As I was doing one of my longer hikes in Shenandoah Natl Park last Friday, I had an interesting bear sighting I thought worth sharing with those of you who hike in the northern section of the park.
My hike was an 18 miler which started at the bottom of Keyser Run Fire Road. I hiked 4 miles up the FR to Skyline Drive, crossed the Drive at MP 19 and headed south on the AT, crossing the Drive again at Elkwallow near MP 24 and continued on the AT to near MP 28 on the Drive, crossed yet again and picked up the Hull School Trail for several miles back to the Keyser Run FR near Bolen Cemetery. From there, it was just a mile back down to my Jeep. The hike took me about 8.5 hours.
On the AT about 1.5 miles south of Elkwallow, as I rounded a blind corner on the trail, I heard a low pitched growl to my left. When I glanced over, I noticed an adult black bear in the woods about 30 feet away, standing on all fours and looking straight at me. Immediately behind the bear, I saw two cubs scurrying up a pair of small trees. All three of the bears were behind a blowdown of small trees. I was hiking away from their position so I thought the best thing to do was to keep moving and avoid stopping or making any sudden movements. The adult bear made no aggressive moves and I just went on my merry way.
After the encounter, as I was thinking through it again, here's what I surmised must have happened to cause such a close meeting. It was very hot that afternoon, around 100F. There was virtually no air movement at ground level which must have made it difficult for the bear to pick up my scent as I approached. Secondly, I was solo so I wasn't making much noise. Also, in the very brief look I got at the adult I thought that she looked like she just woke up from a nap. I think that she had probably found a relatively cool spot for her and the cubs to avoid the mid-day heat and dozed off. Her first indication that something was amiss was probably her cubs getting excited when they noticed me. I think her little growl was a reflex action more than anything else.
The cubs looked cute but I'm glad I didn't stick around to admire them. I've seen a lot of black bear in the SNP over the years but that's as close as I've ever gotten to one with cubs.
