# Bears on Westwater?



## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

A trip member on an upcoming Westwater trip is concerned about the possibility of encountering a bear. Has anyone ever heard of a bear encounter on Westwater?

Thanks,

--Andy


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## BastrdSonOfElvis (Mar 24, 2005)

Yup...griz. Jump on top of the raft and eat you alive. Take a kayak and just flip over if they pounce. He'll land on your hull and you'll mystery...confuses the hell out of 'em and they run away.


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## caverdan (Aug 27, 2004)

Never seen a bear in that part of the state. I'd be more worried about big cats. I'm sure bears are out there, but remind her that black bears are shy creatures and don't even mention mountain lions and such. 

When in doubt, pack some protection.


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## mania (Oct 21, 2003)

at first i thought this said beer on westwater and I can confirm there is plenty of beer on westwater.


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## WhiteLightning (Apr 21, 2004)

Beers and bears. 

Andy, you've got mail in your 'buzz inbox, I'm having e-mail problems today.

If you want, we could cruise with a shotgun strapped onto raft thwarts like they do in Alaska, but I've never been eaten by a bear camping in the GJ/Moab area (or anywhere else for that matter)! 

Quick question for you all... Are there any fish/fishing in Westwater? I guess you need a Utah fishing license if there are...


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## caverdan (Aug 27, 2004)

The fishing isn't the best there. I've had good luck by little D's using worms. I knoww you can get one or two day fishing permits for Utah, but I'm not sure where you would get them around there. Maybe they sell them at the ranger station.


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## routter (Mar 10, 2004)

It's the desert- no bears.


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## ericF (Feb 9, 2005)

But you might see a bare in warm weather... :shock:


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## will raft 4 beer (Nov 6, 2003)

> It's the desert- no bears.


I have seen a small black bear swim across the river and up the bank at the loma putin for Ruby-Horsethief. In addition, there was a black bear bite on the salted-dreadlocks of a sleeping hippie on a NOLS course 2 summers ago on the Deso-Grey section of the Green, which is most definitely desert. Probably thought the hippie's dreads were a salt-lick. Statistically black bears are way more likely to look at humans as prey these days than grizzlies, but the chances of being attacked are tiny. Practice good bear etiquette (the hundred yard triangle of cooking, storing food, and camping upwind of these) and you should be fine. Also, carrying a shotgun or '45 or '44 (better yet) is the best protection. Bear spray sucks. I know that bears run 35 miles/hour, which translates to about 60 feet/second (actually 51.333'/sec.). If a bear charges, that leaves you 1/3 second to get the bear perfectly (max range for bear spray is 20'), and is dependent on perfect environmetal conditions: open range, good light, and correct wind direction. A slight shift in wind and you hose yourself but good, which in my experience is no fun. Better than nothing though. 

Also in my experience, even gun grabbers are quite happy with the knowledge of that existing protection when the bear actually comes snuffling at your tent door, and are more than happy to eat their words of protest, until the next morning when the bear is gone, and they feel safe again, and the protection becomes once more inherently evil :wink: .

Have a good trip, and count yourself lucky to actually see a bear if you do.
Cheers and beers,
Perry


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## COUNT (Jul 5, 2005)

Never seen any bears on Westwater but watch out for those cows on the far side of the river; they're vicious kayak-munchin'-machines. And they start mooin' _really_ early in the morning.

And how do you get sixty when rounding from fifty-one and a third?

Good luck, Have fun!

COUNT


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## will raft 4 beer (Nov 6, 2003)

The point was the 1/3 second reaction time, which is acually .3896103896......seconds, which I'm sure would be a noticeable difference whilst being charged, but who's COUNTing, anyways? 

Cheers and bears,
Perry


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## DanOrion (Jun 8, 2004)

Never mind the bears, clearly terrorists are the greatest threat on the river these days. :shock: That's why it's always wise to carry extra duct tape!

Have a great (spooky) trip Andy!


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## Caspian (Oct 14, 2003)

There have been bears around Westy. Esp. in the last few years when it's been dry they have come down from the Book Cliffs. WW's takeout had one that was regularly pilfering the old dumpster for a while. Still - black bears, not even close to aggressive by nature. I don't know what the present situation is. I agree that cats are a bigger concern. One of the rangers was hiking (Cottonwood Wash, I think) a few years ago and when he headed back up canyon, he found lots of cougar prints that were not there when he came down, pretty good sign that he was being tracked. However, still more prominent than either of these is beer.


