty look and said "it's only a black bear."  My instinct was to say 'you idiot, that's about 700 pounds of wild animal' but I didn't.  We're suppose to be nice to visitors even when they act like ... well, I'd like for kids to be able to read this, but you adults know what I mean.  I decided that I'd remind the visitors of the park rules, viz. that you are to stay 100 yards away from bears. The man looked at me and was ready to make another remark when the bear decided that he'd had enough of these pesky humans invading his privacy. The bear lunged at the couple. They screamed and started to run. Pamela and I yelled at them to stop running.  For the second time in a day we pulled out our bear spray and stepped between the bear and the retreating visitors, who, of course, didn't have any bear spray with them. We told them to just walk away and keep walking.  We backed away from the bear slowly, thanking him profusely for so neatly doing our job for us.  He was just happy to go back to grazing.  When bears wake up all they think about is sex and food. By this time in June all they are thinking about is food.

The bear - Black Bear or Grizzly - is a magnificent creature. The vast majority of time they will avoid you if they hear you coming and you don't surprise them, bother them or get near their young.  There are general safety rules about moving around in bear country, and each park or wilderness area will have specific recommendations based upon bear behavior in their area. For example, at Glacier it is recommended that you talk loudly and/or sing instead of relying on 'bear bells' (bells attached to one's ankles or walking staff).  So that your encounter can be safe and exciting take the brochure they will give you at the gate, read it, follow its advice and buy some approved bear spray.