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AllExperts wrote:
> Hello! The expert can't answer your question.
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> Your Question was:
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> Dear Dana,
>
> I've been backpacking in the Northern Yosemite, Hoover, and Emigrant wilderness' of California for over 40 years.  The bears seem to be coming back to these areas.  I've had a number of sightings and scat is everywhere.  But in a very remote area of Yosemite last week, I saw something that I have never seen before, and it has me puzzled.  I'm used to seeing individual scat deposits which, when fresh, might have been 2-3 pounds.  I encountered a deposit which I estimate was 20 to 30 times this normal volume, a huge pile maybe 3 1/2 feet in diameter and 8 inches high.  My initial thought was that a mother & cubs used this spot over a period of time, maybe a couple of weeks.  But on closer inspection it appeared that the scat was all the same age, that it had all been deposited at the same time.  How can this be?  Can 20 bears travel together?  And would they all crap at the same spot?  Ever seen this before?
>
> Best regards
> Bruce Edwards
>
> Because Dear Bruce,
>
> Well, you have me stumped.  I've never heard of bears pooping in the woods together (though we all know the old saying about bears pooping in the woods, in general).
>
> That is really weird.  Was this in a remote area, or in a place where someone might have had access to dump their RV potty?  (EW!)  A *really* big bear?  Bigfoot?  (Who will need a name change, if he's the culprit.)
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> Sorry, but I just don't have an answer for that one.  (I'd suggest you ask the rangers about this next time you're there.  They might actually have an answer.)
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> Good luck,
>
> Dana
>
> Expert: Dana Krempels, Ph.D.
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Dear Dr. Krempels,

   I thought it was extremely unusual.  And the location is quite remote.  If you are interested, it was on the western slope of Acker Peak at the very north end of the Yosemite wilderness at about 9700 ft.  A good 3 days walk from the asphalt, plus 2 miles cross country (N38o 6.877' xW119o x 30.472").  We were bagging the peak at the time, and there is absolutely no possibility of any human consolidation of the stuff.  It would have been one a hell of a project for someone to collect that much stuff, of the same "generation", and deposit it in this place.  Chances are it never would have been seen.  I'm convinced it was a natural phenomenon.  I hadn't thought about Bigfoot (though I am a believer), or a very big bear, because, shall we say, the diameter of the (oh, what the hell) turds, was consistent with normal bear scat.  The mass was all very consistent in it's makeup, in that it was all fibrous, mostly grassy.  The feed source was consistent.  I should have taken a photo.  I may return there next summer, and will do so.  Thanks for your response.

Best regards
Bruce Edwards
>
>
>  

Answer
Dear Bruce,

That really is very bizarre.  I wish you'd taken a picture, too, if only to show to the local rangers and see if they had any ideas about what could have left such a MegaTurd(tm).

(Maybe space aliens emptying their privy?)

Okay.  I can't even make any more guesses.  But thanks for sharing the mystery.  If you ever do find out what left that pat, please let me know if you have the time or inclination.

Happy hiking!

Dana