A Colorado Springs resident climbing Pikes Peak earlier this month came face-to-face with a startling sight far above treeline: a black bear and her two cubs moving through the mountain's steep, fractured rock. The climber placed the encounter at roughly 13,700 feet, describing what he saw as "this big, black blob between the rocks." His first instinct was disbelief, since bears do not typically venture beyond treeline.
The experience was a first for the climber at that altitude, even with deep familiarity with the mountain. Despite years living in the Colorado Springs area and repeated visits to Pikes Peak, he had never met a bear that high up — certainly not on the rugged, exposed rock that characterizes that stretch of the peak, situated well above the Bottomless Pit. A search afterward revealed that bears do, on occasion, reach the summit.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife says the phenomenon is well within the bounds of normal animal behavior. CPW spokesperson Joey Livingston described bears moving above treeline as "definitely not uncommon." Livingston participates in the agency's annual bighorn sheep count, which is conducted at high elevation on and around the Pikes Peak corridor, and said the crew spots bears at those altitudes during that work every year. He also described an instance of a bear going after garbage at the Summit Visitor Center — the kind of scavenging behavior more often associated with residential neighborhoods at lower elevations.
This summer has been particularly active for bear activity across the region, and CPW connects the spike directly to this year's dry conditions. A drought-stricken winter and spring left CPW concerned that reduced berry, nut, and grass growth in wild areas would push bears toward developed areas in search of food — and those concerns have since been borne out, with Livingston saying the state is on track for "probably a record year when it comes to the number of bear reports," driven by diminished natural food sources compelling bears to cover far more ground.
Several factors help explain why bears end up at alpine elevations. Beyond foraging for plants, bears will sometimes pursue marmots at higher altitudes, and their acute sense of smell allows them to detect food from great distances, including garbage and visitors' snacks left near the summit. Much like elk and bighorn sheep, bears may shift to higher, cooler terrain as summer temperatures climb, and CPW tracking data show individual bear territories can span anywhere between 10 and 250 square miles. As Livingston put it, "wandering 2,000 feet up a fourteener isn't a big deal for them."
CPW is treating the heightened activity as an opportunity to reinforce public awareness. Livingston said that even when encounters are routine from a wildlife management standpoint, publicizing them serves a purpose — reminding people that bears are on the move across a wide range of terrain and that sightings can occur anywhere. "Always be bear aware," he said.
Whether the season ultimately produces a record statewide bear report count, as CPW expects, will become clear when the agency releases its end-of-season data.