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Agreed, probably the genus Pterophylla.

I'd suggest that it is a bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa), based upon its location, although there are lots of exotic tree species in the Minneapolis, MN area. The ridged, squarish twigs and the leaf's deeply cut "waist" point to bur oak. The leaves certainly do bear some resemblance to an English oak, however.

Ah! I've been up the Dempster and you are right. What a fantastic place; very much an adventure! Landscapes were stunning, although it was foggy for almost the entire way. The Blackstone Valley impressive. I stopped at Two Moose Ponds and simply reveled in views while a great silence enveloped the mountains. Would love to go back! One of the great trips in my life.

Black bears evolved in an environment of lots of big predators, such as grizzly bears, dire wolves, short-faced bears, cave bears, etc. that would have posed a significant threat. As a result, they are actually very timid animals that typically hide, climb a tree, or run away when encountering a person. In fact, of the hundreds of miles I've hiked and 1600 miles I've canoed in bear country. I've only seen a couple of black bears, but have run into several grizzly bears. Black bears have fantastic hearing, excellent sense of smell, and much better eye sight than many people give them credit for. Most human-bear encounters are only known of by the bears--they see, hear, or smell us and move away long before we are aware of them.

This isn't necessarily true, however, of habituated black bears.