Ask Me: Should I Hike or Backpack Solo in Bear Country?

Michael,

Here’s a question I’ve struggled with. Because of the timing of my trips, I often end up hiking and backpacking solo. I enjoy that (and enjoy groups). However, as a result, I’ve had a number of bear and moose encounters that have left me a little uncomfortable, and with a feeling of powerlessness in those situations. I’ve read about bear encounters and technically know what to do (making noise, etc.), but I’ve sometimes exhausted all those tricks and found myself still staring at a bear in my path. What do you recommend I do—especially about hiking solo?

It’s made me more conservative recently—in particular, I had made plans to hike the Teton Crest Trail in September, had the permit, etc., but ended up dayhiking instead (Cascade Canyon, Paintbrush Canyon). Those dayhikes were awesome and it was probably the smarter decision, as there ended up being storms up on the crest. But, truth be told, I really made that decision to dayhike instead of backpack largely because I feel like I can do everything I’m technically supposed to with regard to bear encounters and still feel powerless when I’ve exhausted all my tools and tricks.

I hate that feeling (and I’ve had it a few times) where I’ve done everything I’m “supposed” to do and it comes down the bear’s choice. He’s still staring at me and eventually—fortunately for me—each time, the bear has made the choice to amble off in another direction.

Thoughts?

Dave
Ann Arbor, MI

A grizzly bear in the backcountry of Glacier National Park.
A grizzly bear in the backcountry of Glacier National Park.

Hi Dave,

Many people can appreciate those sentiments, including me. I’ve taken many solo trips, and had many bear encounters solo and with companions, some of them up close. A friend and I had one encounter in Glacier National Park with a grizzly sow with two cubs at a distance of about 30 feet, and it’s very unnerving. (The sow and cubs barely even looked in our direction; they weren’t interested.)

More recently, on a 94-mile backpacking trip through Glacier in September 2018, another friend and I had to wait out a griz that was grazing very close to the trail ahead of us—too close to the trail to consider hiking past the bear. We blew air horns but that had no impact on this bruin. We watched it from about 200 yards away across a meadow for nearly an hour before we finally decided to bushwhack a wide arc around that section of trail, making noise all the way, which worked—but we lost at least an hour of hiking time.


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A grizzly bear above Poia Lake in Glacier National Park.
A grizzly bear above Poia Lake in Glacier National Park.

The chances of a violent encounter are extremely low, but the consequences are high, of course, and you never know.

I’ve had numerous encounters with black bears where I threw rocks to chase them off (they were always going for my food, not me). That would be a dangerous response to grizzly bears. Moose can be dangerous, especially during the fall rutting season, but every encounter I’ve had with one has been non-confrontational, even though maybe one or two were fairly close range.

You can find other sources for tips on how to hike safely in bear country, and the definitive text on that is the book Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance, by Stephen Herrero.

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A moose along the Teton Crest Trail, North Fork Cascade Canyon, Grand Teton National Park.
A moose along the Teton Crest Trail in the North Fork Cascade Canyon, Grand Teton National Park. Click photo for my expert e-guide to the Teton Crest Trail.

Your question is about deciding whether or when to backpack solo in bear country, so I’ll tell you how I approach that question.

I think specifically about the place and the likelihood of a bear or moose encounter while hiking solo. For instance, I’ve seen moose in the Tetons at least three times, always at an adequate distance to not antagonize them, and I have encountered a black bear there on a couple of occasions, never threatening, over the course of probably more than 20 trips in the Tetons backcountry (including some remote, off-trail areas). I suspect bear encounters in the Tetons are rare because of the park’s management of backpackers and food in camping zones, and the regular hiker and backpacker traffic keeping bears away from many trails. But grizzly bears have taken up residence in the Teton Range, increasing the hazard of being alone.

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Given all that, and the regular human traffic in the Tetons in summer (it does taper off in September), and the fact that much of the terrain—especially along the Teton Crest Trail—is in meadows or above treeline, with long sight lines, I consider the Tetons a relatively safe park for someone with the right skills to backpack solo.

