What to do when encountering a black bear

One of the better discussions of the various national parks I have checked:

https://www.nps.gov/grsm/learn/nature/black-bears.htm

I have spent many days in that park, with an estimated 1,900 black bears, and I have only seen two bears on the trail and heard a third that jumped down a steep slope to get away from us. The two I saw, one at maybe thirty yards and the other at half that, slowly ambled off. I have never had a bear raid my camp at night.

This is not to say there are never any problems with bears. There are currently four backcountry sites closed due to aggressive bears, and another six with warnings. All sites have hanging cables.

Additionally I am aware of seven predatory bear attacks in the history of the park (the earliest in 1986 or so), where the bear was after the people, not their food. Two were fatal, and in both cases the hiker was alone. In the other cases, most if not all with significant injuries, there were other people present who assisted with beating/chasing the bear away.

When I backpack in SEKI I use a canister. My brother has chased bears out of camp there.

A black bear with ears up, swatting the ground, bouncing as it charges, wants space. A bear with head and ears lowered, approaching deliberately, means business.  Fortunately I have never dealt with either behavior. Despite this I have started carrying bear spray in the Smokies.

from AK: ” So where do you put the dinner attire when you’re sleeping?”

We have a set of clothing that we sleep in (long underwear pants and shirt) that we only sleep in, and nothing else. So, yes, extra weight, about 9 oz. The clothes that we eat in at night are put in our packs (packs NOT in the tent).

While I am sure there are bears everywhere around Mt Rainier, I have only consistently seen them between Sunrise and Mowich Lake.  And in that sector very consistently in the Berkeley Park and Spray Park areas late summer/fall.  Typically, they aren’t very close but two years ago after seeing a couple bears right above the Berkely Park camping site I was walking along day dreaming when I suddenly thought “that face looks just like Griffey” my dog.  I walked a few more steps thought “what?!?!?!”  turned around and there was a good sized bear right off the trail.  I passed within 8’ of him.  He looked at me, walked a few steps on to the trail, looked at me again, and then ambled towards a creek.  Usually the bears are off eating berries far off the trail.  The whole incident made me wonder how many amazing things I’ve missed by hiking too fast.  By the way Berkeley Camp is the only location in the park I have seen bears hang around the camp.  I’ve heard car alarms go off at mowich when bears were checking out cars.  Since the road to Mowich is shut down that won’t be a problem this year.