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## Ron (Apr 21, 2004)

*Do you consider Alvin a bear?*

I thought rangers were different than Highway patrol, but maybe all law enforcement is bears. Pet Alvin and he's the nicest ranger I've run into for the last 30+ yrs. of boatin'. Saw a black bear once on the bottom of Deso, but never in WW.


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## jester (Oct 14, 2003)

*Bears & Beers*

Hey Andy: 
A group of us did WW before the Halloween trip last weekend. I've never seen or heard of any bears near Westwater but there were plenty of beers to go around. We had a great level (4500) and 80 degree temps...was a blast. Sock It was the best hit by far. The Halloween party was a riot and loads of fun-you missed a good one. Have fun out there. Later.


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## WhiteLightning (Apr 21, 2004)

I'm more worried about the aforementioned hippies raiding my camp sites usually. Generally Febreeze is a better choice than a 12ga, .45, or pepper spray--less messy.


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## newby0616 (Jun 16, 2005)

Man, I am *all with* EricF on this one... we rounded a bend in the Nolichucky Gorge a couple of weeks back (when one of the tropical storms was blowing in), and even with chilly weather, were sujected to the most gratuituous, disturbing display of open-boater dong** :shock: I've ever seen! I think my retinas are still healing from the scars..... I'd take my chances with black bears over sagging bare boater ass any day of the week... 


** - special thanks to WL for the "juvenile anatomy word" of the day!


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## Caspian (Oct 14, 2003)

_Open boater???_ Eeeeeww! At least on the Noli it's wide and you can get away. I'm scared to go back to Boulder Creek on account of a sub-three foot distance encounter of the same sort. Naked open boater or old hippie...it's a lose-lose situation, esp. on BC.


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## zbaird (Oct 11, 2003)

seen em twice. once was just after launch at loma. the other was at westwater itself. i saw something coming down the river. looked like a big dog. i though huh, some idiot lost track of his dog. then as it approched, gleefully swimming downstream, i realized it was a small black bear. lil bastard just swam right on by and never stopped to check in with the ranger.


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## EZ (Feb 10, 2004)

I saw a good sized black bear once too. Down in the canyon somewhere, past Funnel. Swam across the river and then climbed up the red rock. I still remember being able to paddle up to about 20 feet from him when he was swimming across the river. Pretty cool, the contrast between his wet black fur and the big red rock slab he was standing on when he stopped to look back at us on his way out over the rim. This was in the Fall of 2000.


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## soylent green (Jul 8, 2004)

http://www.telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=11902&highlight=moose

Not a bear, but really cool pic of a moose in Desolation canyon. Very nice to see.


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## wrob (Aug 18, 2004)

I saw some animal wacing by once on the road there. I think it was a bunny, and maybe more than one. Scared the hell out of me, I almost swerved to miss it. Scwewy Wabbits


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## cayo (Mar 20, 2005)

Surprised to hear about so many bears near ww.It's not the best habitat ,though there are juniper bushes on the rim.Never seen any deer for the cougars but there are about a buzzillion jack rabbits and kangaroo rats darting every which way if you ever drive the rim at night virtually impossible not to hit one,albino toads too.We had one pissed off miners cat[ringtail] making racket all night at our favorite campsite ,like your own private Mesa Verde.
Yes,there's plenty of beer on westy ,but hummingbirds prefer margaritas.


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## Emmielou (May 1, 2007)

Saw a big brown bear on river left a few hundred 100 yards down from the ranger station last May. It was really cool! Of course the eruption of 25 people shouting "bear look at the bear how cool a bear" scared him off. sad.


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## Ture (Apr 12, 2004)

routter said:


> It's the desert- no bears.


Yep, there are bears in the desert... along the big rivers which are their own little environment. I've seen bear footprints in the mud on Deso. There are seagulls and shorebirds in the desert too....along the rivers.

My biggest critter worry on desert floats is mountain lions, especially with small children in camp.

Mountain lions are probably too fast and too good at ambushing for a gun to do much good... but on long floats I'm packing a hand-cannon anyways.