However, I wouldn’t recommend solo backpacking, for example, in Glacier, where there’s a high concentration of black and grizzly bears and moose, or in many parks in Alaska. Maybe not in the Olympic Mountains, either, because of a high concentration of black bears and dense forest increasing the likelihood of a surprise, close encounter. (I shot the lead photo of a black bear at the top of this story in the Olympic Mountains; it was just off the trail we were backpacking down, and showed no aggression toward us, but we moved along quickly.)

A brown bear in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska.
A brown bear in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska.

As for specific, solo-hiking strategies, here are mine.

Planning months ahead certainly helps you avoid having to hike solo. While I’ve done it many times, I rarely backpack solo these days, mostly because I plan my trips months in advance and that helps in finding friends and family who can join me. (I prefer having companions, and I tend to miss my family more when I’m out solo, which makes it less enjoyable for me.)

• When in grizzly country, I always carry this pepper spray. (Tip: Practice pulling the plastic locking clip off it, because it’ll be very hard to think straight when you see a bear charging. Also, before removing the clip, look at it closely, or even take a photo of it in place, so that you know how to put it back in place; I’ve seen a friend replace it upside-down, which can allow it to accidentally deploy the spray when bumped.)

• I carry an air horn. (Small bells are useless—their noise doesn’t travel very far.) I have a couple of Falcon Personal Safety Horns (so I can give one to a companion, too). They’re small, weigh just a few ounces, easy to clip to a shoulder strap or belt, and very loud. (Don’t point one at someone and blast it, or fire it off near your face, it’s painfully loud.)

While pepper spray is only effective when a bear is within about 15 to 20 feet, an air horn can frighten off a bear at a distance, or just let it know you’re there. I’ll occasionally give my air horn a blast when walking through dense forest or brush in bear country, when I can’t see far. While my anecdote (above) from a griz encounter in Glacier illustrates that horns are not always effective at hazing a bear to leave an area, I’ve read about them working well, and it’s such a loud and unnatural noise that I believe it would work sometimes—including possibly with other large animals, like moose.

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A black bear in the northern Bailey Range, Olympic Mountains.
A black bear in the northern Bailey Range, Olympic Mountains.

Hiking in daylight, and not too early in the morning or after sunset, makes you safer because most animals are more active between dusk and dawn. Safe food storage in camp also makes you safer, and I might feel more inclined to carry a bear canister, even if it’s not required, when I’m solo. (See my favorite canister in my review of essential backpacking accessories.)

Be aware of whether you’re hiking into the wind or downwind—when moving downwind, animals will detect your scent from a greater distance, whereas upwind, they are less likely to smell or hear you at a distance. Also, be conscious of ambient noise levels: A loud river nearby could drown out your noise, while quiet surroundings enable animals to hear you from a greater distance—and occasionally, for you to hear them.

• Whether solo or with companions, give your itinerary to someone reliable, along with the phone number of the park ranger station or local authorities, and tell them to report you missing if they haven’t heard from you within a day after you expected to finish your trip.

• You could carry a GPS/communication device, like a Garmin inReach, that would allow you to signal for a rescue and send a nightly message to someone back home to let that person know you’re fine. With any type of emergency beacon, you significantly reduce the rescue-response time if you do have an emergency.

Perhaps most importantly, whether solo or with companions, ask park rangers about the location and details of any recent bear activity, because that can tell you a lot about where it’s relatively safe and unsafe to hike at any particular time. Bears are always on the move, and at any given time, certain locations in a park are more dangerous than other areas.

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That’s about all you can do short of carrying a large gun—which isn’t permitted in some places, and it’s heavy. Plus, a handgun is not going to stop a bear or moose; the rifles used to kill them are high caliber and one bullet often isn’t enough. And imagine trying to aim and fire a rifle at a bear at close range, charging at 30 mph.

Pepper spray would likely be much more effective at close range: The spray disperses widely and virtually always turns a bear away, whereas you may shoot and miss with a gun, or just enrage the bear more if you hit it without really injuring it. From a distance, a gunshot may dissuade a bear, but I’ll choose the pepper spray and air horn over a gun.

