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BigBrunyon
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BigBrunyon
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PostFri Aug 07, 2020 7:19 am 
I did not notice the bears when I did dickerman!! Heavy bear presences can be felt in certain drainages up central north cascs!! You never know!!

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lemArts
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PostFri Aug 07, 2020 8:00 am 
Cyclopath wrote:
I've seen so many up and down the Cascades, always black not brown. Lady luck has her own rules.
That she does. I did have a very close encounter with a black bear in the Olympics once. I was in a delicate position doing my business and one came up over a rise staring me in the face. Unimpressed by what it saw, it made a leisurely turn and walked away from me. I'd have probably wet my pants if I wasn't already in the process of relieving myself.
Chief Joseph wrote:
I saw a huge black bear in a valley near Dagger Lake in the N Cascades.
I saw a ton of scat last time I was in that area. But no bear. =(

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Seattle_Wayne
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PostFri Aug 07, 2020 8:07 am 
I saw a black bear down Beckler River Rd about three weeks ago. On trail, I have never seen one. I've seen plenty of grouse, one goat and many, many song birds. And a snake or two. Dickerman is a great hike. Now that everyone is talking about it, I kind of want to go again. agree.gif

Vesper Peak
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coldrain108
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coldrain108
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PostFri Aug 07, 2020 9:19 am 
My wife and I did the High Divide loop a couple of weeks ago. We take 4 days to do it. Saw 8 bears in that trip alone. Last year I did some off trail hiking and saw bears bears everywhere bears. In 30 years of regularly hiking the Olympics I've seen well over 100 bears. Almost every one ran from me like I was some sort of threat. I'm a bear magnet. Some as close as 2 feet...that one disproved the myth that bears can't run downhill. Bear poop near Luna Camp in NCNP
High Divide
High Divide
Upper 7 Lakes Basin
ONP is a bear preserve as much as an elk preserve.

Since I have no expectations of forgiveness, I don't do it in the first place. That loop hole needs to be closed to everyone.
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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostFri Aug 07, 2020 9:34 am 
There are definitely bear along the southern stretch of the MLH. I saw one a little bit off to the side of a trail on a fairly popular hike, and I've seen scat on a trail that is very close to Dickerman.

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostFri Aug 07, 2020 11:36 am 
My above post wasn't meant to scare anybody. The opposite actually. Many probably thought there are no bears out that way. Which indicates how unlikely you are to see one, and even more unlikely to have any problem with one. Hike away! For many years of my hiking career, I never saw bears. I don't know what happened, but I started seeing them fairly frequently. All over the Cascades (and Olympics too, but I don't get out there very often). It's probably a decent idea to just assume there are bears in an area, but again extremely unlikely they are going to be a problem during your visit.

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OldGoat
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PostFri Aug 07, 2020 5:22 pm 
I've hiked Dickerman more times than I care to count and can remember 5 bear sightings over the years.

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MtnManic
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PostFri Aug 07, 2020 6:50 pm 
Bear sightings - Spray Park a time or two at Rainier, coming down from Purple Pass to Stehekin, Crater Mtn, Berkeley Park at Rainier...hmm, can't remember any more from my several decades of hiking and backpacking. The most memorable, though, hiking Thunder Creek in maybe May or June some years back. I was slightly ahead of my group (4 of us), rounded a corner and bam! Mama bear curiously looking at me. We both tilted heads, I went for the camera before the brain kicked in, then slowly backed away after breaking eye contact.

Backpacking: limited to one pack at a time. Cameras: limited to as many as I can carry.
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Chief Joseph
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PostFri Aug 07, 2020 6:56 pm 
Ok, but for sure you are more likely to see a Republican hiking Dickerman while wearing a mask than you are of seeing a bear.

Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
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Riverside Laker
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PostFri Aug 07, 2020 8:10 pm 
lemArts wrote:
I was in a delicate position doing my business and one came up over a rise staring me in the face.
This is the first report I've seen of a bare bear sighting. A rare twofer.

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Cyclopath
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PostFri Aug 07, 2020 9:37 pm 
olderthanIusedtobe wrote:
There are definitely bear along the southern stretch of the MLH. I saw one a little bit off to the side of a trail on a fairly popular hike, and I've seen scat on a trail that is very close to Dickerman.
There was a habituated bear a couple years ago at Goat Lake. I'm sure they're on Dickerman too, just not on the trail.

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Cyclopath
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PostFri Aug 07, 2020 9:47 pm 
rbuzby wrote:
2 of the 10 were single bears running on a dirt road. The rest were in the backcountry.
Probably most of the bears I've seen have been on dirt roads. But I'm a road cyclist and prefer dirt roads for the lack of traffic and generally better scenery and solitude, so it's not that surprising I'd see them where I spend time. But I've seen bears (plural with an s) on dirt roads in a couple of regions I've hiked a lot in without ever seeing one. Because they avoid the busy trails where people are. A yearling ambled across the road right in front of me. Just walked out of a bush, looked around and saw me, jumped, and ran off. I saw two in a day on Cascade River Road, before NPS opened it for the season. In all my years hiking there I've only ever seen one on the Cascade Pass trail.

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostFri Aug 07, 2020 10:48 pm 
Eh, I think bear sightings along roads maybe more plentiful because you approach at a faster speed and they have less time to get out of the way. Lots of animals use trails. It's a path of least resistance. Usually they hear/see/smell people coming and disappear before we see them. But not always. I see bear scat on trails plenty often enough. I've never seen a bear around Cascade Pass, but I have read plenty of TRs with a sighting right at the pass or just below it. It's a regular bear hang out spot.

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Cyclopath
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PostFri Aug 07, 2020 10:52 pm 
I like that you think I'm a fast cyclist! wub.gif

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Cyclopath
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Cyclopath
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PostFri Aug 07, 2020 11:04 pm 
rbuzby wrote:
The majestic beaver bear! These are rare creatures indeed, brought about in a captive breeding program dreamed up by the people who designed Seattle's freeways.

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