Leave Your Bear Anecdote in the Comment Section.
Black bears are frequently seen in Harriman State Park, and in 2014, more sightings were occurring near the lean-to shelters. A 2013 study reported that there are at least 15 black bears living in the park.*
If you’ve had a black bear encounter — especially while camping overnight at the shelters — describe it here. We’ll create a page to help paint a picture of the bear population and behavior for other hikers and campers, and encourage the use of bear bags and canisters.
*From trailswaves_2013_04_winter1-2, a two-year bear study project in Harriman State Park by Cynthia Tollo Falls and Jim Conlon.
Please change my email address to dshecht2@gmail.com. Thanks
Hey Donald: I don’t think we can do that from here! I’ve looked and looked for a way to do it, but it doesn’t allow me to.
Hi I just saw a huge black black around 7pm at the ruins by the trail that leads to the fire tower (Jackie jones trail?) Anyway. We promptly left after that!
Never seen a bear, but I’ve heard coyote howls at night.
There are bears all over Harriman you silly duffers! Stay in NYC or stay home if your afraid of bears!
Has there ever been a bear attack there in recent years.
Most recent bear sighting in Harriman was this past October (2014), just north of the Big Hill Shelter.
I’ve fished many lakes in Harriman State Park back in the 1960s.
The only indication I had of bears back then were the steel bars and gate on the lean-to at Island Pond.
I visited a couple of lakes in the mid 1980s and saw no indications of bears then.
After all these years it is nice to know the park is still in a natural state.
It won’t be for long if a casino is built near by.
Jersey Jack
Saw a bear hiking pine meadow trail with the hubby in June 2014. Completely unexpected.
Haven’t been to this site since last summer. Traveling toward Sloatsburg on 7 Lakes Drive last August and saw a bear cross the road by the Baker Cabins, my first bear sighting in the park in which I’ve been hiking since around 1970. Thought, OK, pretty cool. Two nights later we we’re stealth camping near the old jet crash site by St. John’s. When we were waking up my sister thought she spotted a turkey going east on the Long Path by our site, when we all popped up to have a look it was what seemed to be the same bear we saw two days earlier. Definitely glad food and garbage were strung up in a tree even if he paid us no mind, an ounce of prevention etc.
On Saturday, 5/23/15, we were hiking northbound on the Suffern-Bear Mountain, yellow-blazed trail when two young bears ran to cross the trail in front of us. I’d guess we were about 3-4 miles south of Big Hill shelter, which was our goal to make camp. Seeing two and it being my first bear sighting shook me up enough to turn around and just camp at Stone Memorial shelter.
Last night we hiked in and stayed at the Bald Rocks shelter. As soon as we arrived, a black bear noticed us approaching about 30 yards away and disappeared in a large thicket. We watched as it galloped away down by the gulley. It was right near the shelter- so heads up.
On another note: there are some birds that loudly sing into the night. They have a very unique song. Does anyone know what kind of bird it is?
Noah
Possibly the American Goldfinch …yellow with black markings …New Jersey’s State Bird.
The bird is probably a whippoorwill. They stay up all night singing their name.
Sam a couple (adult male and female) traveling together near Reeves Brook (yellow trail) this past weekend. Unfortunately, they have no fear of humans and walked towards us despite the noise we made. I’ve never witnessed this before – not a comforting feeling – I had big rocks in hand as we carefully made a get-away without running.
Saturday June 25, 2016 saw 4 Bears! We parked at Elk Pen at 9am – followed Appalachian Trail for about 25 minutes and saw a small bear, and then 2 more. We continued to hike up and 10 minutes later another larger, slower bear followed the others down toward the parking area. It was incredible. We new to stay away and make noise and large gestures. Would be good idea to have signs in parking area to warn people what to do.
On July 12th 2016 at about 3:30pm, walked in the Tuxedo entrance and was on the red trail about 20 minutes right before hitting the blue trail when I came upon a small black bear. We walked separate ways.
Monday, 11 July, 2016, at around 7:30am I was riding a bike on Seven Lake Drive. Spotted a bear, along the road. I shoot a video. Bear crossed a road twice. I can share it.
Please do!!! Thank, Sergey.
Saw a bear today while running Nuwahunta fire road. The bear reappeared twice. Second time he was very close, approx 50 yards or so, right on the side of the road. I produces some high pitch noise with a special device but he seemed didn’t care. I had to turn around. Scary.
On Saturday August 20 2016- my boyfriend hit a bear in the evening that crossed the road out of no where. This was on route 17 about a half mile south of the Harriman train station. I think the bear was injured badly and possibly shot after the police report. Sad..
Saw a male (about 200 lbs) eating some berries off the side of the road while driving on Bramertown Road. I reversed to get a better look at him! He noticed me, then ate for a few more seconds before retreating into the forest. A wonderful encounter!
Bear defeated two proper (or so we thought) hangs down the gully and to the right from Bald Rocks shelter, 09/10/16.
Bear spotted by hang ~10:30pm, thought he’d left, went to check on bags at ~12:30am and bag #1 was gone, by morning bag #2 was gone as well.
Pretty sure it stopped by the shelter later in the night and urinated on the side. Strong odor. Backpacks hung from nails undisturbed oddly enough.
Definelty bear activity down in the ravine from shelter.
Feel terrible for contributing to habituation of wildlife and for littering as little was recovered.
Considering a bearcan or ursack…
Yep- definitely a traversed area by bears in the ravine.
Was driving east on route 6 from Central Valley around 5 pm and glimpsed a bear on a steep outcropping above the busy four lane road (this was right before it goes to two lane). Was really surprised!
Saw a medium sized bear right at the point of the seven hills trail. Bear saw me first and took off sprinting. I thought it was a dog at first. It was truly bizarre and I’ll never forget it. It was late like 820pm we were kind of lost lol. Terrifying and beautiful all at the same time.
My friend and I saw two bear cubs on September 13,2016 on the blue trail bear lake sebago. We had no experience with this before. We walked as fast as we could away from the area.
I saw a small black bear on the white bar where it meets up with yellow triangle trail at around 4:30pm on a beautiful, sunny fall day. He was walking slowly by about 20 yards ahead and paid me no mind whatsoever. Beautiful!
I took a hike late October with my dog and had parked off of Diltz road in Pomona. The trail entrance was Tuxedo – Mount Ivy and I eventually connected to the Suffern – Bear Mountain Trail. Started around 2:30pm and headed back to my car around 5:15pm. It was a little late and had already started to get dark… I didn’t mind hiking in dim light. Somehow my path back got messed up and ended up cutting through the woods to connect back to the Tuxedo – Mount Ivy trail from Suffern – Bear Mountain. Off trail and about 300 yards from the beginning of the Tuxedo – Mount Ivy trail(if you park at diltz road) I hear loud footsteps in the leaves behind me. Knowing thee are bears I give a loud yell and grab my dogs collar. Tried silencing my dogs growls and attempts to bark. Soon realized it was a black bear and a large one considering the species. I know they are usually timid and I started to let out very loud screams and growls thinking it would run off. At this point it was completely dark outside since I had gone off path. The bear had passed me originally probably only 30 feet away and stopped to sniff about 50 feet away for 10 minutes in which it would budge no matter how loud I yelled. My dog was going crazy at this point wanting to run after it and the bear definitely had a good idea of my location since it kept looking towards me. At this point I was squatting on top of a rock trying to remain unseen since the bear didn’t seem to respond to my loud yelling like I head they would. Eventually the bear moved about 80 yards away and sat there for about 15 minutes. I still let out some yells because I wanted to make my way back to my car. It didn’t help or seem to effect the bear at all. It eventually slowly walked away down towards where I was trying to go so I waited about 10 more minutes. I didn’t see or hear it again but considering it was pitch black outside and the bear didn’t seem to have any reaction to the meanest yells and growls I could make… it was a pretty scary encounter. I’m well aware of the very very slim chance of being attacked by a black bear but considering its lack of timidness and the fact that my dog was trying to take off after it I wasn’t sure what would happen. Cool to talk about now though. Second black bear encounter for me. First one was a face to face in Colorado outside of a house so at least I had somewhere to go
Two of us were camping right off the Appalachian Trail around Seven Lakes Drive in late October 2016. We hung our bear bag too low and we heard a bear walk right up to our tent around 5AM. It walked so close to our tent twice that we heard its sniffing. It stuck around for about an hour while it pulled down our bear bag and ate a big bag of marshmallows, a box of graham crackers, and two big chocolate bars. Apparently, it took the box of graham crackers home with it because we never found the box. We stayed quiet for an hour, the sun came up, we left the tent very slowly and quietly, and we found that it had left. One of us has been camping for 20 years and never even saw a bear. The other was camping for the first time ever that night! Haha 🙁
At Bald Rocks Shelter last night, while cooking dinner (away from the actual shelter), I chased a bear away 4 or 5 times. It just kept coming back. After the last time, we decided to pack up our tent and move far away. I don’t know to what extent the bear would have bothered us the rest of that evening, but the experience made me wonder what kind of sleep we would have had.
