Bear Safety - Hypothetical Question

Hypothetical situation/question:
You are hiking on a 6 mile trail heading to your reserved campsite in grizzly country .
It is 2 hours before sunset. You are can't make it back to your starting point before sunset.
A grizzly bear appears in thick brush 200 yards ahead of you on the trail. The bear stops on the trail and look back at you and your group of four hikers. The bear then disappears into the brush.
What do you do? Do you proceed? Do you retreat and set up camp elsewhere?

Regards,
Mr. Fishunt

I personally would continue on to my camping space and use the "encounter" as a reminder on why I have to keep to the whole "bear routine." (bear canister, talking while on trail to alert bear and moose I'm around, no food or smelly items in camp.)

Just because you don't normally see bears, doesn't mean they don't see you.

I'm not sure why you would stop or turn around because you saw a bear in "bear country". I agree with Heather. Proceed to camp while making your presence known. Why be afraid of a bear that saw you? Its the bear that doesn't see you (until you are standing between her and her cub) that you should be concerned about.

I have a little experience on this issue with brown bears. I agree to wait till the bear wanders off and then proceed. By Mistake, I was walking quietly on a trail and suddenly came up on a bear feeding, both of us where startled. She rose up on hind legs(or he-I did not take the time to look) after a moment relaxed and wandered off. Now I carry a tiny bell hanging next to cooking pot on the back on my pack. Bought it at Hobby Lobby. My second mistake was I did not tie my pack up the tree far enough one evening. A small bear found it and I watched with my flashlite as the bear ripped that bag to shreds looking for food. And I was not about to go and argue with the bear. I let my presences be known but not make a whole lot of noise, because running away in the dark night did not seem like a good thing to do.

I take satisfaction in the fact that I only hike with people I who can outrun. I don't have to outrun the bear, just them.

For me, not hypothetical at all. although the campsite wasn't "reserved", I think it was something like 13 miles, not 6, and the bear was more like about 75 yards, not 200 I did probably
have about 4 hours till sunset though.

At least in my case, the bear left the trail and headed into the bush. I stood where I was and yipped and talked for a good while (about 20 minutes) and proceeded down the trail. While it was pretty obvious the bear left the trail and wanted to avoid me, don't kid yourself, I was "concerned" although it wasn't in restrospect all that scary an encounter, as it was pretty clear he wanted nothing to do with me.

I have had a grizzly circle around behind me to get a smell of me when I've seen them upwind of me first (and been mostly hidden, because I was hunting). That was a bit scary (I was 14, and pretty much freaked out by that

I've seen grizzly at around 200 yards a lot - usually wanting to get away from me as fast as possible.

Want more concerning? get where you see mr griz oh, 300, 400 yards away walking down the trail towards you.. and he/she does *not* want to leave the trail. you make noise, etc. etc. hoot, holler, and the bear just keeps ambling on. then you're in a situation where *you* leave the trail and leave it to the bear. that's, well, "exciting".

Yeah, well, I think I'm the guy people take along to outrun

Brown bear?

I'd turn to the guy carrying the large gauge rifle and say, what do you think? Warning shot?

Actually, I'd follow the protocols for the area - whatever they are. Probably talk and sing, walk with my group, start looking at trees with branches I can reach...

I don't believe I miss having those kinds of encounters. Shoot, I even try to avoid them hypothetically

Bear behavior changes from location to location, season to season and year to year depending on lots of different factors. If you are going to be hiking in bear country take the time to talk to biologists in the area to find out what kind of year they are having. If it is really early in the season they are just coming out of hibernation and eating a more vegetarian diet generally, but once they have been out of their dens for a few weeks their appetite starts to gear up and they may become more aggressive over a kill, or more assertive toward easy pickings. If food is on time and abundant they tend to be a little more laid back, but if their traditional food sources are late even by as little as a week, they can get really grumpy.

Bottom line, if you aren't used to hiking in bear country take the time to do your homework and learn as much as you can about the behavior of the bears that inhabit the area.

My first thought is that your safety trumps silly "reserved" camping regulations. I have encountered this situation with brown bears. I simply continue a mile or so farther. In Yosemite you really do not want to camp in the known vacinity of bears. It is a sure be they will come around at night and disturb you. Even though I camp "bear safe" I am not one who can sleep well with a bear wandering around my tent and grunting. Each situation is different. Is the bear curious, hungry, territorial, or protecting young? MS is correct - you need to get educated from those who know.

Any reasonable ranger would agree heartily with you. Of course, you do encounter unreasonable rangers from time to time, but they are way in the minority....

I solved the bear problem in Yosemite by only going there in the dead of winter. Haven't seen one yet, except in the video they played at the check in desk at Curry Village a while back-if I remember right, the video shows a bear breaking into an old Toyota in the parking lot (a little demo set up by the Park Service). Very entertaining.

My hypothetical answer to your hypothetical question is dependent on the group size. If I were with a group of 4, like you mentioned, I would probably carry on as planned. If I were by myself or with only one other person, I would reconsider and find another place to camp.

I think that with enough experience, you can kind of gauge the bear's reaction too. If it tears off right away at full speed, I would feel better about camping there than if it is curious and kind of sniffs around a bit.

(By the way, I'm new here, so HI! everyone)

Welcome to the forum. I encounter a lot of bears, but never have had to encounter a Grizzly. I must say I am freaked out in Grizzly country and probably would never hike alone up there in Canada.

And where in Yosemite are there no bears, except in the dead of winter???

Lower Cathedral Spire? Royal Arches?

I know bears are in the vacinity when I see fresh bear poo! There are lots of places up high in Yosemite where I would not expect to see bears- such as the off-trail, above-timber, upper Lyell Fork of the Merced, right up against Mt. Lyell. Headwaters of Hutchins Creek. Alger Lakes. McClure Lake. Edna Lake. Shepherd Lake. Soldier Lake. Much of the very high country is not bear habitat. Not that you may not ever see a bear, but regular bear encounters are not expected.

I went to a few "what to do if you encounter a bear" sessions when I first moved to Alaska. Oddly enough, up here they seem to be more concerned with Black Bears than Grizzleys. I got the feeling that more "predator-ization" happened with BBs versus Griz (where they hunt you!)

I'm still more scared of Moose than Bears...