To my last bullet point above, my brother-in-law, Tom Beach, who worked as a backcountry ranger in Yellowstone for about 10 years, offered these thoughts on this question, and I think his general advice applies to many places with grizzly or brown bears:

“I would backpack solo in most of Yellowstone (and was almost always solo when I was a backcountry ranger on foot), but there is about 10 to 15 percent of the park where I would never go solo due to the grizzly bear concentration (and these areas change from month to month depending on the bears’ main food sources). The challenge is that the Park Service will give you a permit to hike solo just about anywhere, and so you have to have a lot of experience/local knowledge to know better. People should be sure to ask questions about recent bear activity or sightings in the area where they are planning to go, when they pick up their permit.”

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My suggestions do not completely eliminate risk of a hostile animal encounter, of course. But statistically, you are far more likely to be injured in a fall when hiking, whether solo or with companions, than to have an animal encounter. When solo, I think much more about being careful to avoid that kind of accident.

In general, though, most animals—including another you didn’t mention, mountain lions—detect people long before we are aware of them, and we probably usually fail to ever know how many animals are nearby.

I remember, several years ago, after dayhiking with my family when my kids were quite young to Grinnell Glacier in Glacier National Park—a busy trail with a constant stream of dayhikers—I ran into someone at the campground at Many Glacier who said he was in a boat on the lake below the trail around the same time we were hiking it. He said he could see something like a dozen bears grazing peacefully very near the trail, but hidden by vegetation from the hikers passing close by, and the bears just seemed oblivious to the people.

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Good luck, keep in touch.

Best,
Michael

—Michael Lanza

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34 thoughts on “Ask Me: Should I Hike or Backpack Solo in Bear Country?”

  1. I deal with grizzly bears often where i go. I’ve had two close encounters both creeped me out. I’m always willing to learn. Neither wanted me for food. They ran away. But….. I love solo hiking in the back country of Wyoming in the shoshone. I’ve learned some things, most important is the bears are there, avoid them. Learn to avoid them. Bears are afraid of people, let’s keep it that way.

    Reply
  2. Hello! Great column, and I also appreciate the detailed discussion afterwards. When I bought my air horn, the instructions recommended blasting it for 2 seconds every half-mile or so. The idea is to alert all the bears in the region (that particular valley, section of the forest, hillside, etc.) and make them scarce. Do you think that is good and accurate advice? In general, I follow the standard procedure of clapping and shouting “Yo!” every 5 minutes when hiking in black bear country.

    By the way, has anyone here hiked in the beautiful Porcupine Mountains of northern Michigan? A stunning landscape and the wildest region west of the Adirondacks and east of the Rockies.

    Reply
    • Good question, Paul, and I won’t pretend to be an expert on grizzly or black bear behaviors, but I think some history of bear behaviors in places with high densities of bears and humans (the latter primarily along trail corridors and around infrastructure like roads), like Glacier National Park, illustrates this observation: Bears, like people, appear to react in individual ways to various noises, scents (that’s their main sense), or other animals, including people. I gave the example in this article (above) about a griz in Glacier that made no reaction to numerous times we blew our air horns. I’ve also seen many grizzlies flee at the mere sight/sound/scent)of us at a considerable distance. Some bears will become accustomed to the presence of people and neither flee nor react with alarm or violently.

      My interpretation of all the evidence I’ve seen is that the answer is to create noise in any way possible: air horn, voice, whatever. Hopefully, the bear you encounter, or perhaps never even see, will head away from you quickly.

      Thanks for the comment.

      Reply
    • Hi Rob,

      I think all the same questions and suggestions for hiking solo in bear country would apply when camping there, except to add standard protocols for camping in bear country—such as no food inside your tent, ever, as well as using whatever food-storage method(s) the public lands agency dictates or sugggests. .

