Cascade Pass and Sahale Arm — Monday, Aug. 15, 2022

Never mind about the great views on this hike, I'm going to tell you a bear story, and what hiker doesn't like a bear story.  We were having a great wildlife day already, we saw 2 goats in the meadow by the scree slope, but when we started up the arm, we truly saw something every hiker would like to see (from a distance), A momma bear and her cub were on the hillside above the trail! We watched them as they climbed around in the brush doing bear stuff, like eating. They were way high up, a safe distance for taking pictures and we were making noise. But then...momma started walking down the trail and sent her cub up the hillside into the trees. We stopped, backed down a bit and waited for her to clear the trail. A couple of other hikers scrambled up the scree slope to hike the switchback above the bear, but we are the hiking grandmas and we do not scramble anymore, so we waited. Finally, we didn't see her and figured she went back up after her cub. Nope. We started up the trail again and a hiker above us was pointing and waving, so we asked him if he saw the bear. He yelled she's right above you in the bushes! We immediately beat feet down the trail, and did a quick look back, and there she was, right where we were 5 minutes ago! Our hike was now over, and we ate our lunch at Cascade Pass. In no way did she threaten us or show any signs of aggression, she just wanted us far away from her cub and once we left, she left. Other hikers behind us saw her below the trail in the distance. However, we did hear from someone later on the way down, that they also saw the bear a little too close for their comfort level too. We think she may have gone back up to her cub who was possibly still in the trees at the top of the ridge. So, while we felt lucky to see her and baby, we've been around the woods long enough to know to give them a very wide berth. What concerns me is that there are a lot of hikers up there and some may not be as bear aware as they should be. This was a bear of a day, as we saw ANOTHER momma and cub in the scree with the marmots just below Cascade Pass on the slope opposite the trail. Other comments, road is narrow and steep at the end, I used my paddle shifter (thanks Just a Hiker for the info) in 1,2. At one point there were cars parking on the road on both sides, with only a narrow spot to get thru, I think it was a climbing spot for one of the peaks, I have a little Crosstrek, but if someone had a truck they may not have been able to get by.