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Bear sighting in SART!

953 Views 10 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  gonzo1034
Yesterday, a friend and I were on our way back down from the summit of SART when we ran into a huge brown bear. We were carrying some good speed and came around a bend on the trail, there it was, about 20 yards from us. I couldn't believe my eyes and neither could the bear. The bear nearly did a back flip and raced down the side of the mountain. The whole encounter lasted about 4 seconds. My friend and I were in awe!

I did a search on brown bears in So. Cal and the last known sighting was in the 1920s. This was a brown bear by no mistake, golden brown to be exact not a black bear. It was huge! About the size of a small car, this was our first time riding SART and we will definitely be back!
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Black bears are brown most of the time (do a search for black bears in Yosemite and you will see that they can be very light in color). Brown bears is a term commonly used for Grizzly bears up north I think. There are no grizzly bears in California any longer (Ironically, since this is the bear pictured on our flag).
gonzo1034 said:
Yesterday, a friend and I were on our way back down from the summit of SART when we ran into a huge brown bear. We were carrying some good speed and came around a bend on the trail, there it was, about 20 yards from us. I couldn't believe my eyes and neither could the bear. The bear nearly did a back flip and raced down the side of the mountain. The whole encounter lasted about 4 seconds. My friend and I were in awe!

I did a search on brown bears in So. Cal and the last known sighting was in the 1920s. This was a brown bear by no mistake, golden brown to be exact not a black bear. It was huge! About the size of a small car, this was our first time riding SART and we will definitely be back!
Man, some people have all the luck.

I was talking to one of the volunteers at the vis center in Big Bear last weekend about black bear population. He told me there were a few around but "no one every really sees them". I asked him about areas where one may see a bear and he laughed and said "you would be wasting a lot of time looking for bears around here"

Last year I believe someone spotted one around the discovery trail.

You are lucky to have witnessed that. The most I saw was a coyote dart out on upper fall line.
ATTN ROADIES: There's a wilderness experience you can't get on the Assfault :D
black bears are almost always brown in so cal.
We saw one come down to the creek at Southfork campground last summer. It stomped around in th bushes for about 10 min. and then went on it's way.
"I did a search on brown bears in So. Cal and the last known sighting was in the 1920s"

They're fairly common up here in the San Bernardino Mtns. I've never seen one while riding, but they do come in the yard and the dogs tree them from time to time when I run them in the forest. I'd like to see the chimpanzee that's still loose in the forest. They say he can drive a car and a boat, and use the toilet.

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Like someone said above, these are black bears. We don't have brown bears (aka Grizzly or Kodiak) in California.

http://www.americanbear.org/FUR.htm

"Only 1% of the black bears in Pennsylvania are brown or red in color, while over 90% of the black bears in Yosemite National Park in California are tan, light brown or cinnamon."

Mmmm, cinnamon bears sound tasty!;)
I've ridden different sections of the SART well over 100 times over the last 8 years. Last fall for the first time I saw a bear. It was on the fireroad section between the last bit of SART singletrack and the road up to Morton Peak. If you've ridden that section it was right after the flat stretch. I was stopped waiting for someone and looked up and there was a bear casually walking right towards me. I just rode back the way I came and I don't think he ever saw me.
That goes to show you what a city slicker I am! I have seen plenty of coyotes, deer and even bob cats, but I never imaged I see a bear.
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