So, I've booked a massive holiday to these destinations. However, Mrs Fiola has started fretting about the likely hood of bears, bear attacks and getting mauled to DEATH.
Can anyone throw any advice her way regarding this issue, i just shrug my shoulders and say oh well. Apparently "this doesn't help".
Ive read what you should do in case of attack but what is the chance of it? Is it a bit like seeing an otter over here or more like a rabbit.
Thanks
Just tell her she only needs to be faster than you.
Spent some time in the wilds around there many years ago. My now wife and I sea kayaked down from up near Alaska one summer (as you do) then spent some time around Vancouver Island looking for whales.
We saw some bears, I'm pretty sure we had them sniffing around our tents on several nights but I wasn't going to stick my head out the tent to find out.
We met some people, they had rifles and electric fences. We had some bear bangers and pepper spray. You can pick it up in outdoor shops over there. In fact go to the MEC shop in Vancouver if you can, it was awesome for a kit junkie like me.
Excluding the noises outside the tent we saw 4 Adult bears (one with two cubs) in about 2 months, camping in bear country away from most people. Actually we say nearly as many bears as people!
They eat berries.
Bears do not want to eat you. You are not worth the trouble.
They want to eat your lunch or dinner tho, and possibly you if you smell like food. And they will fight you if they think you are a threat. So all you have to do is not attract them and not piss them off.
Look at it this way. Outdoor recreation is huge business in the states and Canada, millions of people camping, trekking and everything else all the time. And bear attacks are dead rare.
They are so rare that wikipedia lists and details each one.
Oregon, Lake Tahoe you'll be ok, it's just the snakes you have to worry about in Oregon. Vancouver Island and Whistler another story however, tons of hungry bears... as you have no meat on you I think you'll be ok. If I was you I'd go camping up Kentmere.
Guess it depends what you are doing? Walking round shouting 'come on Bears lets av ya' whilst covered in juicy steaks or just going on a holiday and doing some chilled stuff?
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/29/experience-i-punched-a-bear
Bears, you'll be fine. If a Cougar is after you, you're stuffed. Maybe don't share that bit.
Had a three week honeymoon in BC and Vancouver in June 2002. Saw a few bears, but no problems.
Research actual number of bear attacks - relatively rare. Check what precautions they suggest you take and follow them.
Get your other half to google "mountain lion attacks". Should stop her worrying about bears.
Keep your camp spot & dinner spot separate, don't store food around the campsite, seal it in a dry bag and tie it up in a tree.
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If you are lucky you will see some black bears, but they won't want to eat you!
I saw my first bear here in Whistler a couple of months ago, just after I arrived. Beautiful things and didn't pay me any notice as he was too busy trying to cross the highway.
If you're in Whistler there's plenty of signage in the parks about how to deal with the bears, but essentially don't leave food/rubbish anywhere that the bears might be able to get to, so not in your tent if you're camping, hang it a fair way up a tree a way from your tent, and if you see them during the day just stay back and let them get on with things. They don't usually get aggressive with people.
16 deaths since 2010 in an area the size of 4 united kingdoms.
What Neilwheel said about cougars... They're the nasty ones. If you run they think it's a game and will chase them, you have to stare them down. The guy we stayed with in Oregon said "I've been riding all my life in Oregon and I've never seen a cougar but I know they've seen me." (he's 65)
The few bears I saw in BC and Montana were quick to head into the undergrowth. A lot of signs of them on the trail but only saw a couple of times. Don't eat at your camp spot or have a half-eaten sandwich in your bag when you stop for a while, seal + hang food if sleeping out and maybe use a bear bell or just make a lot of noise. The real risk seems to be coming between a mother and cubs on the trail. Bear spray is wise but I didn't have any.
I think it's worth having a good idea of what not to do. I got the impression that by the time I needed bear spray I'd already fked up badly or been really, really unlucky and would probably mess up using it in a panic.
you have to stare them down
The only time you'll ever see a cougar is if it wants you to see it. By then it's much, much too late.
They run away from you. You have to go further north to find a bear that might try and hurt you.
Tell her to take a big jar of honey,if you meet a bear she can throw the honey at you and leg it. 🙂
I live in calgary. On average I see a bear maybe once or twice a year and that is recreating in the mountains every week. All but once they've been heading the other way. That once it didn't want to leave the berry patch so we just made a diversion.
I carry bear spray but have never used it. Make noise and you'll never see them. As above cougars are far worse but I've never seen one. Have seen a cougar kill of deer though. It's honestly not something to change plans over and just take the precautions others have mentioned.
When we stayed in Evergreen Colerado this one appeared one day but he never gave us any bother..
