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2023

Abstract

om the stage left.We sat there looking each other in the eye for an eternity, about 5 seconds. It felt like an eternity. It was long enough to think, but I stayed calm, preparing to retreat backward. Walking a bike backward when you are on it is not easy.<figure id="b789"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*KHEay9tNVA13yj0LzOtE5w.jpeg"><figcaption>Photograph by Author — White River Trail</figcaption></figure>I did not want to get off and turn my back to the bear, so I just stood there. She never broke her gaze, and I mine. We just sat there in a stare-down. The little cubs broke the standoff and bolted in the opposite direction. When there was a break in the dirt wall, they jumped over the side and disappeared into the brush.Momma held her gaze for another two seconds waiting for her babies to clear the scene, then she turned and bolted up and over the side. I stood there for another ten seconds. I wanted to make sure they were long gone before proceeding down the road. This is not the optimal way to get an adrenaline rush, but I was flying.<figure id="bc66"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*mclJe2Ai8ogULRqysI8K0w.jpeg"><figcaption>Photograph by Author — The Gate on White River Trail — Starting Point of a 46-mile roundtrip bike ride.</figcaption></figure>This was the second bear sighting of the day. The first one was right after parking my truck at the last gate on White River Trail. The first sighting was from the relative safety of my truck. I parked at the last gate, continued on White River Trail, and traversed the island on my e-bike.There are two ways to traverse the Island. White River Trail heads downhill and to the right after Swan Lake but splits in two near Manzanita Lake. I took the high road, which heads East towards Lake Grace. From the point of the split, bear droppings became common until they were everywhere. I was in Bear Coun

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try.I ride without bear spray, flash bangs, or a firearm. My only defense from bears is the noise created by my mountain bike. That is not much of a deterrent, especially since I ride a Specialized e-bike. I ride faster than your average rider. This does not allow for reaction time.<figure id="01ad"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*_6ensjhZvJKUhM3FYpuuKA.jpeg"><figcaption>Photograph by Author — My Sony Bear Repellant</figcaption></figure>I was now passing bear scat every ten to twenty yards. The difference in one mile off the main trail was monumental. I stopped and pulled out my Sony speaker. I mounted it to the front of my bike. I then enlisted help from Bon Jovi, but somehow Living on a Prayer did not seem like the right song for this trail. More akin to Wanted Dead or Alive, but we soon moved on to Phil Collins Take Me Home.After an hour and forty-five minutes, I stopped and had lunch at Grace Lake on the other side of Revillagegedo Island. My mission was accomplished. I took a few pictures and headed back. My first two Bear encounters were not my last.<figure id="205d"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*hWHNUFiWowYvNxTBjJErLw.jpeg"><figcaption>Photograph by Author of Author — Manzanita Lake, White River Road Ketchikan, Alaksa</figcaption></figure>Twice on my way back to the main trail, I heard loud crashing off the side of the road. I did not need to stop and think about what was making that noise. The Bear scat told me the story. I saw two more solo black bears crossing my path on the way back, but thanks to my Sony speaker, they were hearing me before they could see me. Fifty to seventy-five yards is much better than ten when facing a bear in the wild.I ended the day clocking 46 miles roundtrip and seven black bears. From Ketchikan, Alaska, with love and a whole lot of Yogi Bears.</article></body>

Living Alaska — What is it Like to Stare Down a Black Bear?

A Whole Lot of Yogi’s

Photograph by Author — White River Road Trail in Ketchikan, Alaska.

Did you ever wonder what it would be like to stare down a bear in the wild? Did you ever imagine yourself face to face with a bear at ten yards? No fence, no barrier, just you eye to eye with a big black bear. She had two cubs behind her, the little one seeing me first darted behind his mother’s skirt.

I went mountain biking on the island of Revillagegedo, better known as Ketchikan, Alaska, yesterday. I came up over a little rise in the dirt road and found myself face to face with a black bear and her two cubs. She stood her ground, and I stopped. Lucky for me, I was going uphill and not down.

If I had been going downhill, I would not have had time to stop. I am unsure how she would have reacted to me zipping by at 30 mph, but considering the look she gave me from ten yards away, it would not have been favorable.

Photograph by Author — A great mooring spot for a Schooner off White River Road.

I saw the little one first, and I slowed down. I stopped a few feet further, but even traveling ten miles per hour has a stopping distance. I was now at the top of the rise on the dirt road. I had the height advantage but did not see them due to the rise until I was ten yards away.

I sat on my bike in the middle of the road. I looked down, preparing for the worst. Momma Bear did not look happy with me. She sat in the drainage off the right side of the road with her two cubs behind her. There was a ten-foot-high dirt wall blocking her exit from the stage left.

We sat there looking each other in the eye for an eternity, about 5 seconds. It felt like an eternity. It was long enough to think, but I stayed calm, preparing to retreat backward. Walking a bike backward when you are on it is not easy.

Photograph by Author — White River Trail

I did not want to get off and turn my back to the bear, so I just stood there. She never broke her gaze, and I mine. We just sat there in a stare-down. The little cubs broke the standoff and bolted in the opposite direction. When there was a break in the dirt wall, they jumped over the side and disappeared into the brush.

Momma held her gaze for another two seconds waiting for her babies to clear the scene, then she turned and bolted up and over the side. I stood there for another ten seconds. I wanted to make sure they were long gone before proceeding down the road. This is not the optimal way to get an adrenaline rush, but I was flying.

Photograph by Author — The Gate on White River Trail — Starting Point of a 46-mile roundtrip bike ride.

This was the second bear sighting of the day. The first one was right after parking my truck at the last gate on White River Trail. The first sighting was from the relative safety of my truck. I parked at the last gate, continued on White River Trail, and traversed the island on my e-bike.

There are two ways to traverse the Island. White River Trail heads downhill and to the right after Swan Lake but splits in two near Manzanita Lake. I took the high road, which heads East towards Lake Grace. From the point of the split, bear droppings became common until they were everywhere. I was in Bear Country.

I ride without bear spray, flash bangs, or a firearm. My only defense from bears is the noise created by my mountain bike. That is not much of a deterrent, especially since I ride a Specialized e-bike. I ride faster than your average rider. This does not allow for reaction time.

Photograph by Author — My Sony Bear Repellant

I was now passing bear scat every ten to twenty yards. The difference in one mile off the main trail was monumental. I stopped and pulled out my Sony speaker. I mounted it to the front of my bike. I then enlisted help from Bon Jovi, but somehow Living on a Prayer did not seem like the right song for this trail. More akin to Wanted Dead or Alive, but we soon moved on to Phil Collins Take Me Home.

After an hour and forty-five minutes, I stopped and had lunch at Grace Lake on the other side of Revillagegedo Island. My mission was accomplished. I took a few pictures and headed back. My first two Bear encounters were not my last.

Photograph by Author of Author — Manzanita Lake, White River Road Ketchikan, Alaksa

Twice on my way back to the main trail, I heard loud crashing off the side of the road. I did not need to stop and think about what was making that noise. The Bear scat told me the story. I saw two more solo black bears crossing my path on the way back, but thanks to my Sony speaker, they were hearing me before they could see me. Fifty to seventy-five yards is much better than ten when facing a bear in the wild.

I ended the day clocking 46 miles roundtrip and seven black bears. From Ketchikan, Alaska, with love and a whole lot of Yogi Bears.