Going to the Sun; Banff; A Book for TOTFN; Hey, Tubby??? Moose and Elk

One of our last Glacier events was riding the Going to the Sun Highway… on our bikes. We had two options: ride up 3,000 feet to Logan Pass then coast and back down, or wuss out and take the shuttle up (it carried two bikes on the front) and ride down without breaking a sweat. I wish that I could tell you that we did it the tough way, up and down, but my standard of perfect veracity requires me to tell you that we took the easy route. 

Here is My Lovely Bride at the top, ready to launch herself down the steep, narrow and winding road where we kept up with almost all the cars (the speed limit was 15-25 mph, depending on the curves). On one side was a sheer rock wall, and on the other… a sheer cliff with only a short rock wall to tumble over, with a thousand foot drop to hard stuff below. Exhilarating? You betcha!

At the bottom of the ride, we enjoyed a few stops at scenic overlooks of McDonald Creek. This was one of the prettiest spots, with deep blue pools, probably ice-cold with snowmelt from the glaciers far above. 

At another spot, Your Faithful Correspondent enjoyed a few moments of meditative introspection. This would have been a perfect spot to pitch a tent for the night, with the river gurgling just a few feet away. 

“Oh, Canada!” Again? Yep, after calling AT&T and setting up international cell service so Suzanne could continue to give phone readings from Canada, we departed Glacier National Park and headed north through far southeastern British Columbia into Kootenay National Park and then to Banff National Park in Alberta, where we are camped out for six nights. The Canadian Rockies are truly spectacular, and with all due respect to their American counterparts, are somehow even more impressive. Part of the reason, I think, is that there is more bare rock here than in the mountains of the US. Also, the base of the Canadian Rockies seems lower by a thousand feet or so, and the mountains rising above you thus seem taller. 

We had just entered Kootenay NP when this cow moose (Alces alces) casually strode across the road about 50 yards in front of us. Fortunately, we were on a steep uphill and only doing about 60… oh, sorry, that’s km/hr, so about 37 mph… (for some strange reason, our northern cousins use that ridiculous Continental European system of measurements instead of good old English miles and pounds.) The moose then wandered into the woods, probably looking for a nice spot for lunch.

With one cell phone working here in Canada (international roaming is far too expensive to allow us the use of both phones and two iPads), we have some connectivity with “the outside world”. As many of you may be aware (I hope), Suzanne’s latest book, Wolf’s Message, is now out in both Kindle and paperback versions. If you haven’t ordered your very own copy for My Lovely Bride to autograph upon our return to The Villages or other booming metropolis, well, you had better get hot! 

Our good friend Terri of the Frozen North (TOTFN, who is mentioned in the book) sent us a photo of her holding her brand new copy of Wolf’s Message, and I was actually quite surprised that FEDEX had managed to get a copy to her in the wilds of Minnesnowta. In fact, I called the local FEDEX office to find out how that would work. The dispatcher described that to get a real book to Coon Rapids, MN, a Boeing 737 cargo jet would fly the first leg. Then the book would be transferred to a coal or wood-burning train. A Pony Express rider would carry the book for the next leg, followed by a snowmobile driver. Finally, a sled dog team with an intrepid musher would make the final push into Coon Rapids, assuming they didn’t freeze to death. The trip would normally take six weeks, but evidently some early snowmelts and ice dam breakups have fortuitously made road and trail travel less hazardous than normal for mid-August. Thanks, Terri, for your photo… fortunately satellite communications are less affected by the brutal Minnesota weather than sled dog teams. 

Speaking of My Lovely Bride, she has had me on a serious diet and workout schedule today, all because of the generosity of my cousin Jim Abbott and his lovely bride Betty, from Wrangell, Alaska. I should explain… Betty very kindly packed us a load of frozen and vacuum-sealed Alaskan seafood before we left last month, and for the past couple of days I have been enjoying smoked salmon (lox) and bagels with cream cheese and red onions for dinner and lunch, one of my favorite treats. That’s the good news. The bad news is that I have put on a couple of unneeded pounds, undoubtedly due to the high salt content of the smoked salmon. When I did my morning weigh-in the other day, and reported the number to MLB, I got a raucous guffaw, and a “Hey, Tubby, you’d better get your running shoes on!” “Hey, Tubby????” She is in such trouble!!! See if I make her chicken Marsala again!  