      Reply
  3. Thank you for the comments and tips. I have spent a great deal of my vacation time in the mountains and appreciate your knowledge and assessment of the risks and rewards. Most people are just as helpless with a violent human encounter and can’t access their firearms effectively as well. I would only add that bear spray needs to be trained and practiced with by drawing, removing safety and simulating a burst repeatedly before I ever set foot on the trail. Safe Backpacking 💪🏽

    Reply
    • Hi Rob,

      Thanks for your tip and you are right, people should practice deploying pepper spray before encountering a bear and practice with it before each trip. Some pepper spray products are sold with a practice canister filled with harmless water vapor to give you a sense of firing the spray and its range.

      Enjoy your wilderness adventures.

      Reply
  4. Hi Michael,

    I thank you for, and appreciate very much, your article on hiking alone. As a female hiker that does hike alone, your points are well taken and I’ll definitely be getting an air horn and pepper spray. There are hikes where I will go it alone because I know what kind of traffic to expect, so I’m not really hiking “alone”. But, then there are those days when you’re in a remote area and no other hikers are around at all , and it’s bear country – like today , which is what lead me to your article. So, today this hike through falls country will have to be another day for me sadly, also because of the chance I could fall and be stranded, not knowing when someone else might come by.

    Luckily, there are other trails nearby that I know will be heavily visited today and so, I will head that way and just know for future reference that in this area, I must plan to come with someone. I love solo hiking because it is so beautiful and I feel so close to God. Sometimes God just means for us not to be alone. 🙂

    Thank you for what you’re doing. You’re awesome!

    Peace to you.

    Victoria

    Reply
    • Hi Victoria,

      Thanks for sharing your thoughts on solo hiking. Erring toward safety is never an error. I’ve done a lot of solo dayhiking and backpacking and have had enough “almost” moments to appreciate the enhanced risk involved. Glad you are staying safe. Have fun.

      Reply
  5. If you don’t see the bear was it really a bear? Black bears have only recently returned to Oklahoma. I had not really given them much thought. When I bought my Counter Assault Bear Keg, bear spray and horn it was in anticipation of hiking in Colorado. When I learned that bear hunting had been reinstated in Oklahoma, I implemented bear protocol.

    Exploring Atoka County at the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains, I drove onto Public Hunting Areas and Wildlife Management Areas and desiring to photograph the wagon tracks made by the Butterfield Stage Coach, grabbed my vest and camera to walk a 1/4 mile to the old road. Passing a beautiful pond the road became rougher. It was freshly tilled. There were animal tracks in abundance, but I only took a picture of the cat tracks and slowly picked my way along until I heard a loud brush popping; a beautiful white-tailed deer in her summer red coat.

    Then I heard a GRRR-himm. I looked around. No movement. I was completely surrounded by bushes and vines and deeply shaded forest. The deer took a few leaps and stopped so I whistled to turn her head toward me; again the GRRR-himm. I swapped my camera for the bear horn and bear spray. I looked down for my push dagger. I had left It in the car with my bear bell, which would have prevented me walking up on my newfound friend.

    Still no movement. I looked longingly at the stage coach road just ahead and decided my jeep was the prudent choice. The question is “Should I have blown my horn? What animal had I encountered?”

    Your previous post addressed walking in this type of terrain, but I was oblivious. Because it was a short walk I had dropped my guard. On the way out I had my head on a swivel and missed my opportunity to photograph the other tracks. My research suggested that this could have been the sound of an anxious bear. What do you think?

    Reply
    • Hi Brenda, thanks for sharing your story. I really couldn’t say with any certainty what you heard. I honestly don’t carry pepper spray in areas with only black bears (not grizzlies), because they are generally not aggressive, but that’s a choice for you to make. But bear bells are not considered an effective way to haze bears out of an area; they’re just not very loud. The horn may have been helpful, although, it’s hard to know what that animal was.

      Good luck with your future explorations.

      Reply
  6. Thank you for this, Michael. It’s by far the most helpful article I’ve come across so far, regarding hiking solo in bear country. I’ve hiked alone all over western Washington State where I live, but I’m heading out to Glacier later this month and have been concerned about day hiking alone there. This information definitely gives me a lot to think over and will help me make an informed decision. My bear spray arrived yesterday, and now I have some practical advice to go along with it.