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## Fuzzy (May 25, 2005)

you could always shotgun a beer seen that on WW


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

John at inflatable technologies was customizing a raft for a backcountry goldminer from Alaska,says he always carries a gun for bears,He designed a special mount for a rifle that holds it firmly in place but allows for quick release,also keeps it dry and makes sure there is no accidental discharge into his boat which would leave him totally screwed in the middle of nowhere.According to this guy ,for Grizzlies you need 2 kinds of shot,or 2 guns,the first a shotgunbecause if you miss with a single bullet you're done,but if you blast him with shot you might scare it off and it dazes them buying you just enough time to hit him with a bullet powerful enough to drop him.I love animals,just thought it was interesting.


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## Chip (Apr 7, 2007)

*Desert Bears*

Seen lots of fresh bear tracks on Deso. Seems like there'd be a few bears coming down the unpopulated canyons on the Colorado from Loma on down. Be nice to the natives: more of us than them. 

Mont Swasey (my boss on the road crew on the Manti-LaSal NF many years ago) said in his grandfather's time that griz roamed on the Green River Desert in spring, to eat the native grass, before overgrazing destroyed the soil. Moonscape, now. 

I'd damn sure rather have more bears in the desert, and fewer affluent geeks blatting into cellphones while roaring around in their gas-sucking SUVs. 

yrs, Chip


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## alacy1 (May 17, 2005)

i saw a black bear a few hundred yards downstream from the blacrock section of ruby horsethief. probably wandered down from the uncompagre forest or glade park area. there is the possibility, but i doubt anyone ever sees 'em in WW.


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## Caspian (Oct 14, 2003)

alacy1 said:


> there is the possibility, but i doubt anyone ever sees 'em in WW.


Bears are the reason that the dumpster at Cisco has a big steel roof now. They come down out of the Book Cliffs to the river area.


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## Ed Hansen (Oct 12, 2003)

Hopefully Andy isnt's still standing by his computer waiting for responses due to the fact that he posted this question 2 YEARS ago.:!:


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## paddlebizzle (Oct 15, 2003)

Anyone ever come across scorpions or nasty spiders? Every time we camp at Westy we sleep under the stars in a bag on top of a tarp both in the canyon and at the Cisco takeout. I don't think that I've once slept in a tent.

Westy is in the middle of the desert and scorpions and spiders are always in the back of my mind. . .


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## rm&p (Mar 24, 2007)

I know that there are no bears in the desert, but I know someone who has seen what appeared to be a bear at Range Canyon in Cataract about ten years ago. What a bozo this guy; hasn't he ever heard of a bear costume? They're a great way to stay cool in one of the warmer places on the Colorado Plateau! I've heard of more people wearing bear costumes in Cataract this summer. I think they're starting to catch on down there, which means that Westwater will naturally be the next place this fashion trend will catch on.


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## Fuzzy (May 25, 2005)

I have a Yak suit that i'll trade for a bear suit I don't want to be left behind in river fashion.


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## Caspian (Oct 14, 2003)

Scorpions live in the cracks in the mud flats, so if you see a mud flat on Westy...


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## richp (Feb 27, 2005)

Hi,

I have 200+ runs through Westwater -- a fair number of them overnighters. Pitched a tent once or twice due to rain, but otherwise slept on the ground with no problems. Few bugs. Never seen a scorpion. Never seen a rattlesnake. Have seen mountain lion prints on beaches -- that makes you think..... 

I also have seen bear tracks and scat at Cisco before the new, more secure, dumpster was installed. I know first-hand of a bear at Cisco in 2001 that was marauding the sites of folks camped there. Heard he was shot later that year hanging out near the dumpster.

FWIW.

Rich Phillips
VP, GCPBA

Join Grand Canyon Private Boaters Association at Grand Canyon Private Boaters Association. click on "Join", and support active, ongoing private boater representation on Grand Canyon issues. And follow GC issues on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gcpba/messages


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## TimWalker (Oct 25, 2003)

daaaaa Bears.


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## pinemnky13 (Jun 4, 2007)

I Heard the toads got big teeth out there but no bears


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## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

Thank God someone FINALLY answered my post! Now I know its actually safe to run Westwater!

But seriously, if someone thinks its quiet around the Buzz, they haven't seen how many folks are reigniting this old, dead thread!!!

Wish I was back in CO - not much running here in NW Montana these days, though Alberton was a kick last weekend at 4500.

See y'all in August,

-Andy


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