Saw 2 baby black bears last night crossing Call Hallow Road. 11/15/16
Went camping just west of Lake Skannatati on the Long Path and woke up at around 1 am to a bear in our campsite. It made its way back into the woods, but we saw it again about 20 minutes later from a distance.
Me and a friend encountered a young black bear this past Friday night (4/14/17). Just a yearling we think. It was around 11 PM, before the moon was in the sky. We were sitting around a dying fire, I was digging in my food bag, and my friend was cracking jokes when all of sudden a noise came from the darkness. He spun around, and saw a black bear no more than 30 feet away. He immediately began yelling, “holy Sh#t!, a bear”. I then spun around just in time to see a black hulking mass leap out onto the rocks, run the ridge line and then dive down the hill. We immediately jumped up, turned our lights on, and grabbed anything that could make noise. We were yelling, “hey bear” as loud as we could, and trying to be as loud as possible. A few minutes passed and the next thing we knew, “hey bear” and “get out of here bear” was being screamed from inside the Bald Rock Shelter. The occupants had woken up to our yells and jeers just in time to discover a young bear sticking his nose into the shelter. They began yelling and banging on the side of the shelter walls in defense. My friend and I then took our lights to look down the hill to see if it was still there. It was. Two beady little eyes were staring back up at us out of the darkness. We started yelling again, but this time it was standing his ground and not moving. We took this as a bad sign and started walking back towards our campsite where we threw the rest of the wood we had gathered onto the fire. With the fire blazing we started discussing logistics on where to hang our food bags and packs. We chose a spot much further away then our initial tree and as we were heading over there the bear appeared out of the shadows again. Spinning around and screaming at it once more we ran the bear off yet again, hopefully for the last time. The rest of the night was spent being alert, but with moments of trying to scare each other to break the tension. Around 1 AM with the wood gone and the fire low we decided to try to get some sleep. It had been over an hour without another incident, so we figured it had finally run off in search of easier food. I laid in my hammock and drew my top quilt around me, and drifted off to sleep.
Suzy, I wrote to you in October 2015 about a bear encounter I had at Dutch Doctor. On May 5th, I again spent the night at Dutch Doctor. I saw eyes off in the distance after sunset, yelled “hey bear”, until I didn’t see the eyes any longer. Later a deer came up and drank from the temporary creek behind my site, so I assumed it was the deer I saw earlier. It rained overnight and then extremely hard the entire next day. I awoke and finally stepped out of my tent into the rain around 9am. I went to check on my bear hang, and found my garbage strewn all over the place. My bear bags were still hanging but now at the top of the para cord instead of the middle. (I hung my bags PCT style so the bags hang well off the ground and feet below the branch). I lowered my two food bags and one was cut straight through; I couldn’t have cut it cleaner with scissors. The other with my remaining dehydrated meals was untouched. The bear had gotten my snack/drink bag. The bear enjoyed some Slim Jim’s and cereal bars, but apparently doesn’t like coffee. As I walked around looking at the damage, I found the bottom fifth of my Outdoor Research lightweight dry sack. I picked up and carried out my trash later that afternoon when the rain lightened up. I have spent at least ten nights at Dutch Doctor since October 2015, and this is the first sign of bear I have seen since then; I have done numerous solo loops and if I arrive by train from Manhattan late afternoon/early evening I only have time to get there, set up, pump water, gather wood, and eat. (I know there is a bear(s) in the Dater Mountain area, as I have seen scat a couple times and a bear off in the distance as I left the park via the Kakiak trail). I assume the problem with my hang is that there were too many branches close together below it, and I didn’t clip my garbage bag into the caribiner I used to PCT the bag; I assume the bear climbed the tree and managed to grab the garbage bag and pull it down therefore raising the other bags. The bear must have climbed again and managed to balance on a branch and swipe at the food bags. I understand all backpackers will lose food to bears at some point if the hang it. People who camp in Harriman should always hang their food or store it in a bear canister, and both should be at least 200 feet from their campsite. I would also recommend not tying their hangs off to a tree, bears can very easily cut the cord, and will do so once they learn how; counter balance or PCT style both work better. Also never leave any food or trash behind when you pack up; carry in carry out keeps others safe.
Hi , i was camping in Beaver Pond and was a big bear in my rv window , i put the light on , i taje some picture and he leaft…..
We were camping by the Fingerboard shelter the night of 6/11/2017. We had a good bear bag up in a tree but only about 20 feet from our tent. A bear climbed that tree around 10.30 p.m. and tried to claw off the branch to drop the food down. Two guys at a neighboring campsite scared it away and rehung our food in a tree that was much farther away. The bear later found someone else’s food and took all of it, and also sniffed the face of a guy sleeping in a hammock. I recommend putting all food and anything with food aromas (e.g. including clothing used for cooking) and keeping it far away from your site, though it seems to me that this bear probably comes nightly to check out common spots where people generally leave food. Nearly everyone on the trail who’d spent the night out told me they’d seen a bear the prior night. Another fellow who spent the night one shelter further up the trail (north of Fingerboard) said he yelled at a bear for 30 mins before it left his site.
I was hammock camping near Fingerboard shelter and was woken up by a bear falling out of a tree trying to tear my Ursack off. I got out and yelled at the bear for around 5-10 minutes before it actually ran off. Roughly 5 minutes later either another bear or the same bear came back to the other side of our camp, with two cubs. I kept my distance and tried to yell at the bear/clap and make noise, but it seemed completely unafraid of us. After another 10-15 minutes they finally left. I moved and re-tied my bag to a tree even further away and had no more issues that night. I heard the next day that campers nearby had all their food taken in the night.
Hey, Just did a 7 day camp / hike through Bear Mt. & Harriman Park. Got to see my first bear. The very first night as it was getting dark at West Mt. I spotted a bear walking along the trail northward. I was so thrilled to see a bear. I guess he was about 2 years old and I assume about 150 to 200 pounds. I made some noise and he ran off galloping down hill toward the Hudson. But to my surprise he came back to haunt my camp. I kept making noise to chase him away and it took about 20 minutes of vigilance before he gave up on my campsite. It really made the trip enjoyable. Then on my last night at the Bold Rock Shelter I saw a small bear scurrying away in the brush at sunset. I decided a few minutes later to take a look outside the shelter toward the sunset before hitting the sack when I say a huge black bear walking south perhaps 30 feet away from the shelter. I stomped my foot down and clapped 3 times. He took off never to be seen again that evening.
I was camping 24.6.2016 on Long path not far from Upper Lake Cohasset, and in the evening saw a black bear with at least three cubs near by. When they saw us they ran away immediately. First time in Harriman, what a wonderful experience and memory!
I encountered a large black bear (with a cub) on the white bar trail about 1.2-1.5 miles south of Rt. 106. I was hiking solo, turned a corner and didn’t notice either one until I was 60 feet away and the cub made a run for it. The sow remained in place as I backed away and talked to her (thankfully she didn’t advance). I didn’t feel too threatened but obviously it was jarring. I ended up taking a much longer route to return to my car.
I’ve been in the park upwards of 20 times and camped over several nights — this was my first bear sighting. (July 2nd, 2017)
July, 6th, 2017 at 7 am at the Bald Rock shelter. We scared him away with loud commands, he walked down the path, stood there for a minute, then stood on his hind legs for few seconds and started walking back to us, lound sound we made and burning paper towels in my hand (we ran out of wood at this point) did not scary him at all. We slowly climbed on the roof of the shelter from the back wall and watched him walking into the shelter. He checked our backpacks that were hanging and slowly left. Scary.
