While reminiscing about our camping trips I thought about another bear encounter. We had often camped at Yosemite National Park, but avoided the valley where it was so packed with people. A favorite spot was White Wolf campgrounds situated within the park, but out of the valley off of the Tioga Road at about 8,000 feet elevation on the way to Tuolomne Meadows. The campground is next to and above the Hetch Hetchy Valley where problem bears from the valley were relocated to.
If you are not familiar with the history of Hetch Hetchy, but would like to know more, please click on the link. It was a twin of the Yosemite Valley, but to the heart break of naturalist, John Muir, it was dammed and flooded to provide water for San Francisco.
I've always wanted to see Hetch Hetchy, so my husband and I decided to take a day hike to see it. About half way on our hike, we saw a bear running toward us. My brave husband grabbed my shoulders and placed me in front of him. I really wasn't afraid as I could see that this was a young bear. It was probably a yearling, first time on his own and he was scared. He was running away from something. I explained this to my husband, but he just wanted to go back to camp. Before we could do anything, a young couple came running after the bear. They were chasing it, but stopped to talk to us. They thought that it was funny to chase a bear. I told them that it was mean of them to do that, the poor thing!
We never got to complete our hike. My husband instead drove to the Hetch Hetchy dam so that I could see the valley. The view was not as spectacular as the one that we would have had on our hike above the valley, but it was beautiful none the less.
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