• Thursday-What'sUP August 11 - 07:35 am

My inbox recently included these pictures and the following note from Kevin Brendel:

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Quote:

Our family was camping at Sunset Bay Campground, which is eight miles from Ahmeek along Five Mile Point Road. A canoeist on Lake Superior spotted this bear walking along the shoreline. He shouted "Bear" and frightened it into the campground. It lumbered from the shoreline to the woods edge of the campground, sniffing around some of the RVs, and eventually selecting the dumpster to do some detailed investigation. Eventually, one of the residents drove their truck up close, beeped, and the bear ran into the woods…Same bear was spotted along Five Mile Point Road about three miles away.

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The silent auction to benefit Still Waters continues through Saturday online (and Sunday in-person).

Good Morning from North Carolina. We have a place in Big Bay, MI. . . . on each and every trip I keep looking to see something like this. This is my DREAM !!

I love seeing bears. We were driving from Little Traverse one day along the Rice Lake Road and there right in the middle was a bear. We were so excited. I know they're destructive...who really cares? It's fun to see them....

What trip to da UP isn't complete, without a bear sighting ;) My daughter still has a T Shirt that she got from the Brockway gift store, after her first bear sighting. On the front of the T Shirt it has a saying about 'I went to Brockway to see a bear'.
That shirt has to be almost 8 years told...but still see her wear it from time to time.

omnivorous:Taking in everything available

I love the beautiful bears.

Got to love the Bear. "Get them pic-a-nick baskets Boo-Boo"!

We have the Brockway Mt. tshirt also. Ours was worn by our 25 year old dtr. I just located it last week for her soon-to-be 5 year old. Remember the shot of the bear walking on his hind legs down the driveway in the Keweenaw a few years ago? Whoever finds it first wins the privilege of seeing their email on the world-renowned pasty cam!

I win! September 24, 2002. I can't seem to post a link on here anymore.

Is it the brown bear that are the really dangerous ones?........although I would not want to bump into this fellow either....have these black bear attacked anyone?...I guess if there are cubs they will protect them with zeal. I often get Christmas Cards from the Schultz family at Bootjack with a picture of a local bear on their deck or outside a window.....

Different kind of bear, but interesting site for watching live feed of grizzlies from Alaska is http://www9.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/wildcamgrizzlies/wildcam.html. They have the camera hidden in a rock and camera automatically zooms in/out, moves around on place in the river where they like to hang out

Black bear rarely attack, unless they have cubs nearby. The book of true bear stories from the Porkies, by a former park ranger there, is a good one.

When is the bridge lift cam going to be available again in real time? I like to look at it to see the current weather!

My wife and I were driving back from Copper Harbor on one of our many weekend trips while at Tech. Near about the Evergreen Cemetary on 41, she pointed ahead and asked "What's that cow doing in the road up there?" As we got closer, we realized it wasn't a cow, but a bear! Unfortunately, it got too deep into the trees before we could get the camera out.

When our kids were little we would drive to the Keweenaw dumps in the evening to watch the bears eating. We loved to watch them (inside our car of course!)

Karenh, thank you for the link to the bear cam in Alaska. I had heard about this site, but couldn't find it. I love the wildlife cams. This is a really good one. I have added it to my favorites lists.

The link to Alaska is great! I know there are many reasons why the "bear pits" are closed, but I'm sure glad I have the memories of hanging out in the garbage dumps watching the bears!

Thanks, Karen. That is so cool.

We used to frequent the Brevort "bear dump". I remember when my dad had the bright idea to get out of the car and hold out a donut for the bear while having the camera up to his eye. The bear kept coming closer, and we were yelling for him to get back in the car, but through the camera the bear looked farther away! Finally he listened to us and tossed the donut to the bear and made his escape!

When I was a kid, we watched the bears come out at dusk to feed at the old dump. We just returned from a vacation in the UP, but no bear sighting. Had a great time though. We stayed at the Centenial Cottages, listed on Pasty.com. The individual cottages were very nice and the owners friendly. We highly recommend them.