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As others have said, bears usually hear you before you see them and disappear. Did the JMT few years back followed by some hiking in Oregon and in 2 months of camping I saw 3 bears and heard one sniffing around camp one night-didn't get out to check it was a bear! Providing you keep your camp clean and remove food etc and cool in a different place you should be fine. Some campsites on popular trails have bear lockers to store food-bear barrels also work, but are heavy to lug around so hanging may be easier
Have these two links bookmarked for the great 'dirt family' retirement plan 😛
[url] http://geology.com/stories/13/bear-areas/ [/url]
[url] http://www.blackbearsociety.org/bearPopulationbyState.html [/url]
Should I be more worried about cougars? 😯 [i]googles 'cougar population by state'[/i]
Oh, and Lake Tahoe is lovely. Enjoy!
Bears, cougars and snakes. Lets face it, your f****d!
As long as your not riding 29" wheels you might get away with it.
Honeymooned in whistler and Vancouver island, did lots of walks in the woods near ucluelet, saw a fair few bears, even had to walk right past one on a path as it was blocking our way home and turning back would have meant not getting home before dark, that was squeaky bum time but needn't have worried, it just looked at us and wandered into the undergrowth.
These were all black bears btw the grizzlies are a very different matter apparently but you're very unlikely to see them around there.
+1on the sage advice about not leaving food lying around though.
Stayed in Rossland BC, a skiing town in the mountains with my cousin this September. Saw lots of Bear poo whilst riding, some of it very fresh, but only saw a black bear once - big thing - shuffling around outside my cousins front door. Apparently very common, and they tend to ignore people, or run off (unless grizzly or with cubs).
I can guarantee that the first night in bear country under canvas won't be a good nights sleep. Even small furries crawling around wil scare the bejesus out of you 🙂
We spent a fair of of time camping when we did 4 weeks round BC and Vancouver Island including a canoe trip where the only way to get there was boat or helicopter. Bloody brilliant.
Only bears we saw were in Jasper and I would say you are more likely to meet them if biking as you are quicker and quieter. However they either stayed stuffing their faces on berries or shuffled off on us excitedly shouting BEAR.
We cooked away from tent and changed clothes before bedding down for the night. Hung bags in trees or used bear boxes or ladders and included toiletries in them. Never bothered after 2 nd night.
Was talking to the bike hire guys at whistler bike park the day I arrived, apparently the day before I arrived one of their clients launched a big tabletop on a-line only to realise once he was in the air that there was a bear sat at the bottom of the landing, pretty much landed on it, startled Bear ran in one direction, no less startled human ran in the other, probably looking for new shorts.
Grizzlies up on the North east coast of the Island.. take a tour and go and see them!
Black bears else where..
If you're sensible an respect their space if you do encounter a black bear, they present no concern... Grizzlies, I've no experience.. extremely rare around us.
But if I had to get in a fight with either, I'd choose a grizzly.
Cougars (Mountain Lions in USA).. holy sh*t! 😉 Its extremely likely that I have walked the dog past or ridden my bike past a fair few with no idea they are even there. Even a black bear 10ft into the woods is pretty much undetectable!
They eat berries.
And women.
I spent a few months in Whistler and saw loads of them but never really felt threatened. The first time you encounter one when you're by yourself is squeaky bum time but other than that fine, they either ignore you or run away.
This is all that you need to know. 😉
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/\ lolcanos, I worked in whistler back in 01 and I had to open up for breakfast at 5am. Come spring time there were bears trying to get into the kitchen as i arrived.
Scared the poo out of me first time but became more accustomed to them as the season wore on.
We saw a few on an official bear watching trip on Vancouver Island
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and [url= http://pickled-hedgehog.com/?p=3194 ]one when I'd much rather I hadn't[/url] It's like everyone else says tho. Lots of bears (still), very few people get eaten!
Riding Kill Me Thrill Me solo in Whistler I came round a nice drifts corner to be confronted by this huge black bear just stood in the middle of the trail . I stopped before I parked myself in his butt ? Boy did he panic ran off into the trees branches snapping as he went ! If only he knew what had spooked him . 😯
....and the Linnaean name of the grizzly bear is?
Ursus Arctus Horribilis.
We walked the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island and did some overnight camps up at places like Glacier Lake in the Rockies but didn't ever see a bear. Nearest we came was seeing a paw prit in the mud. We bought a length of cord at MEC in Vancouver and hung our food in trees.
Kit was cheap at MEC, bought some climbing skins for ski touring.
Be sure to visit the museum of Native American history in Victoria, it's excellent.
Forgot to say, if you are throwing money at a trip that way, we had a great time at Knight Inlet, if they are still going. Think it's grizzlytours.com . Kayaking up a stream to watch juvenile grizzlies. ****ing awesome honeymoon.
It's the old cougars in Whistler Village your wife probably needs to be most worried about 😛
Really need to be over 50 to be killed by a bear, at least statisics say so, and i dont think anyone has been killed by a bear whilst riding a bike, 29ner or otherwise!