We had an encounter with this sow and her three cubs on Monday night (August 19). We were staying at the Portal Campground (Site 9 across the road from the cabins). My son and I had arrived earlier in the day to set up camp. Other than getting rained on a few times it was uneventful. The other two folks in our party arrived at around midnight. I got up and helped them get their air mattreses and sleeping bags in their tent so they could get to bed as soon as possible. The trouble started when my friends violated an important rule and that is leaving the bear locker open and walking away. The sow in question (and she is HUGE) appeared seemingly out of nowhere and started foraging though our bear locker. My friend walked up on her and shouted at her. She just turned to face him and took a lunge towards him. It was effective because he backed off. I heard the commotion while I was filling an air mattress and walked towards the bear locker and saw her with a bag of hot dog buns in her mouth. I (unwisely) shouted at her and she took 2-3 steps towards me in an aggressive manner. I panicked and threw the air pump at her (it was my only defense). It hit her square in the chest, but it seemd to distract her. She then picked up a bag and ran across the road. Her 3 cubs came scurrying down the trees after her and that was it. The next morning I noticed a debris field adjacent to cabin 14 and salvaged my friend's bottle of wine, box of tissues, snake bite kit (?) and some ziploc bags. She reported that a box of energy bars and container of protein powder didn't make it.
This sow made several other appearances during the week, but we had no other up close encounters. I did note that she had no fear of us and often turned to face us if we came upon her. Our routine for the rest of the week when we saw her was to stand our ground and let her vacate the area. This worked well enough.
One thing I did notice is that the past two years when we've camped at the Portal, the bears seemed skittish and unwilling to stick around when people came near. This one had no fear and was essentially protecting her turf and her cubs. I don't have any problem with that and it's a reminder that we are invading her territory.
