[Brain]

I had been planning this trip for a month now and I was constantly mocked for going to the rainy side of the Olympics in April..."fools mock, but they shall mourn." I was there with my friend and we literally did not see one cloud the whole weekend. The temps were in the 70s and I could not have hoped for better conditions any time of the year. We did the round trip in two days which was tough with the condition that the trail was in. There was no snow anywhere, even in the valley, but there were many large blow-downs and lots of huge sections of trail washed out starting after passing O'Neil Creek. The route-finding was VERY difficult in several locations and we spent a lot of time trying to find a dry passage over the many streams. The payoff was incredible, however. Fording the river right before crossing into the valley was not necessary with some creative route-finding and lots of climbing over downed trees. When we got to the Enchanted Valley there were only two other people there so solitude was not a problem at all. The valley walls were beautiful with the snow still on them. I am a little concerned about the chalet...the river has washed out a lot of the meadow and the bank is now very close to the chalet so it is in a lot of danger of washing away before not too long. One of the highlights of the trip was the wildlife. We saw EIGHT bears, many at close range on the actual trail. Only one of the eight was seen in the valley, the others were in the three miles before crossing in. There were also many elk and other little critters. We saw some cougar tracks but we didn't see any. Overall, I could not imagine a better spring destination. The scenery was beautiful and because of the lack of people, the wildlife was more abundant than I have ever seen. This was one of those trips that I'll always look back on as a lifetime highlight.

[foofoofunky]

I can't believe you saw 8 bears! I've yet to encounter a bear on the trail, and admit that the potential terrifies me! Even though I've never heard of aggressive black bears in our region, I'm still anxious about my first encounter. Did any of these bears frighten you at all? We've seen scat and scratches up at Milk Creek, and some bear tracks last weekend at Big Beaver Creek. I was mentally ready to come in contact with one last weekend, but it still didn't happen. I just need that "first time" to be over with!

[Brain]

I've never been afraid of bears, but my friend I was hiking with had never seen one before and was terrified at the prospect of seeing one without glass or bars in between. After seeing the first one his fears immediately disappeared almost entirely. They are very dosile and either just stare for a minute and then go about their business or take off running. None of them made any moves that could be considered aggressive, even the mother with her two cubs.

[Damian]

Encountered many bear, especially in the Olympics. Always a treat. Never a problem.

[Nomad]

I did Enchanted Valley a few years ago and saw a mom and two cubs and another bear a day or so latter. Wonderful place.

[sarbar]

I have seen a nice smattering of bears-including a face to face encounter. They are just gorgeous animals! Lurk in berry patches and you will find one Hehheh!! Btw, Glad to hear you had trees to use to cross the water at the crossing.

[Brain]

[sarbar]

LOL! On our Hoh trip I just walked thru everything-I hate bushwacking to find a tree-and the kid doesn't like to walk them. Sometimes just walking thru IS easier I have decided. And knee high isn't too bad for that area

[Quark]

When I first moved here I hiked up near Ross Lk. A baby bear tumbled down the hillside and landed smack-dab in front of me on the trail. He was confused, dazed, and scared. I was more scared though, 'cause I didn't know where mama was, and so I just turned around and left. I was alone, and didn't know what to do. Since then I see at least a half-dozen or so each summer when hiking alone, and sometimes multi-bears on one trip. Acutally last year, the same thing happened to me on Huckleberry Mtn as did at Ross Lake - a baby bear tumbled down the hillside. He got scared and treed himself when he saw my freind and I, the first humans he had ever seen. My freind and I retreated a switchback to wait for mama to come down and coax her baby from the tree. Mama seemed to understand what we wanted to do - simply walk by. It was wonderful to hear her softly bawling to her baby to coax it down from the tree. He clambered down with a big "thud!" and they walked away so that my freind and I could continue our hike. Bears aren't scary at all. The only time one would be aggressive is if you're between mama and baby, or during a low-berry-and-high-bear year when there isn't enough food and they're starving. I don't know if that has happened here though - not since I've been here, at least.

[nbakker]

Does anyody carry pepperspray against bears...just in case?

[jimmymac]

[Lagerman]

Always carry bells and pepperspray to ward off bears. Shake the bells at black bears to scare them off if they get too close. Use the pepperspray if the grizzlys get too close. To tell the differance between what kind of bears are around you, check the bear droppings. If the droppings are small in size, and you notices berries in it then more than likely that is a black bear. If the droppings are bigger in size, and you notice small bells in it and it smells like pepper then more than likely that is a grizzly.

[jimmymac]

[Brain]

I only carry bear spray when I know there are grizzlies around, and even then usually only when my wife and daughter are with me. My friend's mom used to have a bell hanging from her backpack because she was so afraid of bears...even when we were in areas that never see any. After about 100 yards down the trail we were about ready to feed her to a bear just to shut that stupid bell up, and that was just 100 yards in...after that we would just run ahead until we were out of range of that insecent ringing.

[frankm3]

One of the oh-so-many publications I own on "Bears and How Not to Get Mauled by Them" (I can't remember which one) had some interesting info on this topic. They published a bear study at Yellowstone cataloging bear injuries and attacks between 1970 and 1994, the results showed that pepper spray was effective 100% percent of the time it was used in a 'curious bear entering your campsite' scenario. It made the bear stop doing what it was doing and leave. Their work also mentions that in general, 97% of all bear attacks could be attributed to 'surprising the bear'. When sprayed with pepper spray, in these cases the bear stopped what it was doing and left only 62% of the time, and continued being aggressive the other 38% of the time. The other really telling thing they mentioned is that 50% of bear attacks occurred off established trails. To me, it comes down to situational awareness, educating yourself, and knowing what to do, etc....I can regurgitate more of this type of stuff if anyone is interested. I think some of it is from the book Kleet mentioned in another thread (Bear Attacks and Avoidance). Myself, reading and education has pretty much made bears a non-issue to me; I actually look forward to seeing them! Frank