A Bear on Harphan Creek!

[aywolfpac]

I've seen quite a few bears the last year or two and my general tendancy is to head in the opposite direction, not follow them. That's just me though.



I think some of the deep snow in creeks is just from wind and gravity. Some of the snow from the hills around the creek eventually works its way down to the creek bed. The wind blows the snow and it heads down to the creek bed where the wind is blocked by the canyon walls so it stays there.

[chameleon]

Excellent pic of the bear in the mist - I love it - beautiful shot with a mysterious element. Love the gentle hues too. And I believe you and Tom are correct on your explanations of the ice box phenomenon. The small snow cavern I've concluded must have been both that, with an initial avalanche from the hillside above (otherwise its fairly impossible a huge drift to form directly on top of running water). So the avalance probably occured, and snow just kept building on top, as the small cavern was carved out beneath as slightly warmed air was pulled under by the water. And your advice on the bear is the "correct" thing to do - head away slowly. I have to confess to getting a bit too excited to get "a shot" of things on occasion. Thanks for posting your pic and ideas on the snow!
-Zach

[Splintercat]

Nice pics, Zach - that's a pretty upper tier. Looking forward to seeing your spring shots!

Tom

[jaimito]

Zach great find once again. I hiked that trail back in late August to North Lake and saw many bear tracks. So you said you descended to the creek about 2 1/2 miles in, where you still making your way up the crazy steep switchbacks? I remember once you cross the creek in the beginning after the power lines you don't hear the creek again for awhile - so was it when you start hearing the creek again is where you started to descend? Any of these areas look familiar where you descended… despite the North Lake Shot - I threw that in for Kicks.

Jamie

[chameleon]

Nice Pics! I haven't graduated to a GPS yet, and this was the first time I've really hiked up that trail, so it's hard for me to say for sure where I branched off. I think they must have worked on the trail since it was mapped though, as there were some significant differences on my National Geo topo from the way the trail went. That being said...I went up all of the initial switchbacks, and then the trail began breaking straight up along the canyonside heading south (rather than the East to West switch backs) at a gentler grade. After a while I neared a small tributary where there was a break in the main forest off to the right - devil's club and other smaller foliage, and I broke off downhill there. I couldn't quite hear the stream from the trail when I left it.

I'm really going to have to go hike the whole thing to give me some perspective. Hope that helps a little though.
-Zach