Bear perched on power pole stops traffic in Southern California desert

LANCASTER, Calif. -- Must've been a poler bear.

In fact, it was a black bear that climbed 100 feet up a power pole in the sweltering high desert Friday and brought traffic to halt on a highway below as motorists stopped to gawk and take pictures.

"Not a whole lot we could do except keep the people out of the area and let him decide he needs to come down and continue his way on to the mountains, and with the assistance of the highway patrol that's what we did," game warden Martin Wall said.

After a couple of hours taking in the view from a crossbar supporting electrical wires, the bear came back to earth, walked across the highway and ran off into the desert scrub.