camping Archives - Wild About Utah

Black Bear Country: Bear Country Sign, Utah DWR Courtesy Mary Heers, Photographer — Bear Country Sign, Utah DWR
Courtesy Mary Heers, Photographer

Black Bear Sitting
Photo Courtesy US FWS
Mike Bender, Photographer

Young Male Blackbear Climbing Tree
Courtesy US FWS
Steve Maslowski, Photographer

Black Bear Country: Black Bear Sitting Photo Courtesy US FWS Mike Bender, Photographer — Bear Country Sign, Utah DWR
Courtesy Mary Heers, Photographer

Black Bear Sitting
Photo Courtesy US FWS
Mike Bender, Photographer

Young Male Blackbear Climbing Tree
Courtesy US FWS
Steve Maslowski, Photographer

As I hopped out of my car to take a short hike up Cache Valley’s Dry Canyon Trail I was surprised to see the Utah Department of Wildlife Resources had posted a picture of a black bear. “Bear Country,” it said. “Store food safely and keep campsites clean.” I’ve never seen a black bear in Utah but a quick check of the DNR website confirmed that as of last count, July of last year, there were 4,000 black bears in Utah. In winter the bears stay out of site. But by May they are coming out of hibernation looking for food and very hungry.

Now I’ve always envied the bears ability to go to sleep fat in the fall and wake up thin in the spring. For me this would be the ultimate diet plan. But on further investigation I found that hibernating bears are not simply sleeping. They do slow down. The heart drops from 50 beats a minute to less than ten. Its breathing slows to once every 45 seconds. The body temperature drops almost ten degrees. The bears do not get up at night to pee. Amazingly, the bear does not eat, drink, urinate or defecate for months.

People who study bears tell us that keeping this hibernating metabolism going takes 4,000 calories a day. So having burned through their fat reserve the bear comes out of hibernation in the spring very Interested in food. The problem occurs when bears discover human food because once having tasted it they want more.

My daughter once told me about a camping trip she had taken in the Wind Rivers where a bear came into their campsite at midnight. She and her friends jumped out of their tents and saw the bear climb the tree where they had hung their food. For four hours the bear worked at getting that food. Finally, the tree branch broke and the food bag crashed to the ground. The bear ate their bagels, every single chocolate covered espresso bean, everything except the jalapeno crème cheese.

I took one last look at the poster at the trailhead. The small print said, “Learn to live with bears.” I thought some people learned more slowly than others. I remembered a trip I had taken to Yellowstone National Park and reassured my out of town guest that the National Park Service had solved the problem with bears. To my chagrin when we were checking in the camp host told us that they were having trouble with the bears. “It’s toothpaste,” the lady said, “They like the sweet taste of toothpaste.” I wasn’t worried until the next morning when my guest confessed she had remembered her toothpaste was still in her jacket inside the tent. “Ah, let the bear make its choice,” she sighed as she drifted off to sleep. No bear came into the campsite that night.

Sometimes you just get lucky.

This is Mary Heers and I am Wild About Utah.

Credits:
Photos: Bear Country Sign: Courtesy Mary Heers, Photographer
Sitting Bear: Courtesy US FWS, Mike Bender, Photographer
Climbing Bear: Courtesy US FWS, Steve Maslowski, Photographer
Audio: Friend Weller and technical engineers J. Chase and K.W. Baldwin
Text: Mary Heers

Additional Reading

Larese-Casanova, Mark, Blackbears, Wild About Utah, 23 June 2011, https://wildaboututah.org/blackbears/

Leavitt, Shauna, Orphaned Bear Cub Rehabilitation, Wild About Utah, 14 August 2017, https://wildaboututah.org/orphaned-bear-cub-rehabilitation/

Greene, Jack, Bears, Wild About Utah, 22 October 2018, https://wildaboututah.org/bears/

Burt, W. H. and R. P. Grossenheider. 1980. A field guide to the mammals. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 289 pp. https://www.amazon.com/Mammals-Peterson-Guides-William-1990-04-30/dp/B01K0R5D3G

Safety in Black Bear Country, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Utah Department of Natural Resources, State of Utah, September 16, 2017, https://www.wildlife.utah.gov/living-with-bears

Black Bear, Ursus americanus, Utah Species, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Utah, Department of Natural Resources, State of Utah, https://fieldguide.wildlife.utah.gov/?species=ursus%20americanus

