I encountered a mother bear and her two cubs on my bike ride today.

[Ron Obvious]

I apologise in advance for the extreme crappiness of the included pictures. All I had with me was my ancient phone with its 0.5 kilopixel camera and foggy lens.

I was riding my bike in the Cascade Mountains and passed within touching distance of a brown bear sitting by the side of the trail, munching greens. I had already just about passed her when I realised what I was seeing. I got off the bike at a safe distance and watched her for a while. She knew I was there but didn't seem concerned about it. A minute later, two cubs joined her and I retreated a bit further, ready to flee should it prove necessary.

They all eventually crossed onto the trail, sat down in the middle and sunned themselves for a while. The cubs looked at me with interest, but momma bear snarled at them to mind their own business and to ignore the weirdo.

Quite a while later, she hurled an opprobrious epithet in my direction and the family walked off into the woods, the cubs looking -- did I imagine it? -- whistfully at me, as though they would've wanted to get to know me better.

The whole encounter lasted nearly twenty minutes and during that whole time I had them all to myself. That makes today about a million percent better than any day I ever spent at work.

God, I love living in the Pacific Northwest!

[Jenoch]

1. You're lucky to be alive.

A less trusting mama bear could have traversed that distance in about 8 seconds and mauled you.

I would not have stopped.

If attacked by a brown bear the best advice is to cover your head with your arms and play dead.

If attacked by a black bear, fight the bear with everyting you have.

[Ron Obvious]

3. The advice I always heard

If you're not sure it's a Grizzly or a brown bear, kick its arse and climb a tree. If it climbs after you and eats you, it's a brown bear. If it shakes you out of the tree and then eats you, it's a Grizzly.

I think I left enough distance that I would've been on my bike at the first sign of trouble, but seeing the two cubs made me seriously reconsider staying, I'll grant you.

[NYC_SKP]

4. Age old advice: hike with a slower person.

Or one less
Delicious.

[TeamPooka]

22. lol

[Jenoch]

6. I'm glad you had that experience.

I probably would have done the same.

My point was that brown bears, including grizzley, will stop their attack when they no longer percieve you as a threat. A black bear will continue tbe attack until you are dead and they can eat you.

[central scrutinizer]

18. Advice from British Columbia

[link:|

[countryjake]

24. Grizzly bear shit has bells in it & smells like pepper!

heh heh... the bear scat dichotomous key.

[Raffi Ella]

2. Wow, look at that!

The bears, the greenery, the road, that mountain in the background- incredible. I've never seen a bear in real life before.

Do you carry protection with you on those rides? When we go up to the N.GA mountains we always do. Better safe than dead you know.

Were you scared?

[Ron Obvious]

5. No, I wasn't scared...

Last edited Fri May 2, 2014, 01:17 AM - Edit history (1)

This is only my second bear encounter, and the first time ever on this trail.

The first time I was way in the back country on the Olympic Peninsula eating a bologna sandwich while sitting on a tree trunk and a bear started coming towards me. That time I did get scared and made it out of there quickly, ready to jettison the sandwiches, but he didn't pursue.

When I'd go hiking the back country, I'd always have bear spray with me, but this is a relatively well-travelled trail only a short distance from I-90 and I just wasn't expecting it. I've seen plenty of deer and bald eagles there before, but never a bear.

The whole thing was just so exhilarating I didn't think of being scared. I think I exercised healthy caution, but I'm prepared to admit I might have been reckless.

[Warpy]

7. I've seen black bears quite a few times in Appalachia

but none out west, even though bears do come into the city in spring and fall. We're too far south for grizzlies.

Black bears back east are only dangerous because asshole tourists feed them through cracks in their car windows. They've lost their fear of people. Fortunately for the asshole tourists, they're also not terribly ambitious or they'd be through those windows and dining on the kiddies.

You got a couple of nice pictures. My guess is that since you'd already passed and stayed far away, Mama Bear didn't perceive you as much of a threat, just an annoyance.

[Raffi Ella]

23. "Just so exhilarating..."

yeah I'll bet! I mean your life being at stake and all -lol. Honestly, being that close, I think I would have fainted. I'd reconsider taking the bear spray along with you on that trail from now on.

In any case, cool story, amazing scenery, it's great that you got pictures of it. You are indeed lucky to live in such a beautiful place... Thanks for sharing it with us.

[drmeow]

8. My brother was riding through Denali

came around a curve (or over a rise or something like that) and wiped right by a Grizzly bear - scared the shit out of both of them! Freaked out my mom even worse when he told her

Closest I've been to a Grizzly was when one walked right by the bus we were on in Denali (on our side) ... stopped and looked a all of us suspiciously when it heard the click of a camera.

