Forum Index > Trail Talk > Rare Grizzly Bear Photographed in North Cascades.
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silence
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PostSun Jul 03, 2011 12:23 pm 
Schroder wrote:
The photos look like somewhere up on Eldorado. Park Rangers talked to me about 6-7 years ago of a sighting on Sahale Arm.
i was thinking the same thing -- sahale arm .. funny but we haven't been targeting that area with remote cameras .. bears have a huge territory and move throughout the season depending on the habitat for food .. but with all the people up there you'd think there would've been more sightings

PHOTOS FILMS Keep a good head and always carry a light bulb. – Bob Dylan
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Bernardo
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PostSun Jul 03, 2011 4:27 pm 
silence wrote:
but with all the people up there you'd think there would've been more sightings
Yes, that's what I was thinking that as well. But at least the only photo that was taken in the last 50 years of a grizzly in the area is a perfect silhouette showing clearly all the characteristic features of a grizzly. What were the odds?

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rbuzby
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PostTue Jul 05, 2011 10:43 am 
Doppelganger wrote:
A little surprising that a grizz would venture there given the amount of human traffic that place sees.
That would be my initial reaction too, but is it really surprising? We know bears only care about food. Other than food, all they care about is more food. And nothing stops them from going where they think food is. A few thousand people, almost all within 50 feet of a trail or road, may as well be invisible once you get a half mile away, or "around the next bend." Especially if you are a bear looking for food. It's probably too crowded for bears right at Cascade Pass and a little up the arm, but that is just a tiny little area.

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ArcDome
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PostTue Jul 05, 2011 11:38 am 
I looked through a couple of trail reports from last October. One of them looked interesting because it mentions a large bear that was being photographed by another hiker. Some of the photos from the TR have similar cloud cover to the one shown in the article. Here is a link to the TR: Sahale Trail Report

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Don
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PostTue Jul 05, 2011 1:47 pm 
Doppelganger wrote:
A second case to make for a potential location: somewhere in the vicinity of Snowfield Peak? The features along the ridge above the snowfield seem to match some of the features in the upper right of this photo:
I can't seem to pin down anything around Sahale that matches the terrain and glacial coverage shown in the bear picture (although I also can't seem to find evidence of any grassy slopes across the valley from Snowfield's main glacier that ascend at the angle shown in the picture - it's all pretty barren and slopes don't seem to match) https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7977221 I'm also not sure why I care so much. It's kind of like a puzzle smile.gif
According to the report, the bear sighting took place in the Cascade River drainage.

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cartman
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PostTue Jul 05, 2011 3:48 pm 
IF the reporting is accurate and he was hiking on a trail, he may have seen the bear in the Hidden Lakes Pk area. D-there are meadows high on Colonial's SW Face that look over towards the Neve Glacier. But he would have had to cross the Colonial Glacier and gone up a snow/rock couloir/slope to get to them. Not merely "hiking".

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BeyondLost
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PostWed Jul 06, 2011 10:05 pm 
From the Methow Valley News today.
Quote:
Sebille, in an interview this week, said he was taking one last hike before the winter came, and headed up a trail near Marblemount. He had hiked about five miles up the trail, reaching an elevation of about 6,500 feet near Cascade Pass.
http://www.methowvalleynews.com/story.php?id=6071

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ChuckM
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PostSat Nov 19, 2011 9:16 am 
Last August 21st I was researching trip reports on this forum when I read this one on Sahale Arm where Putz-in-Boots offered this link in the report. Now that I knew the date and location I remembered I was on Sahale Arm in mid October and found my bear pictures that were taken just two days before the famous Sebille silhouette photos.
I contacted GBOP with these pictures and said I think this is the same bear. They were very interested and asked for all my pictures of this bear and permission to post on an internal server for others to review. Then I was told a jury would determine the species and if it is actually the same bear. I was asked to keep this confidential until the decisions were made. Days turned into weeks and in the meantime I put these pictures together to make my point.
My picture was flipped horizontal to match orientation
My picture was flipped horizontal to match orientation
About a month later I called the WDFWS and asked about any determination. My contact said he was familiar with this and would find out and call me back. Days turned into weeks again so just this last week I sent another email asking about the verdict. This was the response:
Quote:
Your bear is a black bear. About the most robust black bear I've ever seen but still a black bear. Although it is morphologically very similar to the Sebille bear, the tech committee decided, based in part on Sebille's reference to color (reddish-brown), and in part on their inability to absolutely determine that the two bears are one, to leave the Sebille sighting as a class 1 grizzly bear sighting. It was a very spirited two-hour discussion but in the end, application of the scientific process carried the day. Essentially the feeling was that, if the Sebille bear qualified as a grizzly bear (14 of 15 polled experts thought it was) prior to the submission of your photos (which 15 of 15 felt was a black bear) and there was no link between the two other than approximate location and a two-day lapse between photo sessions, they could not discount that there may be two bears involved, especially in the light that Sebille said his bear was reddish brown and yours is very black. Many of us have seen grizzlies and black bears in the same areas at the same time, or with very little time lapse. It is not uncommon for bears of both species to be attracted to a know food source, such as a productive berry field. If there was a grizzly in the area it would also make sense that the most likely black bear to also be around would be a very robust specimen like your bear.
I respect and accept their decision but I don't agree with it. I'll let the response speak for itself. What do you think? You can see my original pictures here. Now you know what I know so I feel better.

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mike
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PostSat Nov 19, 2011 10:12 am 
High Country News just ran an article about The forgotten North Cascades grizzly bear (the subscription is worth it)

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touron
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PostSat Nov 19, 2011 10:16 am 
I think it's a grizzly that got a color and foil treatment at the hair salon.

Touron is a nougat of Arabic origin made with almonds and honey or sugar, without which it would just not be Christmas in Spain.
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Gimpilator
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PostSat Nov 19, 2011 10:17 am 
I hike regularly with Joe Sebille. The rangers now call him "Grizzly Joe". He has been asked not to reveal the exact location but he told me where. If you want to know, send me a PM and I might tell you.
Joe on the summit of Blum
Joe on the summit of Blum

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Hulksmash
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PostSat Nov 19, 2011 10:32 am 
ykm.gif Blacker than any "Black Bear" than i have ever seen. dizzy.gif

"Bears couldn't care less about us....we smell bad and don't taste too good. Bugs on the other hand see us as vending machines." - WetDog Albuterol! it's the 11th essential
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grannyhiker
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PostSat Nov 19, 2011 10:41 am 
The ears look pointy instead of round, which makes it a large black bear. There are several distinguishing features and all have to agree. Training course here on how to distinguish the species. The pronounced hump is definitely enough to mislead anyone that doesn't know about the other distinguishing features of the grizz (dish face and small rounded ears). Besides, note that with your bear it took even the experts quite a while to decide!

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view.--E.Abbey
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Allison
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PostSat Nov 19, 2011 10:45 am 
Wow. Gorgeous bear!

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HitTheTrail
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PostSat Nov 19, 2011 11:05 am 
Gimpilator wrote:
Joe on the summit of Blum
Joe on the summit of Blum
Joe's a smoker and still made it to the top of Blum?

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