NOTE: There are two links at the bottom of this posting for “Black Bear” encounters at Mt. Rainier National Park.
Arriving at dinner time at the Lakes Trail 
in pursuit of huckleberries and hoping to see a bear, we hustled up the trail with the camera on the tripod and our berry containers in hand. 
The evening air had a chill but the sun was shinning as it continued its downward path to end its day.
The High Lakes Trail behind Reflection Lake on Mazama Ridge has both mountain blueberry and huckleberry bushes bordering this gently rolling trail. There are many meadow areas with small water tarns tucked into the center.
With all the water and the berry bushes this is where the bears are often seen.
The bumper crop of berries this year made it hard to put any distance under our feet. We struggled with decisions of whether we wanted to pick the berries or walk to the Paradise junction where we’ve seen bear scat and tracks. We solved our dilemma by splitting up. I walked with the camera whistling along the way in case a bear was on the trail. Tom stayed behind to pick. We turned on our radios so we could communicate in case of a bear sighting.
The meadows and the views of the Tatoosh Range from this area are strikingly beautiful no matter how many times you have seen it. There are small peeks of the top of the mountain but it isn’t until after the junction up to Paradise that the drop dead gorgeous wide open views of Mount Rainier appear.
Grouse frequent this High Lakes Trail and this particular evening as I strolled along alone the noise of their flapping wings and the hollow sounding drum call they make had me jumping a few times thinking I was in danger.
As I neared the junction sign to Paradise, I noticed the dimming light right when Tom’s voice came over the radio checking to make sure I was heading back. 
Unfortunately, we had forgotten our head lamps so we wanted to beat the darkness. When we met up we were about three fourths of a mile away from the car. We hadn’t seen any bears nor seen any signs of bears. But with the berry containers full and some photos snapped, we were both satisfied and happy that we had spent our Friday evening in the mountain. Little did we know the highlights of our evening were about to unfold!
Suddenly, Tom saw a fox dart in front of him across the trail into a small meadow area where there was a dried up tarn. We both stopped to look and were excited to watch the fox cavort and jump around pretending to chase and catch. This was a silver fox which has black fur but a silver coating over the black. Like the red fox the end of the tail is white. It was now dusk and we were beginning to strain to see the fox play. So despite the great performance, we left and continued toward the car. In a few minutes I heard a noise and looked behind me to see the fox four feet from my heels following us. I stopped to see how close the fox would come but then it jumped into the brush alongside the trail. So we continued on our way but faster because it was now fairly dark. The fox stayed right with us leaping and swishing through the brush. At this point all we could see was a white tail bobbing up and down and hear the movement in the woods. Bored by going through the brush alongside of us, the fox raced ahead of Tom and crossed the trail in front of him to the other side. The fox waited for us to catch up and then went back into the brushy bushes and again we watched its tail flash up and down. We couldn’t help but think the fox was delighted to have some company this evening. At the final downhill section before the small parking area off of the Valley Road, the fox stayed with us and descended to the road. The fox had followed us for a half of a mile. While putting things in our car the fox walked around the car in the darkness probably hoping that we would give it a human food reward. Suddenly, it dawned on me that this fox must be the same silver fox I photographed at Paradise in February sitting on a snow bank begging for food from the visitors. How sad that a wild animal had become so used to humans! However, this encounter with the frolicking fox was so unique and special that we will always remember this night when we went for berries and to see a bear but were entertained by a frolicking fox that wanted some human company.
Experienced by: Sally & Tom Johnson -Written by Sally
Here are some photos I took of the silver fox in February at Paradise while, unfortunately, people were feeding it.
Here is a photo from the webcam taken on a weekday night where the fox had been sitting by the cars during the day waiting for people to return in hopes of getting a “people food treat”. This girl doesn’t appear to be feeding the fox but obviously she was enjoying this up close experience.
Photo captured Jan. 2010
There are two blog postings about actual bear encounters. Check out the following blog postings. A Bear Close Encounter at Paradise A Bear Lesson Learned on the Lakes Trail – Mt. Rainier
For Bear Photos check out “Sally’s Photos” on the Navigation Bar above. Look in the Wildlife section.