    Reply
    • You’re welcome, Amy, and thanks for sharing your comment. As for solo dayhiking in Glacier, there are certainly trails where you would encounter lots of other hikers during daylight hours; hike those trails and you’re relatively safer. Have a good trip.

      Reply
  7. Michael,

    Was checking on your site to see if you had any recommendations or stories about food storage protection. I found your notes about the Bear Vault BV500 in your gear to pack article and tips on how to pack it. Rocky Mountain NP requires bear canisters or bear bags with aluminum inserts. Did some research and found information on Ursack.

    We have never had trouble with bears in our food, with or without a bear canister. Of course, some sites have bear chains, we have used bear canisters when required, but other times just filled a sack and secured it over a tree limb. We never carry fresh food, only the freeze dried stuff. I have always been more concerned about the smell of the pouches after meals, not the smell of the pouch before its opened.

    So was wondering…is all food, freeze dried or otherwise, and attraction for bears? Bear canister vs. bear bag? Should we worry more about the used food pouches and not the un-opened freeze dried and plastic packaged stuff?

    Reply
    • Hi Barry,

      Good to hear from you again and thanks for the great question.

      I’ve used all the methods for protecting food from bears and other critters numerous times: bear canisters, hanging from a tree branch, and the ultra-convenient and effective fixed cables for hanging food (as found in some national parks, like Glacier).

      I’ve also lost food to bears, including on my first backpacking trip in Yosemite, many years ago, when two friends and I were absolute novices and hung our food poorly (from a high branch, but too close to the tree trunk, where a black bear climbing the tree could easily reach the bags and tear them open with a swipe of a claw). That was in the days before bear canisters were required in Yosemite and throughout the High Sierra.

      I’ve also used the Ursack and reviewed it for Backpacker magazine in the past. It is effective when hung properly in a tree, because it’s tough fabric makes it harder for a bear to rip it open while it’s hanging and swinging with each swipe at it. But if a bear gets it on the ground, while it can pin the sack down, it’s likely to tear it open easily.

      But to your specific question: In truth, we can’t really know what smells a bear will detect, and they reputedly have the most powerful sense of smell of all animals. According to the Yosemite National Park website, a black bear’s sense of smell is seven times more powerful than a bloodhound’s, and based on the park’s size and bear population, any backpacker anywhere in Yosemite is always within range of at least one bear’s nose.

      Your assumption seems intuitively correct, and I’ve made that assumption, too. But I’ve always assumed that a bear can detect any food, so all food should be stored properly. That said, if I cannot fit all of my backpacking food in my canister on the first night or two of a trip, I will definitely place the smelliest, freshest food in the canister, and any food I consider the least odorous in the bag that I hang (properly). And I would include in the canister any packaging that contains traces of freeze-dried food that’s already been cooked and largely consumed.

      As for choosing between a canister or hanging, I follow the land management agency’s recommendation or requirement. If there is no recommendation or requirement, I’ll try to find out whether there’s any recent history or reports of bears attempting to get food from backpackers. I’ll use a canister anywhere there are grizzlies or brown bears, but I often just hang food in mountains where there are only black bears, which are less dangerous, and where there’s a very low incidence rate of those bears taking human food. Frankly, in areas that receive high human use, especially if those people aren’t hanging food properly, black bears tend to start recognizing that people bring food with them; while areas with lower human use and/or where good food-storage practices are commonly followed, bears seem to be rarely a problem.

      I hope that’s helpful. Thanks again for the good question. Safe travels.

      Reply
  8. Great article; straight to my ‘HIKER’ files. Always good to read and re-read these suggestions. I too carry the pepper spray and the horn but do tend to start out hiking too early. I confess I never really thought about the direction of the wind as I hiked. Thank you for that insight and the necessity to check in with the rangers; taking advantage of their local insight. I sincerely agree that the pepper spray and the horn should be sufficient in most encounters. However if I have the good fortune to hike Alaska I will carry a gun. When I have read first-hand accounts of survivors of bear attacks I have always thought how different the encounter would have been if they had had a gun; not for the initial charge but afterwards, when the bear attacked again and again. Or when the bear turned their attention to their spouse or child or friend. A well placed 44 was the only cure. That being said. If you are not practiced with handling a gun it will be to your peril; not the bear’s.

