Bears in Little Round Valley?

[150mph]

Wondering if I should bring a bear can for an overnight..

[neverwashasbeen]

It would be very rare for a bear to make it to Little Round Valley. You should be just fine without it.

[hikehigh]

Why is that? Did bears ever live in this range? Its seems no different than then San Gorgonio Wilderness or the San Gabriels.

[neverwashasbeen]

Yes, bears did live in the San Jacintos. Originally Grizzly Bears and then introduced black bears. The last permanent black bear resident that I heard of was last seen in the early 70s. From time to time there are reports of bears crossing the Banning pass and visiting the San Jacinto wilderness, but this is rare and seems to be temporary.

[Mike P]

We stayed overnight at Little Round Valley two ago. Although we carried bear canisters in prep for Sierra hikes they are probably not needed. There was no bear scat sighted at any point of our Deer Springs/Strawberry Junction/Little Round Valley/ Round Valley back to Deer Springs trailhead backpack.

The San Jacintos don't seem to have the bear issues like the San Gabriels or San Bernardinos. The Banning Pass seems to be a formidable barrier.

[FIGHT ON]

Wondering if I should bring a bear can for an overnight..

hey those are nice pictures on your My SoCal hikes site with photos, maps & trip reports. link.

[Rumpled]

I found the stoires of bear sightings ousth of I-10 pretty fascinating. Pretty infrequent, and not something to worry about like saving your food at trailheads in the Sierras.
Here are some links mostly to San Diego County - and mostly out of date.

http://tchester.org/sd/lists/bears.html

http://www.sdnhm.org/fieldguide/mammals/ursu-ame.html

http://www.sdnhm.org/fieldguide/mammals/sightings.html