Sections Least Likely to Encounter Bears

[double d]

Vermont has few, if any contact with bears, but from what I understand, there are about 4,000 black bears in Vermont and they are not "humanized" at all. So....it seems Vermont would fit your topic outline. BTW: just got back from a 50 mile hike in Vermont-very good hike and no bears, although someone said they saw one on the ski slope side of Killington Mt.

[Cookerhiker]

Vermont has few, if any contact with bears, but from what I understand, there are about 4,000 black bears in Vermont and they are not "humanized" at all. So....it seems Vermont would fit your topic outline. BTW: just got back from a 50 mile hike in Vermont-very good hike and no bears, although someone said they saw one on the ski slope side of Killington Mt.

I thought for the past few years there had been bear activity as they say around Seth Warner Shelter, the southernmost shelter in VT. At least it was reported when I thruhiked the Long Trail in '07 and I heard the same story in subsequent years.

However having the LT twice and the AT in VT, I've never seen a bear there.

[Appalachian Tater]

Perrito, I think you are taking the wrong approach. Why don't you take your wife hiking to the zoo at Bear Mountain so she can feel sorry for the bears instead of being afraid of them?

[JAK]

Read the game laws of the various states. places that allow bears to be hunted rarely have trouble with bears being a nuicance on trails. Occasionally, bears pose a problem in Baxter State Park, where hunting is banned.

But in 50 years of wandering the rest of the Appalachian Trail in Maine, I've never seen a bear, and never have been bothered by one. That doesn't mean there aren't bears in Maine. We have more than any other trail state with the possible exception of Pennsylvania. But they keep well out of the way of humans in the wild places. Occasionally one will show up in residential neighborhoods to rob garbage cans and bird feeders.

Weary

"Boy, you won't see any bears in Maine because we hunt bears here". That's what I was told when I flipped to Maine in 2000. Whatever, we hunt all manner of game in Alabama and we see em daily. Sure enough, not 15 miles into the 100 Mile Wilderness SOBO, a bear walked into my space within 20 yds. He sniffed around (I was eating my lunch) and checked me out for a sec, then busied him/herself with the berry bushes. Must have been one of those Baxter bears.

I have had the same experience as Weary, although less of it. Lots of bears here, 1 every 2 square miles on average, but I never see them. I can only conclude that they here or smell me coming. Others report multiple sightings. I wonder if some people sound or smell different to bears, and so they are more likely to allow themselves to be seen by some people than others. Maybe it is something as simple as the food we eat. I eat mostly oats porridgey type meals. Also, my clothes and stuff tend to be smokey, from wood fires. That might make a difference. Not sure but something to think about. I'm also a terrible fisherman. That could be it.

[Blue Jay]

I have seen bears almost everywhere along the AT, however there are a few places where they are unlikely.

1) Lone Wolf's house
2)The Doyle Hotel
3)Hanover
4)Madison Hut
5)The Bird Cage in Dalton
6)The long board walk in NJ
Wait I take that one back

[Doctari]

Sorry to say, they are "everywhere" One has been spotted less than 80 miles from my home, I live in SW Ohio (The bear was in South Eastern OHIO)!

That said, I have heard a rumor, believe it or not, I choose to not believe, this was said about the Smokies along the AT: "Yea, the bears don't come up so high this time of year (early spring) cause there aint no food up here yet."

I suppose that wasn't counting all the food that thru hikers bring up.

[10-K]

Yeah... the question is "least likely to see a bear" *not* "definitely won't see a bear" though I think that's really what the OP would like.

Bears are potentially everywhere but I've only seen one myself and that was in Pennsylvania.

[Cookerhiker]

I guess there aren't too many bears in the stretch of flat farmland and suburban sprawl through the Cumberland Valley in PA.

[Jester2000]

I have seen bears almost everywhere along the AT, however there are a few places where they are unlikely.


5)The Bird Cage in Dalton

I saw a bear running down the street in Dalton in 2000.

[johnnybgood]

I picked up a thru hiker two weeks ago in SNP and while talking to him he told me that he had walked 900 miles , GA>NoBo without ever seeing a bear until that morning when he saw a mother bear and a cub.
Moral of the story is ; It's a hit or miss proposition and you just never know where a bear might pop up.
On a side note : I saw a grey fox two nights ago trotting along the edge of a stand of woods not even half a mile where I live,.. here in suburbia.

[JAK]

The red fox population here in Southern New Brunswick is way up this year. I have seen about 6 or 7 driving and hiking, just within the city. Some of those would be the same fox as it was more or less the same location and time of day. Most years I would only see one but once a year or so.

[daddytwosticks]

JAK...if you've seen red fox driving and hiking.......

[Bear Cables]

I know that, but she doesn't get it. It's a shame that all you see about bears on TV are the horror stories.
I want to ease her into backpacking and have her first experience a positive one. She probably won't sleep, jumping at every noise, if she thinks bears are around. The things we do for love....

Thanks all for the suggestions. Keep them coming.

Have her read the research and information along with bear behavior videos at bear.org. It really helped me get over my heebie jeebies about bears. I went on my section hike this past month hoping to see a bear, in the Smokies, and nothing, no bear anywhere that I could see.

[couscous]

Keep you're camera cocked and ready to photograph the bear. You'll never see one. Put it down, though......

That explains why I couldn't find any bears in Maryland last week .. should have put the camera away. Trying to find a spot where you can't possibly see a bear may be difficult. Three years ago a young male black bear was photographed less than a mile from my house. That poor fellow was REALLY lost as it had been over 130 years since a black bear had been seen in the area. [Newspaper Article]

[Hikes in Rain]

Only time I've seen a bear while hiking the AT was in Georgia, a couple of miles south of Woods Hole Shelter. No camera. Besides, I only saw the south side of him as he hauled his fuzzy fanny northbound. I was too stunned to even be scared!

I saved up that emotion for the foggy, rainy next night all alone in Whitney Gap shelter, after reading about a bold bear in the shelter log.

[Kirby]

I saw a bear in Duncannon, PA. It was just standing there, right on the trail in town. It looked huge and vicious.

[JAK]

JAK...if you've seen red fox driving and hiking.......

lol. Clever as a fox eh. That would be clever.

[Tinker]

I thought for the past few years there had been bear activity as they say around Seth Warner Shelter, the southernmost shelter in VT. At least it was reported when I thruhiked the Long Trail in '07 and I heard the same story in subsequent years.

However having the LT twice and the AT in VT, I've never seen a bear there.

You are correct: There was bear activity at the Seth Warner shelter in the past. I don't know if it is still a problem. Probably Mass. bears .

My vote would be for the Presidential Range of the White Mountains (though there is a bear box near Mizpah Hut, and probably for good reason). I have never seen bear sign above treeline there (but there is a great photo of a moose wandering around above 4,000 ft. on the AT).

[Tinker]

Moose above treeline in Whites:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=71497

Btw: Moose in the rut are far more dangerous than a hungry bear (just thought you'd like to know ).

[trippclark]

Hi All,

My wife would almost certainly go backpacking with me but is UNREASONABLY fearful of bears. Could I get some suggestions as to sections of the trail where we a would be unlikely to run into any?

Well, your odds of seeing a bear on the AT in any given weekend or week, anywhere are not great. I've hiked about 1100 miles of the AT over the last 10 years -- somewhere around 75 days of hiking plus or minus -- and I have only seen three bears. Two were just brief glimpses, and the third was running the other way. All three of these were in North Carolina and Virginia.