I think you made the right choice to leave the area. That sounds like an amazingly high number of bears to encounter. I would not have slept a single wink under those circumstances.
Black bear encounters are fairly common in Shenandoah National Park. This many are not. The most I've ever seen before was a single bear or a mother with a cub. Most of the sightings occur along Skyline Drive, the main road through the park.
As of now the bears are generally not aggressive to people and show no signs of food aggression. They haven't even figured out how to cut the rope to get down a food bag that's hung in a tree. Most of the bears (all that I have seen) are very afraid of humans and run away when they see you.
The puzzling thing to me is why there were this many bears in this section of the park. The bears are supposed to be more plentiful in the southern end of the park because people go down there the least. I was in the northern third of the park, the most popular area for people. I know they live there, but these were the furthest-north bears I've seen in the park. It must have been the miles worth of berry bushes I passed that attracted them.
You are brave to camp alone. We saw about 10 bears within 24 hours last month all on the whiteoak canyon and limberlost trails-not quite wilderness areas. They were eating acorns. We were going up the trail at one point, heard a noise nearby and 20 feet to my right saw a bear was hurrying away from me. In my profile photo, taken on that day, is a black bear. He appears as a black spot far away to the right. I forgot to tell you earlier, your photos are beautiful.
CrazySanMan - Oct 27, 2008 12:22 pm - Hasn't voted
Bears
I've recently found out that Shenandoah National Park has the highest population density of black bears (2 per square mile) out of anywhere in the world.
This was a good summer for berries and now there are an awful lot of acorns. That makes for a lot of bears. This time of year they need to gain something like 5 pounds a day to fatten up for hibernation.
Night bears would freak me out. 30% of the time on hikes in SNP I see a bear, so far they have all grunted then run away. With all the vegetation it is very easy to stumble across one at close range.
maddie77777 - Jul 31, 2008 10:36 am - Voted 10/10
WowThat's incredible. Have you hiked in this area before, are bear sightings fairly typical?
TJ311 - Aug 1, 2008 4:24 pm - Voted 10/10
Good CallI think you made the right choice to leave the area. That sounds like an amazingly high number of bears to encounter. I would not have slept a single wink under those circumstances.
CrazySanMan - Aug 7, 2008 7:07 am - Hasn't voted
maddie77777Black bear encounters are fairly common in Shenandoah National Park. This many are not. The most I've ever seen before was a single bear or a mother with a cub. Most of the sightings occur along Skyline Drive, the main road through the park.
As of now the bears are generally not aggressive to people and show no signs of food aggression. They haven't even figured out how to cut the rope to get down a food bag that's hung in a tree. Most of the bears (all that I have seen) are very afraid of humans and run away when they see you.
The puzzling thing to me is why there were this many bears in this section of the park. The bears are supposed to be more plentiful in the southern end of the park because people go down there the least. I was in the northern third of the park, the most popular area for people. I know they live there, but these were the furthest-north bears I've seen in the park. It must have been the miles worth of berry bushes I passed that attracted them.
Libbylou - Oct 18, 2008 6:33 pm - Hasn't voted
so many bearsYou are brave to camp alone. We saw about 10 bears within 24 hours last month all on the whiteoak canyon and limberlost trails-not quite wilderness areas. They were eating acorns. We were going up the trail at one point, heard a noise nearby and 20 feet to my right saw a bear was hurrying away from me. In my profile photo, taken on that day, is a black bear. He appears as a black spot far away to the right. I forgot to tell you earlier, your photos are beautiful.
CrazySanMan - Oct 27, 2008 12:22 pm - Hasn't voted
BearsI've recently found out that Shenandoah National Park has the highest population density of black bears (2 per square mile) out of anywhere in the world.
This was a good summer for berries and now there are an awful lot of acorns. That makes for a lot of bears. This time of year they need to gain something like 5 pounds a day to fatten up for hibernation.
taxinvestor - Dec 19, 2008 8:53 pm - Voted 10/10
Good StoryNight bears would freak me out. 30% of the time on hikes in SNP I see a bear, so far they have all grunted then run away. With all the vegetation it is very easy to stumble across one at close range.