Last weekend I took a beautiful overnight solo hike in Harriman. In the evening I hung my camping hammock a little northwest of Lake Skenonto, enjoyed the sunset and went to sleep. At about 1 AM I woke up to a black bear approaching. I could hear him sniff all over my gear, and he even poked me in the side with his nose a couple of times before losing interest and moving on. I didn’t get a good look at the whole bear but he sure felt huge because I could clearly sense the vibration of each of his footsteps being transmitted through the ground, the trees and into my hammock (I think that is what woke me up). I am very glad that I had collected every single piece of food and trash, down to the last energy bar wrapper, and hung it in a tree away from my hammock. Now I am wondering what the recommended behavior is in a situation like this one. I thought about making noise but didn’t think it was a good idea to startle a bear that was already right in my face. So I just laid still, trusting that he would not find any food and move on which he did. It took me a while to fall back to sleep after this…
Met up with a bear today while hiking just South of Breakneck Pond near the marshes.
We walked up on each other about 100ft apart. I called out a couple of times and we “admired” each other for a few seconds. As I started walking the opposite direction the bear bolted. Lots of fresh scat in the area though as I was hiking. Definitely freaked me out but it didn’t stop me from camping solo out here the same night.
I did an overnight July 3-4 of this year and had two bear encounters. The first was along the Ramapo Dunderberg trail, somewhere between Claudius Smith’s den and Tom Jones shelter. I was going north and saw the bear in front of me, off to the right of the trail a few hundred feet away. I clapped a bit to make sure he knew I was there, but he seemed disinterested. He moseyed over a hill and I didn’t see him again.
The second encounter came at the Bald Rocks shelter and unfortunately it’s a bummer of a story which includes a rattlesnake cameo. There were a number of people already tenting in the area when I arrived, and I went off to find a suitable location for my bear bag. I found a good spot and, employing the PCT hang, got the bag probably 15 feet off the ground. As I started to walk back to my tent, a snake went right by me, hid in a bush, and started rattling as I stood (at a reasonable distance!) trying to get a positive ID. Feeling a bit unnerved (this was my first rattler sighting!), considering my bag would need to be retrieved through a thicket of low shrubs, where I would have a tough time spotting the rattler if he decided he wanted to hang out there, I decided to move the bag. I ended up hanging it out of reach but not nearly as high as I would’ve liked (probably 10 feet off the ground or so?). Looked around and saw how others were hanging their food, and figured I would be fine.
Next morning, when I went to retrieve it, all that was hanging was the top strip of bag and a carabiner with the rope. After looking for about 40 minutes, I finally found the remains a few hundred feet downhill, clawed and chewed. (FYI this was a normal Sea to Summit dry bag). The bear ate just about all my food, but had no interest in other smellables (sunscreen, bug spray, etc) or my stove or titanium pot. By the way, everything in the bag was also sealed inside one of two Loksak Opsaks, which are supposed to contain smells, so either those don’t work, or this bear knows that any hanging bags are going to have food in them. I’m glad I recovered most of my stuff, but feel very guilty about feeding the bear. Learn from my mistake and make sure you hang your bag high. For what it’s worth, the tent next to mine had a bear canister, which apparently the bear poked at around 3am, but gave up frustrated shortly thereafter. Nobody else’s food was disturbed (and I saw a couple low hangs that raised an eyebrow). I just had the most tempting buffet, I guess. 🙂 Kind of surprised that there are not bear lockers or bear poles considering the high traffic that these shelters seem to get, but I won’t make excuses. Lesson learned!
My boyfriend and I were camping at the Big Hill Shelter. We went down the yellow trail to the 3rd reservoir then back up the path to the camp. At the edge of the campsite, near sunset, we heard a large animal moving to our left, looked ahead of us and saw 3 sets of eyes staring back at us from maybe 15ft away. We appeared to have walked into the middle of a family of bears. We backed away slowly, started making noise by banging rocks together and yelling, made our way back down the yellow path, then went down the woods road along the reservoir to try to get back to Big Hill. On the path between the 2nd and 3rd reservoirs we saw another three sets of eyes staring at us. We made our way back down the woods road, called the police, and were escorted out of the park.
Take aways:
1. Buy bear spray, learn how to us it.
2. The police response time to pick us up from this area was 2 hours. If you do need to be picked up, make sure to be near a road (woods roads included) so the police can get to you.
3. CALL 911 if you need help in Harriman State Park.
4. Be extra careful around Big Hill, because this is not the first report of bears in this area. This is also not the first time a FAMILY OF BEARS has been reported near Big Hill.
5. Remember: You can scare one bear away, you CANNOT scare away a group of bears.
5. DO NOT BE DISSUADED FROM CAMPING IN HARRIMAN STATE PARK, THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A BEAR-RELATED FATALITY IN THE PARK.
There WAS a well publicized fatality in West Milford about 4 years ago, when a group of 5 hikers encountered a bear, with the bear following and eventually killing one of the hikers. His body was found the next day with the bear still next to it, the bear was put down, and human remains were discovered in his stomach. Incredible, no?
http://www.nj.com/passaic-county/index.ssf/2014/10/west_milford_fatal_bear_attack_details_emerge_from_unredacted_documents.html#incart_story_package
Seen a black bear about a month ago on the way down from big hill shelter.. I was with my friend and his dog he just looked at us and ran off… those things can move!!
Encountered a bear a few miles North of Nawahunta Lake, a little bit off Nawahunta Fire Road. First it appeared about 100-150 yards away slowly walking toward bushes, probably not seeing me. Second time happened several minutes after the first encounter and this time the bear was staring at me something like 50 yards away on the trail. I stopped and decided to wait until the bear is gone but it didn’t. Also, produced a high pitch noise with a special device but the bear didn’t seem to care either. I slowly backed away and as soon as out of its sight ran back.
Spotted a bear on Sunday, Sept 3, doing a day hike along the Suffern Bear Mountain Trail. We were about… 4.5 miles along the yellow trail walking from Suffern.
Saw a bear yesterday near lake Skemonto walking toward me and two friends on the dirt road. We ran away off trail toward another trail I knew of. Was easily 300lbs.
This weekend (Saturday, 9/16/17), my friend and I were going north on the Suffern-Bear Mt. Trail coming from Suffern. We saw a bear just before the incline called “Kitchen Stairs” on the map. I heard some branches braking on my right about 30 feet away at an angle of about 45 degrees above the trail. Sure enough when I looked in that direction, a fairly big bear stuck a head out of the bush, and our eyes met briefly. I called out “bear to the right!” to alert my friend a few feet behind me and two hikers that were about 15 feet in front of us as well. They all got a look at it, although it was partially covered by the bushes. It just stood there looking at us, and didn’t run away. After a few seconds of gawking we decided it was best to hurry along the trail.
With all of this info- it makes me wonder how safe it is to camp in Harriman. The bears seem to have figured out bear hangs, and are unafraid of people scaring them off…
Feb 10th, 2018 – Spotted a bear on top of Black Ash Mtn. (RD trail) He was sitting on a big rock next to the trail. He saw me and my buddy coming to his way but he wasn’t scare of us at all. We were shock and slowly reversed back the way we came from. It was middle of winter. Who says No Bear!
Was planning to camp in one of these shelters in the coming month. These stories are not helping. LOL
Sizable tracks found crossing along Tuxedo-Mountain-Ivy trail just above and at lake Sebago access road on 3/25. Tracks had melted out a bit, likely made 3/22 just after the large snow fall. Pictures available if requested.
Saw a big bear 🐻 this afternoon while hiking the Bockberg trail approaching the ramapo dunderberg trail heading toward the timp. Bear saw us and ran away. Stopped a short distance to watch us than continued to walk away. Scary but bear was totally unaggressive toward the two of us and our dogs. Dogs did not bark or anything and were on a leash thankfully.
Yep. I can across a little guy back in September 2017 while walking out of the park at dusk in between Lake Stahahe and the highway. it saw me and ran the other way while I frantically looked around for the mother.
