After lunch at the top of New Army Pass, it was time to head down the other side.  One of the uncool things about our hike plan was that each day we faced some significant climb - the most notable being Whitney itself - but the days all ended coming back down to almost the same altitude as before.  Succeeding days repeated the cycle.

The back side of New Army Pass was fairly rugged.  It serves as the gateway into Kings Canyon where we would be above the tree line most of the time.  It was on the way down that we ran into several hikers coming the other way and learned about some rogue bears in the area.  A boy scout troop was raided by a bear that wouldn't take no for an answer.  It ripped up some of their packs and helped itself to their food.  Another couple told us about some guys that finally had to smack the bear in the head with rocks before it saw the wisdom of finding someplace else to forage.  Good thing we had bear canisters.

Side note:  Would you believe I ran into one of the guys, who stoned the bear, back in San Diego.  We were both returning rented packs and compared notes.  We had to have crossed paths just below this picture someplace.  He confirmed the incident.  Pretty damn aggressive bear... and pretty stupid move on his part...  Guess he was just trying to disprove the theory about where a 500 lb. bear can sit in the woods...