    Reply
  9. Hi Michael,

    Thanks for checking. I’ve been backpacking in the Sierras and southern Rockies
    probably close to 100 times. But the last time I was in Grizzly country was decades
    ago, in Kluane Park.

    I guess I’ll just have to rely on not being an idiot to keep me safe. 🙂

    David

    Reply
  10. Michael,

    Good to see this article again. Since my last response I have chosen to carry bear spray consistently. After re-reading Stephen Herraro’s book this summer (it has been re-released in 2018). A factor that has not been mentioned is that by carrying bear spray we may very well be saving a bear’s life as well as our own.

    Another thing I do is constantly watch the landscape to determine where bears may be more likely to occur (another point raised by SH). And look for evidence of bear activity on the trail such as tracks, scats (poop) which I check to determine the age (again see SH book for information), torn up ground or logs (only grizzly), the presence of berries, etc. Probably being a biologist makes this more natural for me but Stephen’s book gives a lot of practical advice. He is also insistent in reminding the reader how infrequent serious bear encounters really are.

    You mentioned bull moose in the rut. Similarly bull elk can be very aggrandize unpredictable in the rut. Probably more of a risk are cow elk and moose with young calves. A fellow co-worker of mine was once treed for 8-9 hours by a cow moose!

    Most of my hiking is still solo which makes me more alert and cautious. But I believe the experience is magnified several fold if I am fortunate enough to see a bear, moose, wolf, cougar, etc.

    Reply
    • Good points about watching the landscape and looking closely at scat, John. I’ve come across steaming scat piles on trails. Bears love a good berry patch but can be found at a large elevation range. Moose like wet, marshy areas and shallow lakes. Elk are in the high country in summer and early fall.

      And, yes, using bear spray successfully can prevent the destruction of a bear that has attacked people.

      Thanks, as always, John. Be careful or I may hire you to write for my blog.

      Reply
  11. Hi Michael,

    Great blog post, as always.

    Do you happen to know if it’s allowed to take a Falcon horn on a plane, in checked baggage?

    Reply
    • Hi David,

      Great question, thanks for asking. I just Googled “Can you carry a pressurized air horn in checked luggage on a plane?” and the featured snippet at the top of the page results reads: “From the TSA blog: Items you may WANT to bring on the plane; but CAN’T: Air horns: Air horns are prohibited in both carry-on and checked baggage.”

      That was advice directed primarily at travelers heading to the Super Bowl. But I expect it would apply to the Falcon air horns, too.

      The TSA website lists specific prohibited items at https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/all-list. There’s a search box, but “air horn” produces to results. That site also invites people to send questions on Twitter to @AskTSA. I did that earlier this morning, but haven’t received a response yet. I would assume that Twitter account gets overwhelmed with questions, so I’m not sure all questions receive an answer.

      The answer seems to be no, you cannot bring an air horn in checked or carry-on luggage because it’s compressed air. But you can always try asking your airline, where you may have more luck getting a response.

      As with pepper spray, the only options may be purchasing locally (although air horns are probably not commonly available in stores) or shipping an air horn ground to a place near your destination.

      Good luck.

      Reply
    • David, @AskTSA tweeted a responee to my question confirming that air horns are not allowed in carry-on or checked luggage.

      Reply
  12. Do you have any advice for people flying to their hiking destination? I’m in the Midwest and am basically guaranteed to be flying to a place that has bears, and bear spray is banned from planes. Mailing it somewhere each time isn’t always practical (where would it be sent to?), and buying a new canister each time isn’t either. There’s a place in Anchorage that rents, but I think that’s pretty uncommon.

    As for practicing, I forget if it was REI or the place in Anchorage that had a practice can. I believe it was Counter Assault brand. It’s possible it was just an empty one, but it may be good to know that REI might have a practice can on hand.