There was a black bear off where the Blue Disc trail intersects the (red) Tuxedo-Mountain Ivy trail, Sunday April 22, ‘18. Hikers shouted and it roamed away. It was gorgeous!
I saw a bear today at about 3pm on 7 Lakes Pkwy about half way between Late Tiorati and Silver Mine Lake. I was jogging along the road and he jumped up in front of me from west side and crossed over the road.
I have been to Harriman three times and twice I have seen a bear. Once on September 9, 2017 on the Reeves Brooks Trail and again today on the White Bar trail scrambling up a ravine. This prompted me to do an internet search to see if Harriman has a bear problem.
Thanks for the comment, Claude. You’ve probably seen more than most! Yesterday — June 5 — a bear was crossing the road at Silvermine while I took my bike off the back of my car in the parking lot. It’s no wonder, though, because the dumpsters are often left open, let alone being secured. Add to that the amount of food scraps being left in picnic areas and at the lean-tos, plus the fact that there is close to zero signage at the parking areas to let people know that they put bears’ lives in danger whenever they leave food around. But I love them, and judging from the bear-themed products at the Bear Mountain Inn gift shop, so do others. (By the way, New York’s most popular state park — Letchworth — has a gift shop that it full of black bear products, despite not having a single black bear in residence. I asked the shopkeeper why, and she told me flatly: Black bears sell.” Haha!)
Saw a bear twice today , both times in the same area. Once on the way in, once on the way out.
It could’ve been the same Bear both times.
I took the trail from Kakiat up to the power line road.
Where the power line road intersects with the Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail, I turned onto the SBM heading North East.
About half a mile onto that trail is where I saw the bear both times.
I made noise to scare it away and neither seemed interested in me .
Saw a bear cub yesterday (6/14/18) where Reeves Brooke trail(w) and Seven Hills trail (b) intersect. I was heading back NW on Reeves Brooke to Reeves Meadow Visitors Center. I heard a heavy rustling in the bushes, expecting a bear or a deer. Rounded the trail to see the cub, scurrying away in the same direction. I probably could have gotten away with continuing in that direction but I doubled back. I didn’t stick around to see if Mama bear was around
There was a bear hanging around the bald rocks shelter on June 9-10.We ran into it half mile from the shelter (I think coming North on the Dunning Trail). We tried to scare it away but it didn’t budge so we backed away and kept going. It ended tearing open a nearby group’s bearbag that night. They must not have hung it far enough from the trunk. Be careful, people. Master the PCT hang or bring a canister.
Absolutely! Thanks, Will. I’d also add that not all bear bags are created equal; go for a bag that, even when it’s in reach, is unopenable for a bear. I’m partial to the Ursack. :0)
I saw a mama bear with two baby bears crossing the street on Route 106, a little after the right turn to head to Lake Sebago. It stopped on a rock to look at my husband and I before taking off full speed up a hill with the two little ones behind her. It was surreal.
Parking areas — especially where there’s a dumpster, like at Sebago and Silver Mine Lakes — are favorite hangouts, and also the shelters. Thanks for the news, Jamie.
Patrick Neill, July 7, 2018 2:00pm On the orange trail about half way to the white bar trail from tuxedo park and ride and rte. 106: A bear sauntered past not more than thirty feet from me on the opposite side of a brook. He walked down to the brook after he’d passed by me aways. Drank from the brook. I make very loud whistles with my fingers. I whistled thinking that’s what your supposed to do when you see a bear. He looked up then resumed drinking; then he walked into the woods into my memory. He was large and beautiful. A thrilling experience.
I met two bears picking berries over the weekend, 7/14/18 near Fingerboard Shelter, Harriman. They looked about 200 lbs. There were several other hikers around but bears had no intention of moving away.
Here is the YouTube link to share:
https://youtu.be/kDfSbGeiK3o
We saw a medium size black bear crossing the road right after the roundabout for the exit 18 coming from road no 6 E….at 18:15 July 17th
Big black bear broke to my tent , took food and run away, was very aggressive
You are not supposed to keep food in your tent.. ever. This makes it dangerous for others who camp after you. Please be more careful when you camp.
Aug 4th 2018
Stealth camped south of Black Rock with two four year olds and a friend. Used the pct method to hang food and garbage although not well- realized we didn’t have line or carabiner. Daisy chained tent line together and just threaded through the dry bag loop. This was tougher to hang but worked. Woke up to a thud around 4am and shined my headlamp to see a 6′ tall standing shadow with the beady yellow eyes.
I just kept my light on it( I know we hung it too close to camp) but made no noise as we didn’t want to wake the blissful children.
Bear left but saw it again at first light about an hour later.
This time it left for good after headlamp spotlight.
Bear got no food, but the bag was higher up than the original height and the stopping stick was tangled up and over the hang branch. Not sure how this happened…
It was really difficult for us to get down again and I even injured my thumb in the process of using a tent pole to poke at the bag. Definitely got a taste of the challenges and risks bears go through to get to these things.
Canisters or proper hang far from tent will be the new normal
Thanks for listening
Three bear cubs ran in front of my car across Seven Lakes drive this evening, between Sebago Cabins and Baker camp. My first bear sighting !
Saw a black bear near the trail going back from lake wanoksink to lake sebago boat launch where we parked. may have been upper portion of the blue trail, it was about 200 yards away and didn’t see us, so we just kept quiet until we saw it move away. Medium sized, maybe 200lbs or so
Sunday August 26th around 4pm, I was fishing along the shore of Lake Skannatati 1/8 mile before the popular rock outcropping. Noticed some clumps of black fur on a few trees during my walk over and lo and behold, I hear rustling behind me as I am fishing. It was probably a 200 lb bear that had just taken a steaming dump not more than 15 feet behind me. It ran off as I turned toward it and was glad to realize that I instinctively went for the bear spray in my back pocket while simultaneously (and hilariously) getting into a fencing/sword fighting like position with my fishing rod.
I was suprised that it was so bold to get so close to me on a day when the trail was packed with the weekend crowd. I made my way back to the parking lot asking other people if they spotted the bear, but it seems like I was the only lucky one.
These frequent and recent reports about bolder, less timid bears in Harriman makes me paranoid when Im out there alone. I’m going to stick to fishing from my boat.
I know it was probably no laughing matter for you but that account is pretty hilarious.
Just yesterday I am pretty sure I saw a “Coydog” crossing 7 Lakes Drive by the Sebago Cabins entrance. It was basically a typical eastern cpyote but with the colors and markings of a German Shepherd. I believe this was the dame “coydog” I spotted 2 years ago by the same spot which also had German Shepherd coloring and patterns. It ran away before I was able to snap a pic both times.
Saw a big one this evening around 6:00PM on the Lichen Trail over Surebridge Mountain while on a solo hike. I turned around and went another route, singing loudly for the rest of the way and didn’t see it again.
Woke up this morning, Oct 2nd 2018 with a visitor checking me out while I cooked breakfast. Scared it away and went on with my day. At about 2pm either the same or another bear paid me a visit again. This time he was only about 50 feet or so away. Needless to say, after the second sighting, I packed up and humped out. Only to then find out about tornado warnings. Turns out the bears saved me from the tornados! Gotta listen to the signs when they present themselves…
Oh, I was camped out on the stream just west of turkey hill and south of West Point.
On Saturday October 20th I saw a bear at the junction of Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail and Pine Meadow Trail. It was an adult, at least 200lbs. It ran across the trail right in front of me and up a hill into the bushes. It then stopped looked back and went about its business. I took a nice video before continuing on the trail.
A black bear came to our campsite in July of 2016. I was out getting water from a stream, while my wife was setting up the camp. She started nocking the metal cookware, one piece against another, trying to scare it away. It worked, the guest was jittering with every such bang. Then it left.
An addition to my previous post. This was the ONLY time when we decided not to hang our food in a sack between the trees. What an irony?..
I’ve been to Harriman park many many times and I’ve only seen a bear once – it was August 2017, around the south end of Silvermine Lake. He was probably going down to get a drink (it was a very dry summer). He saw me first and took off running.