Venefica, Avia Native American Bear Meaning, Whats Your Sign, https://www.whats-your-sign.com/native-american-bear-meaning.html

Welker, Glenn, Native American Bear Stories, Indigenous People, last updated 06/11/2016, https://www.indigenouspeople.net/bear.htm

Gates, Chuck, The bear truth: Utah’s black bears pose little danger to humans, Deseret News, Oct 15, 2009, https://www.deseretnews.com/article/705336743/The-bear-truth-Utahs-black-bears-pose-little-danger-to-humans.html

The Raft River Mountains: Clear Creek in Spring — Clear Creek in Spring
Courtesy & Copyright Holly Strand

Raft River Mountains
Courtesy & Copyright Holly Strand

Near Clear Creek Campground.
Courtesy & Copyright Holly Strand

The Raft River Mountains: Raft River Mountains — Clear Creek in Spring
Courtesy & Copyright Holly Strand

Raft River Mountains
Courtesy & Copyright Holly Strand

Near Clear Creek Campground.
Courtesy & Copyright Holly Strand

Hi, I’m Holly Strand of the Quinney College of Natural Resources at Utah State University.

In each of Utah’s six corners you’ll find one or more remarkable natural features. Moreover, each corner represents a totally different geographic environment. No doubt you are familiar with turquoise blue Bear Lake in the upper northeast and the magnificent High Uintas near the angle formed by Wyoming. Flaming Gorge and Dinosaur National Monument flank the lower northeast corner. The ancient ruins and Monument Valley draw international visitors to the southeast corner. The numerous canyon parks in Utah’s southwest corner offer endless opportunities for exploration.

That’s five corners. But what do you know about the northwest corner of our state? I live in Northern Utah and I had never been there. Resolved to correct this omission I consulted a map as well as Joan Hammer of Box Elder County’s Office of Tourism. I concluded that the Raft River Mountains were worth checking out. The highest point in the County, Bull Mountain is here. And the 40 mile long range defines the southernmost section of Sawtooth National Forest.

The Raft River Mountains are unusual in that they run east-west. The normal pattern for Basin and Range country is north-south. The east-west orientation creates an important geographic dividing line. For Clear Creek drains the northern slopes of the Raft River Mountains. Then Clear Creek joins the Raft River which flows north to the Snake River. Thus the mountains form the sole—and very small—piece of Utah real estate that belongs to the great Colombia River Basin. The southern slopes are part of Great Basin. Rain or snow falling on this side is absorbed into the ground or evaporates.

Another interesting fact: The Raft River Mountains is where you can view some of the oldest rock in Utah. In this region, outcrops of Precambrian material are 2.5 billion years old. The largest and thickest exposures are in the eastern half of the range.

The Raft River Mountain peaks may not make it onto post cards. But when I saw them they were nothing less than beautiful. The lower slopes of sagebrush had the grayish-green tint that emerges all too briefly in the spring. Snow still gleamed on the 8-9000 foot summits. Clear Creek was running full through riparian forest that was just starting to leaf out. There were no people at the campground but wildlife was plentiful. I saw wild turkey, deer, jackrabbits and squirrels. A few pronghorn looked up as I drove out through the sagebrush. All in all, I found Utah’s sixth corner to be well worth a visit.

For pictures and more information about the Raft River Mountains, go to www.wildaboututah.org

For Wild About Utah, and the Quinney College of Natural Resources, I’m Holly Strand.

Credits:

Images: Courtesy and Copyright Holly Strand
Text: Holly Strand

Additional Reading

Doelling, Hellmut H. Geology and Mineral Resources of Box Elder County. Utah Geological and Mineral Survey. 1980. Bulletin 115.,

Stokes, William Lee. 1988. Geology of Utah. Salt Lake City: Utah Museum of Natural History. SummitPost.org Bull Mountain. https://www.summitpost.org/bull-mtn-ut/183282https://www.summitpost.org/bull-mtn-ut/183282 [Accessed May 13, 2014 and July 10, 2020]

USDA Forest Service. Sawtooth National Forest, Raft River Division. https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/sawtooth/recarea/?recid=5806 [Accessed May 13, 2014 and July 10, 2020]

Hylland, Rebecca, What are Igneous, Sedimentary & Metamorphic Rocks?, Glad You Asked, Utah Geological Survey, https://geology.utah.gov/map-pub/survey-notes/glad-you-asked/igneous-sedimentary-metamorphic-rocks/