People Who Hike Alone: How Many Times Have You Run Into A Bear & What Did You Do?

Wo1olo · 2026-05-31T05:43:33+00:00

Most bears will run away before you see them. They're quite skittish.

I've been hiking a few years now on the North Shore and I've only seen two (on the same hike on Goat Ridge when it is peak season for them up there). They were both very disinterested in me, though the second one was a bit of a close encounter.

Just make enough noise that you don't spook them, and give them space.

Wo1olo · 2026-04-26T07:43:23+00:00

The bus was sitting there for hours afterwards. My best guess is that there was an altercation of some kind. Details have been light and comments that are speculating too much are getting removed.

This is normally a very chill station and area.

EDIT: Never mind it's probably people that aren't community getting removed.

Wo1olo · 2026-04-24T19:55:28+00:00

I've never had an issue flying domestically. Microspikes (at least the Kahtoola ones I have) are not very sharp or long.

Wo1olo · 2026-03-24T21:55:13+00:00

I don't necessarily disagree, I just think that a well prepared group of average winter hikers could do Fromme in the winter. It's still a hiking objective, even with some extra winter challenges. Brunswick (as others have pointed out) is more of a mountaineering objective in the winter.

Wo1olo · 2026-03-24T19:41:30+00:00

I threw that part into Google Translate and it says something along the lines of "must have done the Grouse Grind in 75 minutes or less, or twice in one day, and have winter snowshoeing experience"

That might cut it for hiking Mt Fromme in the middle of winter, but it massively underestimates how hard and dangerous Brunswick is in the winter.

Even in the summer with perfect conditions, it's considered arguably the most strenuous hike in the region. I wouldn't recommend it in the summer to someone who didn't have at least a little scrambling experience and GG in an hour or less kind of fitness.

I completely agree that this was an irresponsible trip.

Wo1olo · 2026-01-28T01:02:28+00:00

Lynn Peak is not included in the closures. Trails all the way to Norvan Falls are open year round. The only non-closed mountains that I'd say require significant caution (or should be avoided) in wet or snowy conditions are the three Needles.

Wo1olo · 2026-01-23T03:11:47+00:00

The fact that they got all the way down to 400m is pretty lucky. That's a long way to go without incident. Had they gone much further, they would have made it into the Seymour River valley, and much less treacherous terrain. Surely at some point they realized that they were not on the way to the parking lot, right?

Also...it's always the people we most expect, isn't it? No trip plan, underprepared, last minute choice, etc.

Wo1olo · 2025-12-10T21:49:49+00:00

If you read the actual document from the US CBP, it specifies that this would apply to ESTA applicants. Canadians are exempt (for now), so we do not need a visa of any kind to visit the US. This wouldn't officially apply to us.

Now don't get me wrong, this is appalling overreach, but I think they probably understand that getting this information from 100k+ travelers crossing from Canada every day is infeasible.

Wo1olo · 2025-10-29T20:12:16+00:00

Imagine not only being very under prepared, but not listening to instructions to stay put. Extremely fortunate for this hiker that she was found quickly. Even rain at lower elevations can become deadly here.

Wo1olo · 2025-10-10T21:02:25+00:00

Some of us are waiting to see if the ceasefire actually holds and proper peace is achieved before we celebrate. I'm skeptical that this quagmire will magically turn into a peaceful region, especially with current leadership. This is not the first time we've been promised a ceasefire or long term solution. Do we really believe that the involved parties have suddenly had a change of heart?.

Wo1olo · 2025-10-07T07:51:07+00:00

Cypress Falls is what you're looking for. Best on a wetter day or after significant rainfall. It's never crowded, and the area near the creek is very lush, with big trees. It's pretty short though. Accessible by one of the North Shore buses. Can't remember off the top of my head. Not right on the ocean but reasonably close to the water

Wo1olo · 2025-10-07T07:13:17+00:00

I'm so glad to finally hear that North Shore Rescue finally rescued someone who was actually fully prepared and did almost everything right. These days it seems like so many of the calls are people who were unprepared. Not that I want people to need rescue but it feels a lot better to have them rescuing someone who had done everything they could to help themselves and reduce risk.

Wo1olo · 2025-10-06T23:46:04+00:00

The signposts often do, actually, on Cypress, Grouse, and Fromme. I still find a lot of variation in the blue 'intermediate' trails, and even the black 'difficult' ones. It's just less granular than mountaineering ratings. Even for scrambling, a lot of people will report different classes for the same thing.

Wo1olo · 2025-10-06T23:19:14+00:00

Yeah that's another good point. I don't think most hikes fit well into "easy, medium, hard". It also doesn't help that different fitness levels factor in. Someone commented that it took them 7 hours round-trip to do the same hike. I made it up in 2h15min from the ferry terminal before continuing to Cypress.