Hello,
We ran into a bear yesterday (May 26, 2019) near Lake Skenonton (on the south west side of the lake, about 10min walk from the first campsite). The bear was on the trail path, we slowly backed up as soon as we saw him (without turning our back). He then crossed the trail and went into the forest. He did not pay further attention to us. We waited until he was far enough to safely continue our way to Lake Skenonton.
I was taking White Bar to Bald Rocks when I met a family who had stayed there the previous evening (the Saturday prior to Memorial Day) and they said a bear came in and got 3 bear bags. As I approached the shelter Sunday at 6 pm I heard alot of yelling. When I got onto RD a Woman told me they were yelling at a bear who had just come in to the camping area. I hung my food immediately and within 15 minutes another Woman walked out of a group of 3 tents and said the bear is back. There in the light of day was a juvenile Black Bear. No matter how much people yelled (and there were alot of them as Memorial Day Eve is as busy a day as there is in HSP) the bear waa undeterred. I picked up a few rocks and threw them at the bear as I know is the way to move one out(I did hit it in it’s rear), it ran out of the area and did not return. Obviously the bear will become a problem if it keeps equating humans with food. Goggle the PCT bear hang method people and hang your food, smellables, and garbage.
Summer of 2018 at stone memorial shelter i saw what seemed to be large black bear prowling around the campsite, our food was strung up in a tree but it made its way to the fire to look for scraps i guess. Scared me and my girlfriend pretty good.
i saw bear last weekend…
end of route 97 circle parking lot..
right at white bar trail
near from brook spring..
Saw a bear this morning, 5 feet from my tent at beaver pond. 5:30 am, I opened my door and there is was. My jaw fell open. So did my 5 year old’s. But he just sort of wandered out of there when he saw us.
6/18/19 approx 5:50pm I saw a large black bear cross the road in front of my car as I was driving on Seven Lakes Drive towards the traffic circle. Lake Tiorati was on my right. The bear walked from the lake side, across the road, up an embankment, and into the woods.
I ran into a bear today at the intersection of the Tuxedo-Mount Ivy Trail and the Seven Hills Trail. It was during a trail run, and right as I ran into a couple who was hiking on the Seven Hills Trail. I stopped to ask about the trail intersection, and then the man I had just met noticed the bear over my shoulder coming up (west to east) on the Tuxedo-Mount Ivy trail to where we were at the intersection of the trails. We immediately walked back five or ten feet, got behind a big boulder, and yelled “hey bear” — after which the bear left the trail and wandered south peacefully, crossing the Seven Hills Trail and heading down the mountain. He didn’t show a care in the world for us. It appeared to be a male, quite large. Not what I was planning to see on my trail run, and definitely kept me on my toes for the rest of the Panther Mountain-Diamond Mountain loop!
One just stole my food bag by climbing the tree
Thought it was a raccoon cause it was pitch black but once I pointed my light towards it it was a huge black bear
I jumped out of my hammock and began to yell out get near, go on near get out of here, but I ki d of ignored me and pulled down my food bag. After a minute or two I kept yelling and flashing my light at it and it took off. Location: near the fingerboard lean to.
What a night. No sleep no food….
June 30th, 4:20 am a black bear about 175 pounds came into our camping area at Harriman State Park. Ran off after I made my way to my Jeep and started it. It was my flight I left some food out on the picnic table.
July 2nd, 2:00pm, me and my boyfriend were getting close to the dutch doctor Shelter and we saw a young bear in the hills, we back off a little bit and he crossed the white path. We waited until he disappeared from our sight because we were afraid obviously and just in case the mother or more bears were around. We spent the night there anyway. We left the food far from our tent just in case.
Ran into a bear and her Cubs while leaving Dutch Doctor shelter…I was just taking white trail headed back to Tuxedo, and ran into the bears on top of white trail..bear stood up while cub climbed tree..I slowly backed up and went back down to lean-to..ended up taking another route back.
8/11/19 just after dusk a juvenile black bear with tags and a collar tried to come inside the Fingerboard shelter where a thru hiker had just entered a few minutes before. After being shouted away from the shelter and a tent 100 yards below by another thru hiker, it proceeded another 100 yards up the ridge to where we had set our packs down to set up camp. We were laying the footprint when it came 40 feet from us. As we made ourselves large and shouted at it to go away, it sidled toward our packs another 40 feet on the other side of us and seized my pack and ran away with it. When chased by my boyfriend, he dropped it, turned and growled and moved slightly toward him, then seized a bag of food from my pack and went off 30 yards to eat it. We packed up our tent stakes and footprint and took our bags up to the shelter.
Shortly after, the bear circled around to the tent site in the middle, and took the thru hiker’s pack (no food inside) and ran off with it. When chased and pelted with stones, it eventually dropped the pack in a bush (only found thanks to the bear inadvertently activating the thru hiker’s headlight inside).
As instructed by the welcome center staffer, we called the park police ((845) 786-2781) and they sent two rangers up to the shelter.
Evidently this shelter experiences bear activity since they have a cable installed for food storage, but one of the thru hikers said that in 2000 miles of hiking, he had never witnessed a black bear behave so boldly or aggressively.
Lately the bear population around harrriman state park has grown tremendously. They are everywhere.
From the mid 70s on up thru the mid 90s, drive up to Harriman with a stop at the Red Apple Rest before heading home was trip done every summer 6 – 8 times. I had been introduced to the area by my Uncle while living in Brooklyn during my 1st year of college who on a hit summer day said “let’s go for pancakes” which was code or “Let’s go to place that has air conditioning. Three minutes later, we’re on the Kosciosko Bridge and my cousin and I are having a WTH moment.
Over the next 20 years or so … trips up to Greenwood Lake, Harriman, and the surrounding area was something we did 6 – times each summer. It was mostly drive around, pick a spot to leave the car and then hike off into the woods. Island Pond was favorite haunt … never really like the clustered camp ground that dad took us to in my youth (why I remember camping at Campsite E-8 in 1962 i one of the great mysteries to me now when sometimes I can’t remember if I ate anything that day.
Marriage and kids put an end to this trips but in 1998, I took an 80 year old colleague who had hiked up Machu Picchu the previous year to enjoy Harriman. I had my 8, 7 and 2 year olds with me. Starting from the lot just north of the RAR, we hiked up to Island Pond heading over to the south side were the old hut used to be. We passed a fallen tree that laid horizontally above our heads. the kids sat on the trunk 4 or 5 feet over our heads band the 2 year old was on my shoulder for a photo op.
At this point, I’ll get back on topic and note that in the 20 years of trampling thru Harriman, never saw much of anything but fish, duck, an otter or 2 and birds. Back then the only thing we saw less than wildlife was people.
This past weekend my 3 sons and I went back up to get a picture at that same spot. Now 65 years old, and carrying more weight than I should, with knees and ankles ravaged by sports and fieldwork … the hike, short as it is, seemed a lot longer… and steeper :). It was afternoon and we passed 25 or so hikers coming down on or way up. That was more people than id seen in the 20 years I was a regular visitor. We got our picture, then continued south only to find that old “muddy spot” a moat blocking our way. The kids wanted no part of it so I continued on alone while they headed for the boat ramp area.
I heading or the old hut site, I heard a rustle in the bushes but never caught sight of anything. After an hour so sitting on the rock dangling feet in the water. I gathered my stuff to head back before reaching the tree line heard / say more rustling of something that seemed large but again didn’t catch site of anything.
Got back to the boat landing about 6:30 bit not before slipping in the “moat” and taking a hard shot to the knee.
Sat on the rocks on south side for a while with the kids (now 29, 27 and 23 by the way, till we decided to head down. At 65 I find the downhill on the rocks to be the toughest on my body and with sore ankles and a stiffening / bruised knee, I decided I was gonna sit on the rocks at Arden Valley Road and have them pick me up on the way past as plan was to sightsee along Seven Lakes parkway on our way back.
The rest of the crew hiked down the trail while my 23 year old and I sat a bit and then headed out to AVR. As we were about half way to AVR on the gravel road from the boat ramp, we saw a young bear (250 lbs or so) in our path. he stared at us for a bit, walked off the road to the west. We stopped thinking “well lets not get any closer” and waited for it to meander on along but it seemed as if he wasn’t gonna let us decide his plans. After a couple of minutes he moved on and it’s way. But we started walking again, just before we walked by him, we saw that the one we 1st spotted now about 30 feet away was lagging a bit behind his two buddies.
