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Lake Tahoe 2009

 
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gpsjoe





Joined: 01 Feb 2004
Posts: 535
Location: Mesa AZ

PostPosted: 9/30/2009, 12:28 pm    Post subject: Lake Tahoe 2009 Reply to topic Reply with quote

Bears are fun.

I was at Lake Tahoe from Sept 19 to Sept 26 hiking nearby and in the Desolation Wilderness. This is my favorite time in the Tahoe area. After Labor Day the crowds are way down and the weather is outstanding all the way till the first major snowfall. I checked in early on the 19th and the desk lady was running down the things going on in the area and mentioned Taylor creek with its Salmon and Bears only 8 miles away. That is all I needed to hear so I went to Taylor Creek which is at the visitor center on the south end of Lake Tahoe. Now the visitor center is very popular and there may be 50 people there mid-day but this was late in the day so there were only a few. The Rainbow trail goes to spots along Taylor creek and is black topped. I would not have thought that bears would be comfortable hanging around so many people but somehow they have learned to coexist with the people. They have great food sources that include salmon and camper scraps and garbage cans that are not bear proof. There are signs there asking to help keep the bears wild. Keep a safe distance from them and don’t feed them. It certainly appears that this works well because if there were serious incidents the Forest Service would have to do something about that may include purging the area of its bear population.

After a short walk down the Rainbow trail I instantly had my first bear sighting. There were 3 bears that may have been mom, dad and a juvenile upstream in Taylor creek apparently feeding on salmon. In the photos in the gallery I include 1 shot at 28mm to show how far away I was and the second at 280mm, the most zoom my camera lens would do.

During the rest of the week I would go back to Taylor creek twice (after hiking a normal hike) for more bear shots. On the second visit about 5:30 PM there were only about 5 people on the trail. I ran into a bear on the black top Rainbow trail. I stopped, was quiet so I could take photos and got two, 1 at 28mm and 1 zoomed at 112mm. After taking the second shot I looked up to see this bear charging full speed up the trail right at me. My reflex reaction was to jump off the trail and run briefly (knowing the bear was 10 times faster than me) on the grasses nearby. I looked back and the bear was gone. All took place in maybe 3 to 5 seconds.

Then a lady with a dog on a leash was coming from the opposite direction up the trail. The dog was in full bark mode the whole time. So, after the fact I guess the bear got spooked by the barking dog and was making a quick exit. My jumping off the trail gave the bear an easy exit route (would not want him feeling he was trapped between us). I wish I could say I knew that ahead of time but I only figured it out after the fact so I got lucky there.

It appears bears and people can coexist in peace. But this is a case where I may have accidentally trapped a bear provoking a defensive reaction or maybe not. He did have other escape routes off the trail. Also being quiet to take pictures can be hazardous to your health.

Here are the hikes. Pictures are on Webshots.

Tahoe - Taylor Creek – Great for bears and Salmon.

Echo & Flagpole Peaks – See SunnitPost.org for the route on this class 2 hike.

Tahoe – Rubicon Trail – The Foghorn Outdoors book titled “California Hiking” says “The Rubicon Trail is the premier Lake Tahoe day hike; accept no substitutes”.

Pyramid Peak – See SummitPost.org for 3 different routes on this class 2 or 3 hike.

Gilmore Lake – Described in the Foghorn book.

Gertrude & Tyler Lakes – Also described in the Foghorn book.
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RedRoxx44
Queen of the Walkabout




Joined: 15 Jan 2004
Posts: 1167

PostPosted: 10/1/2009, 4:22 am    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

I've driven the Rubicon Trail twice and car camped at Rubicon springs and day hiked off trail in there. Very beautiful.
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tibber





Joined: 16 Feb 2004
Posts: 247
Location: Phoenix

PostPosted: 10/1/2009, 10:13 am    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

Whew! what a bear story. It could have been much worse. I'm glad you're ok. I bet your heart was pounding quite loudly. Shocked I can't blame you for wanting to get those photographs though!

As I recall, I think you're familiar with Glaicer Park... well here is a bear story that gets the adrenalin going about some hikers on the beautiful Grinnell Glacier trail (I did this back in 2003). Fortunately, nearly as I can tell everyone faired okay...well they got out alive anyway.

http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-trw-attackedbyagrizzly29apr29,0,5556003.story

Now I gotta go look at the pictures. Smile
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gpsjoe





Joined: 01 Feb 2004
Posts: 535
Location: Mesa AZ

PostPosted: 10/1/2009, 3:44 pm    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

That's an amazing story tibber. Grizzlies are known to be more aggressive than blacks. But I am suprised that at Tahoe the Forest Service is comfortable with having bears present in such a high traffic area as the Rainbow Trail and Taylor creek.
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