Sounds like a great experience. I don't know if I would have been brave enough to stick around beyond snapping a few pics.

[2naSalit]

9. Even though the camera

wasn't the best, it's cool to see. Obviously you have a clue about bears and seem to have judged the situation constantly. It looks like that mama black bear has two cinnamon cubs! I see lots of cinnamons but never seen two cubs from same litter.

They look like they might year-olds so she was probably not as concerned about you as she may have been with cubs of the year... infants.

I see griz and black bear often and have to be prepared when I step outside much of the time in spring and fall. Seems they like the smell of whatever I happen to be cooking when they are close enough to catch a whiff. Sometimes they leave nose prints on bottom of the door.

It's nice to see wildlife, glad this was a pleasant chance encounter for you!! Thanks for sharing.

[Ron Obvious]

14. The picture makes everything look a little darker than it was

The mother looks black in the picture, but she was really a rich brown, while the cubs were a very light brown.

Lucky you, seeing bears all the time! I'm guessing you must be living in Alaska or the Yukon.

I do indeed love seeing wildlife. The one creature I see all the time now is the Bald Eagle. The first 15 years I lived here, I saw only one of them, but in the last 10, I've seen dozens. They've really made a wonderful comeback.

[2naSalit]

20. I see them rather often

because I live in the northern Rockies not far from YNP. Thankfully, all the predators are here and since they don't know about arbitrary human boundaries they are also outside the park. And I'm outside of any town, up along the divide in a forested area, which makes for a lifestyle more akin to "wildlife observation post". I love it. Has its dangers, woes and hard work but it's well worth the peaceful sense of living life that I desperately require at any and all costs.

[tofuandbeer]

10. Beautiful! ...but scary.

When with her cubs, isn't that when the mom is most aggressive?

NEVER MIND:
....sorry, I read the title, looked at your pictures and replied, before reading your explanation..

[Scuba]

11. "Wistfully"? More likely, "hungrily".

[Ron Obvious]

13. That's very possible!

[shenmue]

12. Pretty neat

[panader0]

15. Kick for "opprobrious"

I had to look it up.

[2naSalit]

21. I was duly impressed

by that myself!

[Phentex]

16. I like the idea of bears but...

I would be terrified. I mean, I think they are cute and I want to see the bear movie but SEEING them in the wild would scare me to death!

[whistler162]

17. In the immortal words of Snagglepuss

Last edited Fri May 2, 2014, 01:21 PM - Edit history (1)

Exit Stage Left!

[bigwillq]

19. That's awesome!

But be safe!

[R B Garr]

25. Wow, that is just spectacular! Thank you for sharing the pics.

That was very brave of you! What an absolutely beautiful place to bicycle ride. Maybe you've already discussed whether you have some sort of "anti" wildlife whistle or something like that to scare them off in case you do get too close by accident and it becomes dangerous.

I've been riding down at the Newport Back Bay Loop by Newport Beach, and while it's nothing like the actual mountains and beautiful forests in the Pacific Northwest, there are bobcats. They are small enough, but when we've gone later in the evening and sometimes are riding when it's dark, I do get a little scared that they might be close to the road eating something, and if we happen upon them too close, they might act more aggressively if they have some prey to protect. But then again, I'm kind of a big baby, so that probably would never happen, lol. But I worry anyway.

I would probably faint if I saw bears! You handled it very well.

[Ron Obvious]

26. I never thought I'd need a whistle here...

Or bear spray or anything. I've ridden this trail dozens of times and never even thought of bear encounters before.

It IS a gorgeous trail though. It links up with a few other trails so that, in theory, I could ride almost from my house to at least the Columbia River without having to deal with cars. The trail extends beyond that, but is practically unrideable in Eastern Washington because of all the horse traffic, sadly enough.

Here are some other pictures of that trail I've taken previously. It's a rails-to-trails conversion, so while it climbs significantly, it's railroad grade.









The most famous part of the trail is the 2.2 mile long Snoqualmie Tunnel. It was built in 1914, and it's absolutely pitch black in there. Only an absolute idiot would attempt it without lights. I've ridden it twice without lights myself



After you emerge from that tunnel in Eastern Washington, the landscape changes radically:

[R B Garr]

28. What a beautiful ride. I would love to do that.

In fact, I could probably live in that area. The Pacific Northwest is like God's Country, imo. It's just breathtaking.

I know what you mean about trails being unrideable because of the other traffic. It's like that where we go, too, especially on the weekends -- a lot of time is spent slowing to dodge walkers, dogs, etc.

Thanks for those beautiful pics. Now there's another place on my list to visit!

[Lucinda]

27. We get black bears here a LOT

We live just a mile or two from the GSMNP and get lots of visits from local black bears. Even after being here several years, it's still exciting to see them.