Diablo Lake — Wednesday, Jun. 29, 2022

Aggressive momma deer and yearling cub spotted on trail today at about the 2 mile mark. The deer followed my friend and stalked us for about half a mile after we saw her and two babies on trail. She seemed to change in mannerism from curious to extra interested and then quietly aggressive after my dog (on leash) spotted her and began whining at that first encounter. We thought we'd lost her many times only to find her above us watching and creeping in closer. Finally we thought we had lost her for good and I turned around to find her on trail quietly stalking in on my dog and I from behind just 8 feet away! I talked loudly, stamped my feet and trekking poles and backed up. She only moved away and back uphill when I smacked the trekking poles on rocks in the trail. Just as we were recovering from that adrenaline rush my friend rounded the next bend and backed up saying, There's a bear right there." Sure enough, about 20 feet above us was a yearling bear munching happily on hillside veg. We talked calmly so we wouldn't startle it, and backed up the other way to a safer distance to watch for a bit. After a while the bear lumbered on down to the trail to rest at the next bend. We had already decided we weren't feeling the need to pass it from below and that just sealed it. With one watching each direction for wild life, we warily worked our way back to the trailhead. This was a great trail in our opinion, beautiful, well maintained, nice views and quiet, albeit a bit more exciting with the deer encounter than we would have liked!