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Am I going to encounter any bears on the hiking trails? Or am I pretty safe?? Me and my boyfriend plan to do some hiking going to see Devil's Postpile and Rainbow Falls.
hello, what time of year are you planning to go hiking?
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We are planning to visit Mammoth in mid June.
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It's not entirely out of the question that you could encounter bears up there. The hiking trails between Devil's Postpile ad Rainbow Falls are popular so you're unlikely to surprise a bear, who'll want to avoid you just as much as you want to avoid them. I think the only danger would be to get between a mother and cubs but on populated hiking trails it would seem unlikely. There are many great hiking trails in that area that would be less-populated and might increase your chances of a bear sighting but danger to hikers from bears is minimal in any case. If you're on a trail alone it doesn't hurt to make noise like whistling or singing or randomly shouting to let the bears know you're in the area.
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> Am I going to encounter any bears on the hiking trails? Or am I pretty safe?? There has been a grand total of ZERO recorded fatalities from wild bear attacks in California. ZERO. In the LAST CENTURY. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o... (Note that the two fatalities that took place in California were captive bears) The number of fatalities in California involving automobiles over the last century is considerably larger. I've hiked alone in bear country many times, and will do so again later this month. I have encountered bears about half a dozen times, and only one time did the bear do anything but run away so fast that I didn't have time to get a photo. *IF* you adopt minimal "Be Bear Aware" procedures, your odds of bear problems is about zero. If you don't like those odds, then take a can of bear repellent spray.
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Good advice from above. Generally speaking even if there are bears, they will hear you and go away without you even knowing they were there. If you and your b/f are talking while walking, that is typically enough noise to scare them away. In all my years growing up in the Sierras, I will testify that the odds of you seeing one are extremely low. Bears are there, but even most locals who are in the forests every day will never see them. I used to camp, hike and backpack in the forest for weeks at a time and have only seen maybe a dozen.
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