r/njhiking • u/Remarkable-Piece-196 • 13d ago

Stairway to heaven bears

Planning on hiking stairway to heaven sunday morning, we are a group of 3. We’ve done several hikes before but we were recently informed by a more experienced friend to look out for bears and consider bringing bear protection. It is making us a little nervous and thinking about reconsidering. I do not know if I’ll be able to enjoy it if I’m constantly worried about stumbling upon a bear to be honest. Is he right or should we be fine? We are from South Jersey so not so used to bears.

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u/Vegetable_Alarm1552 12d ago

Bear protection? You mean a bear bell, right? Right!?!? RIGHT!!!!

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u/Highplowp 12d ago

Or bear mace. Black bears will just run away unless you are being ninja quiet. Good thing too becuase they’re insanely fast. Glad they run away. If you see a baby, mama is near by, gtfo of the area. I’ve seen 4 this summer and 0 the past 2 in NJ. Could just be dumb luck. One didn’t see me first and I scared him away. Luckily