    Reply
    • Hi Masaru,

      Your question is a dilemma for many people. I have a friend flying out from the East to meet me to backpack in Glacier later this summer, and I’m driving there, so he’s lucky I can bring a second canister for him. You can generally purchase a pepper spray canister locally near parks where there are grizzly bears, and mail it home after that trip. Next trip, I suggest arranging to ship it UPS ground to a lodge where you’re planning to stay either before or after your backpacking trip; or ship it to yourself for pickup at a local UPS store.

      Yes, I’ve used the Counter Assault inert bear spray training canister: https://www.counterassault.com/product/inert-bear-spray-training-canister/. It’s instructive to see how far it deploys. Based entirely on a visual assessment, it appears to be about 15 feet, without wind, but the range for bears to detect the odor may be greater, of course.

      I also like to carry an air horn, because they are a loud, unnatural sound that can startle an animal into flight (including bears), they weigh just a few ounces, and they’re effective when the bear is still at a great distance, whereas with pepper spray you have to wait until that charging bear is at close range. The brand Falcon makes the air horn I use. https://falconsafety.com/horns/

      Good luck.

      Reply
  13. Michael,

    Great article and information that is very relevant as more and more grizzlies move into areas.

    I often hike solo in the Northeast where the black bear population has exploded. Due to more encounters with black bears and their craving of human food due to inexperienced hikers and backpackers, I have started carrying bear spray on overnight trips. This is to chase them away as they have developed little to no fear of humans in certain areas.

    Cooking and eating a meal in the High Peaks can be a problem. We have found packaged meals to work best as their smell is contained and no cooking is involved other than boiling water. We had a friend lose three meals over the course of a week last summer because of the time involved to prep, cook and eat the meals.

    When hiking in the west where grizzlies are present, we always carry bear spray like most sane people. However I have several friends that hike solo in those areas and they have taken to carrying two bear sprays. One for the first encounter and the other so they do not have to travel the remainder of their trip without spray.

    We also do the typical shouting if the trail is in a closed area but I like your idea of a horn or loud whistle. I also like John’s idea of buying an extra bear spray for practice. I like most people have never used one to know how it is going to work.

    HT,
    WC

    Reply
    • Thanks, WC. You make interesting observations about hiking in the Northeast, especially the High Peaks of the Adirondacks. The concentration of backpackers and bears can inevitably lead to conflicts. Good point about carrying two canisters of pepper spray when hiking solo in grizzly country. Thanks for sharing those thoughts.

      Reply
  14. Michael,

    Good advice. I would add ensuring no food , snacks or other odouriferous items like toothpaste, feminine napkins, etc in your tent. It is amazing how large even a porcupine sounds when they waddle past your tent in the dark.

    I do solo hike a lot and some do solo backpacking. I rarely carry bear spray but do have a very loud whistle. It is not as loud as a horn but I use it when I am entering areas that I feel are higher risk to let the animals know I am in the area.

    For many hikers I have met carrying bear spray it gives them a false sense of security. Few of them know how to use it properly, and virtually none have ever fired one to learn how the contents discharge, the range and of course trying to be sure the wind is not blowing toward you so it does not blow into your face. My advice to anyone buying bear spray is to buy two and use one to practice.

    Pre-trip planning and trying to be constantly aware of your surroundings is the best defence. Being constantly aware can be a challenge when you are slogging up a nasty hill, bushwalking, hiking in a downpour, beside a creek or river, tired at the end of the day, etc.

    Cow moose with calves may be the most dangerous of all. They are incredibly protective and unbelievably fast. A work colleague of mine was once treed for 7-8 hours.

    In addition to Stephen Herraro’s book which is still the best source of information reading the advice for the Canadian and US National Parks where bears, especially grizzly, are insightful.

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    • All good points, John. As I suggested in this story, hikers should practice at least removing the plastic safety clip and positioning themselves to deploy the spray. Anyone with an old, expired canister of pepper spray can deploy it to see how it works and its range, and be sure to do so in a very open area (and not aim it upwind). I’ve also used Frontiersman bear spray products, which you can purchase with a practice canister that releases water vapor (https://www.sabrered.com/bear-spray).

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