ROL wrote:The last backcountry bear I saw was a huge cinamon colored black swimming across one of the upper Dusy Basin Lakes, in 2003. I reported it to a ranger when he stopped me on the trail out - to check my bear cannister .

An old Sierra Club mentor once told me many years ago that he would not eat the ripe currents because there wasn't enough food for the bears in the Sierra.

Never been stopped and checked by a ranger....what are they checking your canister for?

To make sure you *have* one. Required in much of the Sierra backcountry these days.

Just tell the ranger you eat what the bears eat.

Bob Burd wrote:To make sure you *have* one. Required in much of the Sierra backcountry these days.

Yes, and I'm pretty sure the Bishop Pas Trail is the ONLY occasion that I have ever been asked to show it.

Did the Ranger check to see if all your food would fit in the canister?

In over 30 years, I've seen only two bears in SEKI. I always carry a canister these days and I always make camp at 10,500 or higher. I'm glad the days of hanging food in trees are over. One of the bears we encountered got our food out of a tree, it was in the Crabtree Lakes area, early 80's, a 450 pound male. The other bear was in Kearsarge Basin, a juvenile. Both were destroyed. Always carry a canister.

sierraman wrote:Did the Ranger check to see if all your food would fit in the canister?

We're really gonna keep going with this?? Again, I was on my way OUT (= food gone). At the point where he stopped me, Long Lake, I could have been a day hiker (by statistics alone) with a large pack. Which made the circumstance all the more absurd.

You are far more likely to see a bear in the backcountry than a ranger.

On my very first visit to SEKI, the first weekend in June, I saw a bear alongside the Generals Highway and another one near Panther Gap on the trail to Alta Peak. I lived in Colorado for more than 20 years before I saw my first bear there, and these two sightings occurred exactly one month after moving to CA. Beginner's luck, I guess, as I've been in the park almost every weekend since then and haven't seen any others. Both seemed as eager to get out of my way as I was to get of theirs, which was good. So cool to see them, though.