My son has a small frame and I’m the opposite so stayed between the bear about 10 feet away from my son we just walked by ignoring him while keeping close watch on the 3 out of corner of our eyes. We kinda dragged our feet a little, wanting to observe. As we passed, he started slowly moving away; he seemed much less concerned about us than we of him.
It was a rather emotional day for me … kind of a “bucket list” thing getting back there with my sons and retaking the photo after 21 years. The sight of the abandoned Red Apple Rest was crushing … couldn’t hep shed a cupla tears thinking of trips w/ Uncle Pancakes. The bear sighting was a big highlight. Oh yeah … and the Island shrunk.
But what stuck with me most was that in all the years and all those trips from 70s to early 90s, we heard what we thought might be bears but never sighted one … almost never saw people. But this trip with all the cards in the lot and all the people we saw that day, seems “odd” that this day provided the lone sighting. I can only guess that this side of the park is seeing a lot more visitors than in my day, which means more full garbage cans, more dumpster digging and more bear sacks to raid and today’s bears are less shy of people. well either that or our bright / loud / tie dyed Grateful Dead shirts were more than they could handle.
We were sat up late at Sebago, when we were growled at. Although none of us saw a bear, it was very loud, guttural and frightening. We all jumped up and said “bear” at the same time. It growled again. We didn’t wait to see what it wanted but headed inside our cabin. My guess was it was attracted by the the food left over from our camp event. We banged pots and pans to frighten it away & put our trash in the dumpster.
I was on Dunderberg last Friday, 8/16/19 on the blue trail. About 2 miles into the hike a mother bear stood up and let me know she was there by letting out a growl that stopped me in my tracks and sent her two cubs up a tree. I was alone and decided to turn back but i will try and hike the trail again sometime in the near future.
Today (10/14/19) hiking back from Island Pond on Island Pond Road where it starts to head uphill, I saw a medium size bear to my right. It took one look at me and ran off! Earlier this year, in the spring, a bear crossed in front of me on Seven Lakes Drive near Lake Sebago. In October 2017, we saw a bear near the Hasenclever Mine. It completely ignored us but I was able to get a short video.
Has there been any attacks recently ?
Us “silly duffer’s” would like to know.
saw a momma bear with her cub on sept 15, 2019, ~6pm. was hiking alone and looking for the boston mine, i came over the crest of a hill and down into the valley and saw the bears before they saw me.
i observed them for a few moments while they foraged, the cub was about 60 feet away from its mom on the other side of the valley. as they were heading directly at me i decided soon that it was time to signal my presence.
i whistled and waved at the mom. she took a couple seconds to recognize me but quickly turned around and scurried away. of course the commotion alerted the cub, but instead of running after its mother it ran in my direction.
at that point the mother turned ’round and started after the cub. fortunately the cub must have seen me in time because it swerved and dived through some fallen trees and back up the same trail that i had used to get down into the valley, its mother in quick pursuit.
the encounter lasted about 90 seconds and i had time enough at first to take out my phone and record the whole thing. needless to say it was quite exciting, not to mention the boston mine was just over the other side of the valley!
I’ve had several go thru my yard over the last several years. I live in the village of Harriman.
April 25, 2020.
My family saw 2 bears (a cub and what I guess was a Mama bear) on the 7 hills (blue trail)— we were just past the 2nd junction of the blue and orange trails, and were just beginning the ascent up to Torne View.
We shouted and screamed at the bears, and eventually they turned and ambled on the trail the direction we wanted to go; needless to say we turned and went back the way we came once we were sure they were gone. We were hiking with our 4 and 6 yr old kiddos, and luckily we’ve taught them never to turn and run, but to stay and make a lot of noise and yell and clap—all 4 of us did that, and luckily it worked.
Momma and cub came by at 5:30am today at Fingerboard, looked around my tent for food. I scared her off. She double backed and stole a small bag of trail trash, no food. Easy to scare off, but sneaky.
May 13th, 2020 around 12:30PM on the Nurian trail (W) heading west near the Valley of Boulders, I witnessed a black bear around 3 feet tall when standing on all four feet. It must have noticed me first as it ran southwest into some of the rock formations.
I was hiking the Pine Meadow Lake, Tuxedo Rock, Breakneck mnt, and Panther mnt loop and I saw a black bear about half a mile to a mile from the trail head on my way back. This was about 10 days ago.
Spotted what I assume was an adult black bear near the Yellow Menomine Trail not far from the Stockbridge Shelter earlier today.
On Thursday May 21st we were staying at the fingerboard shelter when we heard rustling about 50 feet below our site and momma bear and her four cubs came through and we yelled and scared them into the valley where other camps were set up, so we yelled their way to notify them the bears were coming. They got the bears out of there. I took some food that the other campers hadn’t hung up and put it in my Bear canister. A group of campers called the park police and they came up and scared the bears to the back side of the mountain. They then came back a third time after the park police left and the bigger cub came without 30-40 feet from us standing up in what seemed to be trying to scare us away from our camp. We did not scare and we stood our ground he slammed his paws on the ground and ran off. Some of the other campers called the park police again to have them escorted out area. We decided to stay the night as we figured the bears wouldn’t be back and he had nothing in our camp site for the bears and know they won’t come to the tent and bother us. One major moral of this story is please please please. Use bear canisters and get them away from the campsites. The bears seem to know and to get the bear bags and will spend time trying to get them, as of now they will typically leave the bear canisters alone as they can’t seem to get them open. Although I just read some stories that some of the bears in the Adirondacks have figured out how to smash them open. Camping in Harriman without the knowledge to take care of your food properly puts yourself, others and the bears in danger of more interactions.
My husband, son, and I were hiking near Claudius Smith Den and saw a large black bear on the trail about 50 feet away. We decided to call it a day and turned around. I’ve never seen a bear hiking in Harriman so was a bit scared
May 22nd – saw a single bear crossing Seven lakes drive halfway between intersection with route 17 and Lake Tiorati.
May 25th: met a group of people walking from the Tiorati circle to the beginning of the Appalachian trail who warned me of sighting a bear with two cubs near the water tank.
I saw a fairly large bear this weekend on the trail as we were hiking to Claudius Smith Den. After a couple of minutes, it went off into the woods. Needless to say, we ended our hike for the day.
Near the fingerboard shelter. I hiked up to the area via the ranger road, directly from off seven lakes drive. It is Covid 19 Pandemia time and NYC is noisy with protests (George Floyd related) so I thought I’d try camping 300 feet from Fingerboard Shelter as the new rules allow.
I arrived and made my camp based on where I could get a cell phone signal. Near the edge of the hill and down a few hundred feet I found a clearing that had less trees so I could enjoy stars and overlooks the lake.
