Could a bear somehow have made its way into a West Seattle greenbelt? Nancy says she and her friend are sure that’s what they saw today:

My friend and I went for a walk behind the houses on Snoqualmie and Beach Drive [map] today around 1 PM. At the crest of the walk, in the clearing, we both very clearly spotted a brown bear. It looked rather rangy. When it saw us, it headed our way and we ran down the path to a home near the greenbelt. We called police.

Anyone else?

Bears were part of the West Seattle ecosystem a century or so ago, stories show. But no bear sightings have emerged in West Seattle in the eight years we’ve been doing news here – though, just before that, there was the 2007 saga of a bear swimming from Vashon to Des Moines.

P.S. If it really was a bear, it would almost certainly be a black bear – here’s the state Fish and Wildlife infosheet about that species.

P.P.S. Larry reminds us in comments that a bear turned up in Ballard in 2009.