Okay, so today I got my running shoes on, and we went for a four miler on Tunnel Mountain, near our campground. The elevation here is about 4,700 feet, and our hilly run was rather tiring. After a very short break, we went for two mountain bike rides… the first was on the Legacy Trail with this view along the shores of First and Second Vermillion Lakes, a lovely area just 4 miles from Banff town. 

Biker Chick here demonstrates the proper method of riding over roots and threading her way between two riverside trees… 

Following the photo above, we had two encounters with girl elks or moose (it’s hard to judge when they are running so fast) in a marshy area. These photos of the second encounter show a shy young lady elk staring at us from the bushes hoping we would simply go away. We know it was a cow because she didn’t have a big rack… of antlers. (That is not a sexist comment, by the way).

Then we rode out a long jeep road and hiking/biking trail past the Banff golf course and along the Bow River… a beautiful remote setting that caused me to think about bears. But the grizzlies (Ursus arctos horribilis - what a great name!) kept their distance and merely sent a lowly coyote to keep us company for a minute or two. It was a good reminder of the wide variety of animal life to be found here in Banff. The coyotes’ bigger cousins, the grey wolf, are here in smaller numbers, but they are usually very shy of humans, for good reason.  

The third wildlife encounter was on our trip home. Here we found a young bull elk (Cervus canadensis) with antlers in velvet. Contrary to some contemporary thought that the velvet is for making the male more “soft, sensitive and seductive” to the female, it is shed each summer.   

Glacier National Park; Trail of the Cedars; Avalanche Lake; Highline Trail; Goats Galore!

One of our objectives this summer was to do more hiking in Glacier National Park. We are now camped just a few miles from the West Glacier, Montana, park entrance. My Lovely Bride did some research on "Best Hikes" while I was driving, and came up with several that we would have time to complete. Our hikes are time-limited in that we do not leave Rudy and Gretchen alone for more than seven hours. Our first hike was a twofer, combining the Trail of the Cedars and the Avalanche Lake Trail. Here is Your Faithful Correspondent admiring the cedars and hemlocks on a lovely sylvan path. While well-worn, the path was (relatively) lightly traveled, and we also appreciated that most hikers were considerate of the quiet, cathedral-like environment and kept their voices low.


 
 

Glacier is known for its lofty peaks, even higher than those found near our home in The Villages, FL. This is Mt. Clements, 8,760 feet. We are viewing from about 3,450 feet; that's just over 5,300 feet, more than one mile of elevation difference... a lot of rock, and a bit too steep to climb.

Since a climb up Clements Mtn. would be rather strenuous, we headed up an easier trail along Avalanche Creek. The rushing waters were raucous, especially through a gorge cut through the living rock by this small but powerful glacially-fed stream.

While grizzly bears are one of the serious topics of concern locally, the biggest danger here in Glacier is actually water. Drowning in fast moving, ice-cold streams is the most common cause of accidental deaths in Glacier, with falls while climbing or hiking coming in second place. Regarding bears, most hikers carry bear spray, but it is very rare that it ever has to be used in self-defense.










Our turnaround was at Avalanche Lake, which is fed by the Sperry Glacier on Gunsight Mountain. All of the park's glaciers were formed during the Little Ice Age, a period of cooler temperatures starting in the 13th Century and concluding in the mid-1800's.










Our second day of hiking was one we had been looking forward to all summer, the Highline Trail. Here we find Suzanne checking out the route at the trailhead, with the back side of Bearhat Mountain, 8,684 feet, looming in the background. You may observe that she is wearing a fleece under a windbreaker. It was in the high 40s even in the sun, and layering was a necessity. By the way, while looking at Internet posts about the hike, we found an interesting story from just a week prior, when one hiker had to climb down a steep cliff face to avoid a grizzly bear approaching on a very narrow part of the trail... you can see the photos of this encounter taken by another hiker here. Coincidentally, this was the same area where just last year a young newlywed pushed her husband off a cliff following an argument. She got 30 years, by the way.

