The North Cascades: now 50% more interesting

Spotted last fall, a lone "heartless, godless killing machine" a.k.a. grizz.

Colbert bait

Sort of a phantom, like the Sierra Nevada wolverine.

Cheers,

On the south side of Park Creek Pass back in 2006, my hiking partner and I saw four separate bears, each alone and away from each other. Three were black bears, but the fourth sure looked like to both to us as a young grizzly. We have backpacked and been in quite a bit of grizzly territory, so we do recognize the differences.

At the time, we didn't realize that no grizzlies had been seen in North Cascades for such a long period. I do regret not having taken a picture, but dealing with four separate bears and being literally 15 miles away from any other person, taking a picture was not high on my list.

There are three main differences between black bear and grizz. Ears (short and round for grizz, longer and more pointed for black); face (dished for griz, flat for black); the grizzly hump (note that in some positions black bears may appear to have a hump). Normally all three features are required for positive identification. Coat color is definitely not a distinguishing feature. "Black" bears come in a variety of colors from black to brown to cinnamon to blond. Grizz also vary in color, although not as much.

Here's an excellent program for learning to tell the two species apart: Montana Fish and Wildlife Bear Identification Program. Click on "Start training." It's the training and test required for Montana bear hunters. There are some "borderline" photos there that will challenge you!

Great link for bear identification. Thanks for that! BTW, You left out the fourth way, the length of their claws, a perilous method no matter what the result of your identification is.

We thankfully didn't get close enough to verify the size of his claws.

I think the Montana Game and Fish folks don't expect you to get that close to the bear, either!

In our case, it would have been Washington officials. However, a dinner of Texans for a Grizzly might not have concerned them.