The Encounter -- hike to Albino Part 2

The previous post, Our Lady of the Lakes, was actually cut short for a while as we were interrupted,,,, for about 45 minutes.

..........  By a Grizzly and her cub.

They were right in the middle of the trail that we had to take, and there was no other way to get around them. So we deployed the obvious strategy -- stay as far away as possible. The Rule is: A Grizz and her cub are NOT to be messed with.

We simply had to wait and see where they would move to. Away from us or towards us. We initially backed up and watched from a distance. They moved slowly arcing a path in front of us and finally moving off. It seemed that the cub chose the way it wanted to go and mom just followed. Cute, but also potentially danger.  Bear Spray was uncovered and prepared for action --- basically a very strong pepper spray.

At the same time, the encounter also included Sean, his family and friends hiking the same trail There were now 8 of us and a bunch of bear sprays -- safety in numbers. At that time, we also chose to join up with them, for safety reasons, and to extend our hike, originally planned for Becker Lake, to Albino. No sense in staying near the bears. We added about 1.25 Miles of separation.

Definitely close .. The Grizz has a big hump on its back -- like the big one in the picture -- the cub is black.

And, after 45 minutes, they move on - continuing left in the photo ... their alternative was to cross the water.. they didn't