The best close-up sighting C-Squad members had of a black bear is while backpacking the Chilkoot Trail (Klondike Goldrush trail of 1898) in Alaska and Northern BC. We only saw it because we stopped to retie the bear bells onto the outside of the backpack rainfly. It was watching us from on top of a big rock. We continued on our way and it went the other way. Oddly, the very same day in our backyard at home, in Southern Ontario a black bear was sighted. This had never happened in the 20 years we lived there.