not so fast
- Thread starter Str8DBLz
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Going to Banff and Jasper myself in early Sept.
At that time I’m going to be on high alert for bears gorging themselves before winter.
Thanks, I've read that it is better to do some hikes in groups and there are some local hardware stores that will rent bear spray.
Staying in town (Banff), but will have rental car and may use shuttles as well. Want to ride a few gondolas, maybe a lunch or dinner at Sky Bistro.
Planning a canoe ride at Lake Louise or another if too crowded here. We have no trouble starting early to avoid some crowds.
Hoping to get up to Jasper for a day.
As I understand it, the days are longer here in the summer.
Yeah, I usually travel alone, but a grad school crony who lives in Boise is meeting me. He’s a big hiker, telemark skier, etc, but promises he’s just as broken down as I am. Anyway, we do plan on renting Bear spray and either attaching bells to our packs or taking loud while hiking.
I’m through my Banff itinerary but still working on Jasper. Don’t have it with me now, but will post soon. Re: Banff, looking at Plain of Six Glaciers, Mt Fairview and Healy Pass hikes with probably some canoeing on a rest day.
Not super familiar w Banff / Jasper (just drove thru to look at scenery & reach some rivers) - but from hiking trips in Glacier & Yellowstone:
If you’re on well traveled trails, your bear issues will be pretty low - although definitely carry bear spray.
If you’re on less traveled or remote tails, then your bear precautions become very important.
Bears react negatively to being startled & surprised.
On the well traveled trails, they get used to human traffic.
Sept/Oct months in bear country - if you discover a big game carcass, GTFO ASAP.
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I have a home in Jackson, WY, and spend a fair amount of time in the backcountry. A few suggestions:
1. Don't travel alone.
2. Always carry bear spray. (And know how to use it.)
3. Bells are effective, but I don't use them. They break up the peace and solitude of the hike, and I find them annoying. But they do work!
4. I hike with trekking poles. I used to think only "old" folks used them. But they're useful for snow crossings and water crossings, both of which can be tricky. Also, if you hike for an extended period without them, you'll find that your hands and fingers will swell.
5. Always carry rain gear. Mountain weather is capricious.
6. Likewise, carry a few clothing layers and an extra pair of socks (see # 5). As a rough rule of thumb, the temperature will drop 5 degrees for every 1,000 feet of elevation change. So if you start a hike at, say, 6,000 feet and it's 65 degrees, expect it to be ~ 45 degrees at the top of a 10,000 foot pass.
7. Drink lots of water, and apply lots of sunscreen. I'd recommend a wide-brimmed hat, too. Mountain air is thin and dry, and the sun can be especially intense at altitude.
8. YMMV, but in parks with maintained trails and a fair amount of elevation change, you'll cover ~ 2 miles per hour of hiking. So plan on ~ 5 hours for a 10-mile hike. If the trails are not well maintained, pace drops considerably.
9. Apply petroleum jelly or Body Glide to your feet to prevent blisters.
10. Have fun! Glacier is a special place!
Forgot one: Always carry bug spray. On some hikes, especially the ones high up, you won't need it. On others, the mosquitoes and biting flies can be nasty.
My wife, who is a super strong hiker and perfect in nearly every way, is a bad singer. Getting her to sing a few verses of "Delta Dawn" on the trail is all the bear repellent I've ever needed. So I would add
11. Get my wife to sing "Delta Dawn."
But I would caution that if she sings more than a few verses, you will pray for the sweet relief of death at the hand of an angry brown bear.
Well....you might only need it when hiking in the back country, so you likely won't need it every day of a weeklong vacay. Hoping I won't need it when visiting a brewery
I have some from an elk hunt in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, but pretty sure I can't fly with it, and believe it is cheaper to rent than buy.
Hopefully, I would return it unused when I am done. You do realize this is a very strong pepper spray that you aim at a charging bear's face,
rather than a cologne that deters bears, right?
ROLFLMAO. I guess it's really not funny but I really did laugh long and hard at this post.
Grizzly Bears are like the IRS, you don't f**k with them because they f**k BACK.
Cycling on a trail in a remote part of PA. Bear cub runs out in front of me 10 yards away. Quick thought "that's not good". At that instant, a jet passes overhead, and of course to me it sounded like a bear growl/roar (had ear buds in, so it was hard to distinguish at first). Most fear I ever felt in my life.
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Was berry picking late June as a kid in Coudersport. Saw (2) cubs on the other side of pipeline about 20 yards from me. Thought nothing of it until Momma showed up & stood on hind legs smelling the air and thankfully walked away with her cubs. You could see where the bear would just plow thru the blackberry thickets, like tunnels.
Not really true.
