Discussion: Awesome

Zack will be pleased. I doubt that I could find the route on my own without my companion. You did well. It is fun to see how fast a bear goes in the woods.

Interesting as always to read about your adventures - bear sighting being an added spice to the story...

So jealous! I've always wanted to see a bear in the wild, and your sighting sounds ideally safe.
I don't count seeing a (wild) bear rummaging through a dumpster in Tahoe...

While not quite the same experience, consider biggins' photos from 2012 NAOC:
http://catchingfeatures.com/photos/2012/12_10_19_N...
http://catchingfeatures.com/photos/2012/12_10_19_N...
http://catchingfeatures.com/photos/2012/12_10_19_N...

I was thinking yesterday as I drove home about how many times I've seen black bears in the east (I'm not afraid of them, out west I'm terrified). Though actually, I am scared of them if there is any food around, or if cubs are involved.

And I came up with the following --

1. Spending the night in a lean-to in Shenandoah NP, the register warned of bears, and sure enough, one showed up soon after dark. Stayed out of the lean-to fortunately. Didn't like that experience.

2. Hiking alone in SNP on the AT, a bear suddenly appeared on the trail maybe 40 yards in front of me. We looked at each other for a bit. I decided to do a slow retreat, and at about the same time it wandered off too. No big deal.

3 and 4. Two different times, driving in the hills just west of here, a bear came shooting out of the woods on one side of the road, across the road, and into the woods on the other side. Really moving. Cool.

5. A small one up in a tree outside the house of a friend about half a mile away from where we live. No movement while I was there.

6. Far and away the most exciting, in March a few years ago, we had just turned out the lights for the night and there was a loud noise, and Gail said maybe it was a bear going after the bird feeder. I went downstairs, got a flashlight, looked out the kitchen window, and there was a bear right below the feeder, and the feeder was swinging back and forth. I was really pissed. So pissed I went running out the front door, around the corner of the house to where the bear was. Screamed and yelled at it. It retreated some into the trees, but not far enough. Screamed some more and it retreated a little more. Far enough, I judged, for me to get to the tree the bird feeder was hanging from and pull on the rope, raising it up a couple more feet and out of reach, and then tying off the rope, all the while with the flashlight held between my teeth and my eyes on the bear. It was staying put. Only when I was safely back in the house did I realize I'd been out there in my underwear and t-shirt, no socks or shoes, the ground was mostly ice covered, and I hadn't noticed anything cold. Such is the power of adrenaline.

7. Setting courses at Earl's Trails in Amherst, I heard some movement and spotted mama bear about 30 yards away, standing up against a good-sized tree. Heard a little more movement and I saw two cubs climbing the tree. Nothing to worry about, but I went off in a different direction just in case.

8. And then yesterday, which was surprising because I saw it first. And very cool, leaves a big smile on your face.

Charlie, was your whole route single-track, even right at the very beginning? And was any blazed with blue blazes with a colored dot (red?) in the middle of the blue? Just trying to think about where I went wrong.

There was a short section, very short, on a wider path, as I recall, and there was some fresh blazing the last time I was there, I think maybe blue with a yellow dot, but now I am not sure. Amazing how little I was learning the route just struggling to stay upright and to stay in reasonable distance of Zack.

Showed Zack your post. Turns out he also saw the bear - last week.