I set up tent and bedding. I was alone. I lit a fire to scare off mosquitos. I layed out my food to see what will be for dinner. I get a text from a friend. I text back explaining an opportunity for work in NJ. I put the phone down and look up. And here are five black bears in the tall grass about 20 feet from me and my fire. I had hoped the fire would scare them but I could see by the their attentiveness to me they were hungry to scavenge. Sort of like my dog used to get when she smelled food and she would lick her lips and teeth and sort of hold herself back but just barely, making a quick burst forward then stopping herself, unsure of whether it would be safe to do so. I was shocked because like many others I hadn’t seen bears in Harriman ever since coming frequently as early as 1986. Last year I saw a bear but this time I was driving up by bear mountain along the Palisades toward the bridge. She was skinny like a tall woman in a bear onesie. But THIS time it was a momma bear and she was big and fat. And she had three or four cubs scrambling about and cute and toys , bounding up and down like fat playful kittens who had a supernatural agility despite their weight. That supernatural look they give off is actually muscular strength and agility. Momma has this power too. So after about a second or three of these thoughts I next think call the rangers… No… Too long to find the number… Bang large camoung knife to pot. Knife is ten feet behind me by my food… How about a stick. I pick up stick. These beas are watching me. Momma moves in closer about four feet and stops to observe me as I lift a branch about 5 feet long and use it to bang my cooking pot which makes only a light this so I grab my Colman stove and bang that. This sound is good and I scream at it. Kinda high pitched at first and then I mimicked a bear and it was probably quite hilarious and embarrassing to see my go wild this way. I think I was imitating Ron Perlman in Quest For Fire as I escalated to a howling ape-like screaming howl and the bear, not liking any of this, ran. Three cubs followed but one ran up the tree about 12 feet in front of me. So momma then comes back as I quiet down. All the cubs return too. The cubs run toward me and I start to immediately bang again. The baby bear comes off the tree and then Momma actually does a half circle around my camp and on all fours, looks at me long and hard then yawns. At first this is cute and disarming but then it’s face gets more like eager looking again. That eager dog face. I am thinking, ok, Im giving a textbook reaction banging the pots and making noise. A d it works ! So I gather my food. I have just arrived and I quickly put a bear bag together and get ready to walk a few hundred feet to hang it. I raise the fire up with dry wood and walk to the rocky edges of fingerboard mountain to peer over the edge. See if the bears have fled. They appeared to have. The sun was setting now. I saw the bears at about 6pm, and now it was 6:15 and I could hang my food and quickly eat what food I was excited to eat for dinner. About eight minutes pass and I am making my fire larger when suddenly I look up and again, the bear is already there ! It’s just standing there on all fours watching me. It looked like it had a ear tag and maybe a collar but maybe it was a clipped ear and forest muck on his neck. What are tags for? Is this to mean she’s friendly ? Or is she on parole for food theft? I hear about bear robberies all the time. I’ve heard of 0 bear attacks on human flesh but they are like bully criminals who come in and take what they want. They want food and other curious items. They will take them. The bear seemed alone this time. As if she said, hey kids you wait down here. I had salmon lox, two precooked garlic burgers and hummus. Oh and two cookies. I found my knife this time and using the pot with the knife it made a better sound than stick to pot. I banged and banged and again I became Ron Perlman in Quest For Fire. But this time it did NOTHING. The bear just watched .. as if to ask, are you finished yet. So I thought, no I’m not finished. I started to bang more rapidly and make baboon noises. Yeah, like really loud and horrific baboon noises because baboons are ridiculously intimidating. And the bear might have agreed. The rapid banging and babooning moved the bear. He wasn’t terrified but he looked uncertain… Becoming a lunatic toward a bully can usually have strong results. I learned this is high school. The bear turned around with a huff. And left. I felt victorious but baffled and tired. How was I going to sleep now if the bears are scavenging before I even settle in ? I put more wood on my fire and here it was. The bear returned… Or never left. It was only a minute that passed. Now this is the third time I had to stay banging. Y pot was full of dents. My Coleman stove full of dents. I banged and banged and the bear didn’t care didn’t leave. So I carefully packed up non food items and put them in my pack. Then I unwrapped the food. If I leave it wrapped she will eat the wrappings. If I take the food she may attack me. So I unwrapped the food and because it was drizzling and forcasted to rain for the next three days I left my fire which was already drying and put my food around the edges so the bears may approach the fire, wait for it to burn down, pull the food out. Flip it and law it until cool then eat it. All of this was to buy myself time as I decided to leave my propane tanks and tent and sleeping gear and leave with what I had packed. The bear had come up the trail I hiked so it was important I hike up your AT trail and hike that a little before plunging down through the woods back down to seven lakes drive. I stepped over grass and branches banging my knife to my cooking pot the entire way looking around carefully. I was out of there is 30 minutes and back to my car.
I met a family bar b quing and told them. The alpha man of the group laughed it off telling me they’re just big cuddly babies. He said he’s been coming here 20 years and been feeding them from his hand Everytime he comes. He was a chill man, laid back, eating and laughing. I couldn’t help but feel the irritating realization that people who feed bears with this casual approach make it dangerous for themselves and for others. This bear incident was alarming. The bear was persistent, harassing and unafraid. It’s a sweet bear now but what happens when food supplies thin out by the end of the season.Cuddly bears can become hostile when on the edge of hunger. When a grizzly comes at you it’s for territory. When a black comes at you it is for food. Maybe this time my dear was more that this bear would harass me all night and I would not achieve a restful sleep which was my purpose for escaping NYC. There is just no place to sleep quietly so I hoped Harriman would provide it’s familiar peace. But not this time.
I have to return to get my things the next day. Perhaps during a crowded time.
… But again… Crowds might be the new favorite thing to these bears. Time will tell.
Bill Sod – between the First and Second reservoir on Woodtown fire road before the big Swamp saw a huge male, has to be the granddaddy of Harriman. Crossed the road 50 feet from me and my oblivious dog heading in the direction of the Long Path, ignored our presence around noon on 6/08/2020. What a magnificent animal!
Hiked to the Fingerboard shelter today with my family and camped 50 feet from the shelter. During dinner a big mother black bear and four cubs came into the meadow just below the shelter and explored around. We screamed and made noise but she showed no fear and approached a little closer before losing interest and herding cubs away. We moved our tent further up the plateau and hung our bear bag higher.
At 10:30pm or so we heard the bear attacking the bear bag. I exited my tent and told the kids to get shoes on, sensing the “fun” wasn’t over. Sure enough what I think to be the same bear came within 10 feet of the tent and looked right at me showing no fear. We called the rangers and were escorted out. We had to leave our bear bag hung up as it was close to midnight.
The bear family near the Fingerboard shelter is completely habituated to people and in our experience knows it can scare people away. It will approach you and show “bullying” behavior. Don’t camp there and use caution when hiking.
Saw a fairly large black bear Friday afternoon6. 6/10- 1/2 mile behind sliver mine. Lake area about 4:30- Bear was above us on the trail close to the back of the lake dogs did not notice it Turned around a slowly left. Was surprised at its size
Hiked today on long path from Lake Tiorati parking lot. We started the path heading towards Stockbridge mountain, about 1/4 mile I spotted a black bear to my left about 100 feet away. He didn’t see us. We made a quick turnaround and walked quietly back to the main road. I’ve never encountered a bear in all of my hikes and I wasn’t about to try and walk past him.
Bill Sod on 6/08/2020
Big male, huge between the first and second Reservoir on Woodtown fire road, just below the swamp. Paid no attention to me and my dog, after he crossed the road, headed in the direction of Long Path.
Before I could even unpack a momma bear and four cubs came to my camp for food. I banged a stick against my Colman stove and they left. I made my fire larger but this seemed to call them back. I was about to hang my food and now I wondered if I should stay. I was alone. After a few minutes they actually returned. I made as much noise as I could but they were totally unafraid. I abandoned my camp as it was 6:40 and if I was to get back to Manhattan to sleep I had to be back by curfew.
I packed all non food items and left the rest including my tent and sleeping gear. This was about 1000 feet from the Fingerboard shelter. I shall return for my stuff because I want it back. But not today.
This all happened at 6pm last night. I especially miss the garlic burgers my girlfriend made me and the lox brought to eat with cantaloupe was expensive. The bear got to eat! And so did those cubs ! I managed to steal back my cantaloupe , no one can have the cantaloupe ! Along with my two cookies and a small crock of hummus. Those damn bears did eat.
I was at my car in 30 min down a bushwack trail. These bears stalk people. I got my car going and rushed home and was in the city by 8pm ! On the Henry Hudson 95th was the only exit but that’s my exit. I had to flush through a whole bunch of cops and make way to 100th and parked there, thankful to find a spot by 8:10. I had a few blocks to walk but I managed to avoid arrest for being out after curfew and I at least had my cantelope melon. So I ate that melon for dinner when I got to my apartment.
Since 1986 I’ve been going to Harriman State Park and many times alone. Been to Colorado and New Mexico many times but his was my first bear CONFRONTATION ever.
We saw a small bear cub on Merritt bank while driving north on Seven Lakes dr this afternoon. Just staring across the road.
I saw a fairly big bear in the barbecue area at silvermine lake around 8:30pm. Tried to scare it away making loud noise but it just stood there starring at me and the people that were barbecuing right next to me. It was a scary experience at is was dark and the bear wouldn’t move from our area. Ended packing all of my belongings and heading back home. Scary experience as I wasn’t aware of bear sightings at Silvermine lake before.