Not sure about Canadian parks, but National Park Service in Tetons / Yellowstone / Glacier do a pretty great job in keeping bears & especially grizzlies as separate from human food & human influence as possible.
Look it up. Human fatalities from bears in the NPs are rare.
A fed bear basically becomes a dead bear.
Feeding bears, or bears in human trash, they’ll get used to easy food & maybe become violent - often have to be captured and killed.
Lots of bear proof trash bins; bear proof food storage; etc keep both bear & people very safe.
Actually, where most of your bear attacks occur are elk & deer hunters in fall in the high country - often over an elk carcass. And that’s almost always on National Forest land, not the National Parks.
Eddyline had an elk hunting guide killed in his backyard (Tetons) this past fall over an elk carcass.
Basically, most PA & northeastern people don’t know shit about grizzlies unless if you spent significant time out west.
https://trib.com/outdoors/wyoming-o...cle_c5913d2a-4889-5fa9-89d8-e44562b06717.html
Sigh. Roar always tells me I need to use the winky face more.
True this ^^^^^. The most dangerous animal in GTNP and Yellowstone? Bison. They look bucolic, so tourists try to get close to them for photos. Call it a quest for Darwin’s Award — an adult male bison can weigh 2,000 pounds, has sharp horns and can run at top speeds approaching 40 mph.
Didn’t some jabronie from Oregon get arrested in YNP for taunting a bison last year ??
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...-bison-arrested-glacier-national-park-n897641
People probably think they're like Zombies - slow with no lateral movement.
I wouldn't eff with one.
Or Hawkeyes. Slow with no lateral movement.
So you are saying they handfight and push without taking a shot?
The Cash Wilkies of the West
A guy I work with grew up in YNP. Recess at his school would sometimes be cancelled because a bull elk or bison wandered onto school grounds
Words to live by.
Trust wild animals less than politicians.
Trust wild animals less than politicians.
seems to have gone off the rails. Kind of surprising
- Life comes at you fast
- Celebrate the chances you have to make decisions
- Don’t steal the thunder of those in that position
- Keep bear spray handy, but watch out for those tatanka
- There are no rules of decorum in the offseason
Offseason mumbo jumbo, from a wrestling sense.
Helps with sanity for many here, in between the speculation, innuendo,
conjecture, theorizing, hypothesizing, supposition and guessing that happens during much of the wrestling talk.
Awesome for this community, imo
...though the discussions about the World Team Trials this weekend may move this current level of posting in this thread to page two.I was hiking in Stokes State Forest with a group years ago during peak bear activity. The leaders spent a lot of time instructing the group on what to do and not to do if we ran across bears. First "don't" was "don't run".
Partway through the hike, we were walking along one side of a fallen tree with a 4-5' diameter. Two bears popped up on the other side and what is the first thing some people did? Yep - run.
What happened next showed us why you are told not to run. Enough of us didn't run that the bears were frightened. We were on the edge of a ravine than ran down to a creek and back up for about 20 yards on either side. Those bears went down and up that ravine in what seemed like 2 seconds. That's why you don't run - it's futile.
Partway through the hike, we were walking along one side of a fallen tree with a 4-5' diameter. Two bears popped up on the other side and what is the first thing some people did? Yep - run.
What happened next showed us why you are told not to run. Enough of us didn't run that the bears were frightened. We were on the edge of a ravine than ran down to a creek and back up for about 20 yards on either side. Those bears went down and up that ravine in what seemed like 2 seconds. That's why you don't run - it's futile.
Drive home through Yellowstone from a jr high dual tourney in Cody WY around six years ago. Saw several Grizzlies and one mini van with a caved in side from a bison that wanted to cross road and van was in the way .
Spent a night in Banff on our honeymoon. Very nice hot springs and a ton of elk.
Spent a night in Banff on our honeymoon. Very nice hot springs and a ton of elk.
The American Bison is similar to the Cape Buffalo in that regard.
Cape buffalo - The African Cape Buffalo will actively stalk and attack the hunter who wounded it. Each year it kills more humans in Africa than any other creature.
I think Hippos, Crocs, and of course, Mosquitos kill more. Buffalo are still dangerous customers though.
The mosquitos are almost worse then the threat of bear attacks during the warm weather months up there. Camping in a tent the sound of 100s of them trying to get at you is somewhat disconcerting. Definitely need a bootle to pee into over night!
I don't know who it was that told you that that was rule number one, or a rule at all, but it is wrong.
The very first rule is to choose your hiking partners wisely. Make sure that you are able to outrun at least one of them over 40 to 50 yards.
Rule number two is if you see a bear, run as fast as you can 40 to 50 yards. Even better, if you have time, is to kick your hiking partner in the knee as hard as you can, before you start running.
It is estimated that bears attack 2 million salmon a year. Attacks by salmon on bears are much more rare.