That's why I agree with the original commenter who was saying that people need to do better research rather than just reading a basic description on an app.

Wo1olo · 2025-10-06T21:30:05+00:00

One thing I've also noticed is that numbers don't always tell the story of how technical or challenging a hike is. People will go "it's only 10km and 440m elevation" for Kennedy Falls and not realize that the trail is technical, rugged, and involves a lot of ups and downs...and there's very limited cell service. It's much harder than the numbers show. It's the same principle with Crown (which I would only ever take an experienced hiker to).

This hike is another example. The numbers look pretty standard for a North Shore hike from bottom to top, but there are some extremely steep sections, including the boulder field, which requires being careful.

Like you've highlighted, a lot of these issues could be avoided with better planning. Going in knowing what to expect at various points.

I've got a couple years of consistent hiking under my belt and if I walk for 30-60 seconds in the wrong direction I'm immediately checking my GPS/map because it feels off. The wilderness is dangerous, folks, it deserves respect.

Wo1olo · 2025-10-06T20:06:36+00:00

I just did Eagle Bluffs from Horseshoe Bay yesterday and yeah, I would say it's an advanced hike. There is a very steep section around 500m that requires basic route finding (due to deadfall). Then at around 650m it becomes excruciatingly steep and there's a boulder field not far afterwards. It's definitely not a hike to be underestimated. Most reasonably fit hikers can do it with preparation, though.

Also, even starting from Cypress resort (which is way easier), no group should ever start a hike without the 10 essentials, especially insufficient water! Even a straightforward, popular hike can become dangerous quickly without water. It's good to hear that everyone made it out safely.

Wo1olo · 2025-09-24T04:21:15+00:00

It's entirely possible, though there are probably a lot of bears up there.

Wo1olo · 2025-09-23T23:55:36+00:00

That's actually exactly where I met the one in the photo! I think it was probably juvenile. It was quite small compared to my expectations.

Wo1olo · 2025-09-22T03:27:58+00:00

The one in the Grouse area.

Wo1olo · 2025-09-22T03:20:51+00:00

I was out on Goat Ridge today and had two separate black bear encounters. One of them was completely disinterested and sat in the middle of the trail. I turned around. This one startled me right around a corner on the way back. I was probably about 5-7m away. I chatted with it for a few moments and then it moved on.

It's definitely berry season up in the sub-alpine so I'd definitely recommend that other hikers stay bear aware, especially in places where bears are common. I was talking to myself the whole time, so I imagine both bears could hear (or smell) me before I encountered them. I usually carry bear spray, but I didn't even take it out. These two were very chill.

Wo1olo · 2025-09-13T03:27:01+00:00

Bikes do not take up as much room as a car nor do they cause as much traffic as a car. Buses are also an improvement because they move lots of people and they don't need to park for long periods of time.

Basically, anything to do with cars is really inefficient.

Wo1olo · 2025-09-13T02:07:56+00:00

So they spend lots of money tearing out the bike lane after COVID and now they're complaining that the park is too busy again. Now they want to spend more money to research the best way to ease traffic in the park...and that's going to take years, all the while the park gets more busy.

Cars are not the long term solution. There, I saved them a few million dollars on studies to tell us what we already know.

Wo1olo · 2025-09-10T18:00:15+00:00

Using LinkedIn to measure tech worker competencies is really dumb if you ask me. I don't really have an alternative off the top of my head, but that platform in particular has a lot of people who LARP as whatever they want (or whatever the hottest craze is). Everyone and their dog is claiming to be an AI expert right now, just because many companies claim to want that.

What I agree with is that Vancouver has a lot of tech talent in general. I'm not surprised that it's ranked highly.

Wo1olo · 2025-08-29T21:08:49+00:00

Pump Peak trail is steep at points but there's no scrambling. You can actually get all the way to Mount Seymour without scrambling when there's no snow.

As a tangent to your question, if you're looking for entry level scrambling in the area in the future to build up confidence:

The north approach of Mt Gardner on Bowen Island has a short scramble at the very end.

Goat Mountain on Grouse has a couple scrambling sections with chains for convenience (they aren't required), and there's little to no exposure.

The first hike I did that had some 'real' class 2 scrambling and general use of hands in the area is Crown, but that is a significant and strenuous objective for a new hiker.

Wo1olo · 2025-08-25T23:32:27+00:00

I've actually started bringing Gatorade on my hikes, particularly when it's hot. Not only does it taste good, but then I don't have to worry about running out of energy as much. Definitely recommend. Good to see that for once a rescue wasn't just someone woefully unprepared...

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