June 21, we saw a single large black bear resting in the trees right alongside the Raccoon Brook Trail right after the trail turned off of H-TS, headed towards Pine Meadow Lake. We must’ve woken it up, because it ambled towards us, then backed away when another pair of hikers approached us from behind. It took ~5 minutes for it to walk further up along the trail path and into the trees.
Friends and I saw a medium black bear as we were heading back to Tuxedo on the Ramapo-Dunderberg trail, about 11 a.m., having camped at Dutch Doctor. We were crossing a hillside with berry bushes and heard some crashing above. Shouted a lot and waved our arms while retreating off to the side – it briefly looked our way, then crossed the trail and continued down the clearcut swath of hillside on the other side. A beautiful sighting and no conflict. However, the other comments on this post and the current closures of Fingerboard and Bald Rocks made me concerned about how many campers at Dutch Doctor were cooking and storing food close to their tents.
On July 5, 2020, I encountered an adult bear walking toward me on the red trail long Pine Meadow Lake. It was on a bend in the trail so it was a close encounter.
I saw my first wild black bear (just moved here from Australia) when leaving the Lake Welch Beach area at the traffic circle. It was pretty close to the huge crowds that were at the beach on this day. Car park was full by 10am.
Hi I just saw a huge black black around 7pm at the ruins by the trail that leads to the fire tower (Jackie jones trail?) Looking for the berries Anyway. We promptly left after that! He was like a 600 pounder. We saw his poop too. Lol
Saw a baby black bear on Reeves Brook Loop trail blue section. Turned around and walked back before seeing where the momma bear was.
August 5. Saw either two bears or the same one twice, within 5 minutes. On the AT about 2 miles north of Lake Tiorati, a mile south of William Brian Shelter. The first ran up a hill to the right of the trail. The second (or same one) about 20 yards to the left of the trail.
I was hiking today from the trailhead near Arden Valley Road, close to Rt 17. There was a sign in the field saying that camping near the Bald Mtn shelter has been suspended due to aggressive bear activity. What a shame I have been hiking regularly for over 20 years at Harriman and I have only seen one and a half bears. I saw one big one while sitting on a hill overlooking a trail and I saw half of a bear as it ran across the trail ahead of me.
On August 14th my partner and I heard two separate bear cubs crying out while hiking the Ramapo-Dunderberg trail between the Bald Rocks and Fingerboard shelters.
We had a bear in our cabin, Mt laurel 2, which is the furthest cabin. It was I the kitchen area for over an hour. Made a ruckus and terrified us. We called the parks police who came… the bears are getting bolder!
On 8-28-20 @ 1815hrs I saw A Mom with two cubs 2 thirds of a mile from the Sebago boat launch on the cross country ski trail. I just crested a rise and saw two small cubs shoot up a small tree 50 yards to my left. Mom stood up and looked toward me but maybe she didn’t see me or wasn’t interested. I left as quickly as I could without running, when I dropped below the crest I started singing my bear over there song. I hope she doesn’t get into any trouble. For about 4 seconds it was the coolest thing I’ve seen in the park then Mom stood up.
At night september first aproximately ! a.m.
I heard a loud wood crack nearby figuring out it was very heavy animal around.
I got out of a tent and made a fire bigger. In a while I felt asleep. I was camping by Dutch Doctor that night. Just down to the right if you looking from the shelter. So in the morning I was checking my food bag, which I hung up about 12-15 feet on a three.
There was a claws scratches on a bottom. Three of them.
So next night I was sleeping in a different place. I also burned
all food that contains sugar. Just in case.
That was my firs camping in a Harriman by the way.
Alex
Have seen black bears many times. Once i was approached by a bear momma with four cubs, and got my backpack searched by bear momma. Ate my kinder surprise chocolate that was in side pocket and left a huge hole in my backpack. Other than that saw bears crossing the roads many times.
Continue Victory. It s a bit unclear where the woods road curves and the BLUE V markers have you looping off to the right off the woods road either way you end up the same place.
Hi,
I was driving back from the city on 87 a few days ago around 7:30pm and was about to pass under the Arden valley trail road when I saw a huge bear on the grassy area next to the highway. It was walking up the hill towards the island pond loop trail in elk pen. Stay safe! It was huge!
My son and I were sitting eating lunch along the White Bar trail about 1/4 mile south of where it intersects with the Dunning trail. Suddenly a large adult bear came meandering along the path from the north, where we’d just been. I looked at it, stood up, and said “Go away!” in a firm, loud voice. It looked back at me for a moment, turned around, and walked back in the direction it had come from. (Needless to say, we did not finish our lunch; we quickly moved on).
I saw a bear cub in the Tuxedo trail parking lot! We stopped to snap a few pictures and then got in the car and headed home.
I saw a medium to large size bear on the blue trial near 7 hills on last Thursday. Could not get may camera out of my pack fast enough.
Went hiking at Harriman. Spotted a larger black bear on Kakiat trail just after it splits off from Pine Meadow. Came within about 50 ft. of me but didn’t seem bothered or interested at all. It crossed the trail and went wading in the stream for a little before walking off.
Was hiking close to Tiorati lake. Saw a large bear walking off the trail in opposite direction. Either did not see me or was not interested. Location: 41.272583351504075, -74.07477911594994
I was hiking toward West Mountain along the Timp-Torne Trail after leaving my car in the Anthony Wayne Rec. Area parking lot on Wed., 8/18/21. Made it to the junction with the Appalachian Trail, when a black bear darted out of the brush about 30 feet ahead and ran up the trail. I turned around immediately and hiked back to my car.
Saw what looked to be an adolescent bear today on the trail to Wanoksink from about 200 yards. We saw it, he/she saw us and we allowed them ample time to walk away. Very cool!
I saw a black bear on the Raccoon Brook Hills (black) trail, about 50 feet east of its intersection with the H-TS (orange) trail at around 11:30 am on 10-03-2021. I waited at the intersection for about 5 minutes and the bear was gone by then, so I continued hiking on the black trail without further bear encounters.
Saw two bears last weekend on main red triangle trail just below summit. They were not interested in us at all.
Sunday Oct. 24,2021. Solo hiked from Sebago boat launch via red ski trail, woods road and AMC green diamond trail to Breakneck Pon. Then thru AMC camp, up to Breakneck Mtn Trail, west to small piece of TMI. Saw only 3 people plus one group of 5 during that time. Then took the Y section of the yellow Buck Mtn Trail to yellow/black slash Buck Mtn Trail, back to pine Meadow woods road. A black bear started following me, from where I briefly stopped on the yellow-marked part of the Y, just before the yellow/black slash intersection. Fairly large. I yelled, blew my whistle. It didn’t come closer but didn’t leave. I started down the yellow/black slash trail and the bear followed sometimes on and sometimes along side the trail. It stopped briefly before I reached the woods road. I was yelling at it throughout & blowing the whistle but it didn’t act disturbed by this. When I got to Pine Meadow Woods road I pulled out my phone & called 911 & gave them my location. I continued walking quickly down the woods road. When I reached the sharp left turn (approx west) I looked back & the bear was following, not that close but obviously still on the hunt. After the turn, I was very lucky to meet two young men hiking (I am a small woman, 5’2″, 65 y.o.). Cell call dropped at this point but I had told them I met more people and we were hiking out together. We walked as quickly as we could to 7 lakes drive on the woods road. There was a police officer waiting there in his truck and we gave him the info. We did not see the bear behind us after I met the other hikers. I think solo hiking maybe is not such a good idea.
Yesterday my friend and I saw a bear about 50 yds away on the Bike Path at Anthony Wayne, just parallel to the southern overflow lot. We made some noise, it didn’t seem to acknowledge us, we backed up then walked down to the parking lot to exit from there.
Was doing a hike (partially the Appalachian National Scenic Trail). Close to crossing the Seven Lake Drive (41.28822006376577, -74.07598419190839) saw a large black bear about 20 yards away off the trail. Clapped my hands so it retreated. I kept on going and did not see it again.
On a bike ride, exiting the Lake Welch Beach parking lot, two black bears – an adult and a large adolescent – crossed the road heading toward the Beaver Pond campground bathroom.