This mobile bear has been on quite a star trek

The travel pattern resembled a Southern California hiker's dream.

- BY ANDREW J. CAMPA

STEVE GONZALEZ California Department of Fish and Wildlife MAMA BEAR rested long enough to give birth near Topanga Canyon. She has traveled at least 100 miles.

The journey began in Angeles National Forest above Glendora in May 2024 and progressed south into Azusa. There were stops, stays and starts from Monrovia and Sierra Madre, then northeast into La Cañada Flintridge, Tujunga and, eventually, the Santa Clarita Valley.

The route then turned southward into the Santa Susana Mountains, Simi Hills and then the Santa Monica Mountains before a couple of beach days and a return trip home.

But this trek — at least 100 miles — wasn't some bucket list excursion or “only in L.A.” Instagram story. It was completed not by a hiker, but a roughly 175-pound female black bear known as Yellow 2291.

The 5to 7-year-old with a penchant for media coverage was recently spotted by Topanga residents with three cubs, making the quartet the first black bear family to reside in the Santa Monica Mountains in years.

Whether the arrival of her cubs will stanch the bear's wanderlust is anyone's guess. But nearby residents have expressed questions and concerns at their una bear familiar ursine neighbors.