TO GARY,, While waiting for the Bridge Cam, Go to the MTU.edu cams and choose the Fund cam. It's in Hancock, further back but has good real time motion. May have to click on motion setting.

Karen,neat site! We were visited by a bear in the dead of night while staying at Fanny Hooe campground in Copper Harbor...shook our trailer and really got our attention!

Several years ago when we were camping in Copper Harbor with our five sons, the older three (young teens) decided to ride their bikes into town. Ten minutes after they'd left, they high-tailed it back to our campsite. A mother bear with a couple of cubs had crossed 41 in front of them, and they decided it best to turn around! We loved to take them to the dump at dusk to see the bears.

Is the gift shop at the top of Brockway Mtn. still open?

Many years ago, when I lived in Cunard - we used to see many black bears at the local Hermansville dump. I also had the opportunity to see a momma and two cubs in the woods while lumberjacking w/my older brother. Since I was placed in his 'care' by our mother, he didn't let me get too close (which was probably a good thing!).

While riding my bicycle last year from the top of Brockway toward Silver River a bear stopped in the middle of the road ahead of me. I stopped, realized it was steep hill up behind me and we stared at each other. It took a few steps toward me and a motorcycle came into view behind it. Hearing the engine he scooted into the woods and I pedalled as fast as I could crossing the area he'd been about the same time the biker did. I don't know if it would have approached me for a handout, kind of glad I didn't find out. One more reason not to feed them. Safer for me on a bike and folks walking!

Brockway gift shop IS still open.

As kids we were taken to the dumps to watch the bears too. That seemed to be a major outing up there. We loved going.There would be other cars there and everyone just sat in their cars and watched them rummage around. Cheap entertainment!

Millspa (Millspa)
Yes the gift shop is still open on Brockway Mountain. I was up there about a month ago......still a beautiful sight as always.

The last time we went to see the bears, all we saw was the little black and white bears that need a bath.

Hardly any bears left, what a shame! Real tough to tree them with dogs and then shootem! What ever happen to responsible harvesting and management? Us LB gang, like to see them when we're four wheelin, and shootem with a camera, what great animals.

We used to go to the dumping sites too. It was so great when we were rewarded with the sighting of a bear.

Going to see the dump bears was a regular on the agenda during Copper Country vacations while I was a kid. Later, one Fall while the dumps were still open, we stopped at the Eagle River dump to deposit the last of the cabin garbage on the way home. It happened to be opening day of bear season. We were treated to the sight of an extended family of Trolls set up around the perimeter, rifles ready to shoot the dump bears. The women and children were seated in lawn chairs while the guys were perched up in the back of their pick-ups with the rifles resting on the roofs. True sportsmen! One could tell they were Trolls because of the license codes and dealer sickers on the trucks. Some of Eagle River folks would normally start discouraging the dump bears with fire crackers or BB guns the week before hunting season. They had little respect for that particular version of "sport".
I have had a couple of close encounters with bears around the Cliff. Both times I was alone and quiet. Both times, upon the chance meeting, I shouted at the bear while backing away with great alacrity. Fortunately, both times the bear also made a fast retreat in the oposite direction. Don't know if bears adrenilin rushs were as high as mine. Now, if I am alone in the bush, I occasionally anounce my location to any bears who might be in the area. Actually, the one time I thought I was really in trouble was when I got too close to a badger den at the North American Mine poor rock piles. That was one very angry animal.

A number of years ago, we enjoyed watching the bears in the evening after dinner, at the dump. We were one of a number of cars enjoying the entertainment there in the evenings.

Thank you for the fun pictures!

Uncle Chuck, Now that takes real skill and cunning and deception to be able to outsmart the bears to be able to shoot them with your camera. :) Bet you had fun. Did you bring plenty of TP with you?

there are a lot of bears around Chassell.

Unfortunately, that Alaska bear cam is going away in a few days.