Bears of Juneau - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

Irinon · 08-19-2005, 04:49 PM

Just how close do bears get to Juneau, Alaska? I was asking, in the newsgroups, for info on hiking groups in Juneau. Someone replied that there is no hiking around Juneau because of the bears. Is this a crock or what?

**space virgin** · 08-19-2005, 07:14 PM

Shit, I've come across bears twice in Seattle suburbs.

I'm sure there are plenty of bears around Juneau, but I doubt you'd be in imminent danger as long as you took reasonable precautions.

**weirdbeard** · 08-19-2005, 09:05 PM

I don't know how to post a link but try juneau-guide.com. It's a visitor info site. Just be sure to stay far away from Black Bears. They can be far more tempermental and unpredictable than Grizzlies. Of course in any wildlife situation, it's best to see things from afar. I'm sure you already knew that though. I remember in Colorado, you could see those Bighorn ram standing on hillsides if you got up early enough and those things can kill ya!

**omisan** · 08-20-2005, 10:33 AM

Yeah, while grizzlies are the larger, fiercer beasts, brown bears are less afraid of humans - and smart enough to make a go at any form of food they find on your person. If you're hiking grizzly country, simply attach a bell (kinda like one of thoe sleighbells) to your backpack or walking stick - the noise freaks 'em out and keeps them far away. This doesn't work on brown beaqrs... but brown bears don't attack humans unless you're threatening their cubs.. Otherwise, they're more of a nuisance, attacking your *food* (not you, unless you smell like sugary food) - so you just have to be smart and put your food in a bear container when you sleep.

**space virgin** · 08-21-2005, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by weirdbeard@Aug 20 2005, 04:05 AM
Just be sure to stay far away from Black Bears. They can be far more tempermental and unpredictable than Grizzlies.
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Funny you say this, because the ones I came across were black bears.

**weirdbeard** · 08-21-2005, 09:37 PM

Yeah we have em' here in Georgia too. There's a place I've camped close to Tennesee called Jack's river. It's really beautiful but the hike is about 45 mins. from parking, it isn't bad at all, very scenic. I have never had this experience but a few of my friends went camping and one of them left food out at night. Needless to say a Black bear came snooping around and actually ripped one of the guy's tents. My friend screamed and luckily scared the bear away. The next time we all went camping we were drinking and this particular person had already passed out. I crept up to his tent growled and shook it as hard as I could. He woke up screaming like a baby

and the rest of us were laughing our heads off.

**omisan** · 08-21-2005, 11:42 PM

Oops, I meant to say black bears in my post, not brown. But for anyone who hasn't run into one before, black bears can actually be black, brown, or golden. The color doesn't determine the species but the build. 'Course, if you're face to face with one, I'm sure you don't care at that point

**beergal** · 08-22-2005, 01:55 AM

no fair! The only bear ive seen is in a zoo! Oh damn i think that may have been my brother ha ha

Just kidding you guys are so lucky!

**weirdbeard** · 08-23-2005, 02:13 AM

Yeah, growing up here in Georgia I've been very fortunate to see many different types of wildlife. I grew up in the country and my family has four acres of land. This isn't much but considering it was once surrounded by many more empty acres I got to see Cranes, snakes, foxes, deer, turtles, woodpeckers all around my house. My Brother and I used to traipse through this swampy area and it's a miracle we never got bitten by something.

**beergal** · 08-23-2005, 04:05 AM

ah the joys of growing up in ports NOT!

**space virgin** · 08-23-2005, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by beergal1@Aug 22 2005, 08:55 AM
no fair! The only bear ive seen is in a zoo! Oh damn i think that may have been my brother ha ha
Just kidding you guys are so lucky!
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Good god, WHY would you want to come across one???

The two times it's happened to me (well, three, sorta... I'll get to that) weren't exactly fun.

The first time I was riding my horse down a street in a fairly remote part of the 'burbs around here when all of a sudden he stopped and froze. For a split second I wondered what the fuck his problem was and then, about 50 feet in front of us, a bear walked across the street. He ambled out of the bushes on one side, moseyed across, stopped, stood up, turned his head sniffing the air, took a good look at us (I swear my horse's jaw was hanging as wide open as mine was, lol) and then wandered off into the bushes on the other side of the street. If push had come to shove, we could have outrun him, but still.

The second time, in the same damn neighborhood, I was cleaning stalls and as I was pushing the wheelbarrow out to the shit pile, I turned a corner and literally came face to face with another one. About, oh, 10 feet away. We startled the shit out of each other, I threw the wheelbarrow and bellowed from shock and the poor bear freaked out and ran the other direction. If someone had caught it on tape it could have easily been sent to America's Funniest Home Videos.

The third time was when I was about 5 and we were living in Montana. Our house backed up to a big-ass mountain-- literally, we had a 20' wide yard and then it went straight up. I was sleeping in my parents' bed which had a window facing the backyard where we had a fairly extensive vegetable garden. We heard weird snuffling noises and thought it was a deer, so we slowly looked out the window just above the headboard of the bed. Right there, on the other side of the glass, about 12-18 inches away at the most, was a HUGE-ass bear looking right at us.

I remember very clearly that we slowly laid back down and waited for the bear to leave, lol.

**beergal** · 08-23-2005, 10:35 AM

Quote:

The first time I was riding my horse down a street in a fairly remote part of the 'burbs around here when all of a sudden he stopped and froze. For a split second I wondered what the fuck his problem was and then, about 50 feet in front of us, a bear walked across the street. He ambled out of the bushes on one side, moseyed across, stopped, stood up, turned his head sniffing the air, took a good look at us (I swear my horse's jaw was hanging as wide open as mine was, lol) and then wandered off into the bushes on the other side of the street. If push had come to shove, we could have outrun him, but still.*

that has to be the funniest bear story ive ever heard