A Few Years Ago

[Sleeping in EQ]

I was hiking way off the beaten track with my wife and we saw something that wasn't supposed to be there. Three things, actually: A mother grizzley and two yearling cubs. We were on a ridgeline opposite the bears. They were lolling in a meadow maybe 100 yards above the tree line. I checked them out with my binoculars. I know the difference between black bears and grizzlies and am positive that I didn't misidentify the bears.

Two days later we were back at the trailhead. There was a ranger's station so we thought we'd go in and talk to somebody. One of the rangers asked us to point out on the map exactly where we were. She then made a mark on the map, told us there had been other sightings, and asked us to not tell anyone where we saw the bears.

So I'm not telling.

[MikeWaters]

I saw a rabbit. And I'm not tellign anyone about that either.

[Sleeping in EQ]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

I saw a rabbit. And I'm not tellign anyone about that either.

Is she...umm...hiding a rabbit in her...umm...biking outfit?

[Venkman]

Originally Posted by Sleeping in EQ

I was hiking way off the beaten track with my wife and we saw something that wasn't supposed to be there. Three things, actually: A mother grizzley and two yearling cubs. We were on a ridgeline opposite the bears. They were lolling in a meadow maybe 100 yards above the tree line. I checked them out with my binoculars. I know the difference between black bears and grizzlies and am positive that I didn't misidentify the bears.

Two days later we were back at the trailhead. There was a ranger's station so we thought we'd go in and talk to somebody. One of the rangers asked us to point out on the map exactly where we were. She then made a mark on the map, told us there had been other sightings, and asked us to not tell anyone where we saw the bears.

So I'm not telling.

Wait, so are youe saying the government is hiding the fact that they know Grizzlies are in areas not generally believed to be? Could this be Utah?

You should tell us where you were - I thought liberals didn't like the gov't keeping secrets.

[MikeWaters]

actually, it used to be conservatives that didn't like a paternalistic "we know what's good for you" secret-keeping government.

[Sleeping in EQ]

Originally Posted by Venkman

Wait, so are youe saying the government is hiding the fact that they know Grizzlies are in areas not generally believed to be? Could this be Utah?

You should tell us where you were - I thought liberals didn't like the gov't keeping secrets.

I don't know that the government is hiding the bears. I got the sense that some kind of "report" was in the works, and such a report could be public knowledge. The ranger informally asked me to not say where I saw them.

[Venkman]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

actually, it used to be conservatives that didn't like a paternalistic "we know what's good for you" secret-keeping government.

Yeah, but that was when we had a Dem prez. Now that we have W, it's the libs turn to decry the gov't secrecy.

[Venkman]

Originally Posted by Sleeping in EQ

I don't know that the government is hiding the bears. I got the sense that some kind of "report" was in the works, and such a report could be public knowledge. The ranger informally asked me to not say where I saw them.

Must be some report. A few years ago and they're still not finished?

Let the truth out, EQ. Where were you? I gotta know if I need to start holstering my S&W 500 when I'm backpacking the Uintah's.

[Sleeping in EQ]

Originally Posted by Venkman

Must be some report. A few years ago and they're still not finished?

Let the truth out, EQ. Where were you? I gotta know if I need to start holstering my S&W 500 when I'm backpacking the Uintah's.

I wasn't in the Uintah Mountains, although I have hiked there and seen lots of wildlife. I suspect the Uintah's could sustain a healthy grizzly population if it weren't for all the people who would go there and act like idiots (not everyone would act that way, but too many would). By all documented accounts, the closest Grizzlies have gotten to the Uintah's in recent decades is the occasional sighting near Afton, WY, which is pretty far south in the Bridger-Teton National Forest--but still about 100 miles north of Evanston.