 

Here is My Lovely Bride,in the same area, sans grizzly or homicidal newlywed. You may note a green wire cable affixed to the wall to provide added security. A narrow two-lane road, the Going to the Sun Highway, is about 300 feet below her, out of the photo. The maximum length vehicle allowed on this road is 21 feet, so all you see on the road are bikes, cars, pickups, shuttle vans, and the park's open roof red taxis. Oh, and I forgot to mention the occasional Harley, whose intentionally very loud exhaust noises can be heard for miles reverberating from mountainside to mountainside - "there oughta be a law..."

Wildflowers were running riot throughout our hike, many of which I could not identify. This three to five foot tall flower is bear grass, also known as squaw grass (Xerophylum tenax). The latter name derives from one of its uses by Indians in making baskets. Plant colonies typically only bloom every 5-7 years, so we were lucky to see these.









The mountain scenery of Glacier National Park is breathtaking. It was always near the top of my bucket list, and this is now our third visit, and we have only begun to make a dent on the list of many trails, lakes and peaks that we want to experience. Part of the problem is that because of the typically late Spring and early Fall snowfalls, July, August and September are the only months to hike here. Three years ago we arrived on July 3rd, and the Going to the Sun Road had been closed due to heavy snow until just the day before.

Speaking of snow, this picture is a bit deceiving. We were standing on a relatively small patch of snow just off the Highline Trail at Haystack Pass, but the surrounding air temperature was in the 70s, so we were quite comfortable in shorts, and in fact I had been sweating because of the uphill climbs... My Lovely Bride, being a woman, does not sweat. She may glisten, but she never sweats.








This photo illustrates a quality of Glacier NP that becomes very evident once you arrive - there are very few flat spots in this park. This knifedge ridge, actually a glacier-cut arete known as the Garden Wall, is a rock climber's dream, but we opted to skip this very technically challenging route for a quicker return to the car because (a) Rudy and Gretchen were missing us, and (b) there was a nice bottle of Cabernet awaiting our return as well.

Just before arriving back at the trailhead, Suzanne noted a wildlife roadblock ahead. It wasn't a grizzly, but three mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus) who were walking calmly down the trail. Mountain goats have double layers of wool that allow them to survive winter temperatures to 50 below 0 F and winds to 100 mph. They are amazingly sure-footed, able to climb 60 degree slopes with ease.








Fortunately, this family gathering was only temporary, and we were able to safely complete the remainder of the trail without any cliff traverses. Although I have been called an Old Goat, I do not claim to have the same sure-footedness as this fellow.

An Informal Concert; Wild Annie; Birthday Greetings; A Lakeside Dinner; Army vs. Navy

While Suzanne was back in The Villages, she had a very kind invitation from Michelle and John Uss to join them for dinner and music. Here are Michelle, Suzanne's sister Janice, and Ruthie sharing a moment of frivolity. Michelle is an expert pianist, and Janice an accomplished vocalist...













Suzanne brought her little C flute from home, and luckily found that she hadn't forgotten how to play it while away on our summer tour...


















Michelle and John's Shih Tsu Annie was also active that evening. Annie is what is euphemistically called "a bundle of energy". Rudy and Gretchen were a bit jealous that their Dog Mom was hanging out with a strange dog...

My Lovely Bride returned to Idaho on Tuesday, and we were all very happy to have her home with the rest of The Pack. She got lots of sloppy kisses from Rudy and Gretchen, and even one from me. One of the first entries in the Plan of the Day (POD) - Navy people will understand that acronym - was delivery of a birthday card and prezzies. Rudy and Gretchen had picked out two nice glittery tops for her, and Rudy was insistent that he be allowed to help open the package for his Dog Mom.








Suzanne also received a Native American smudge fan made of turkey feathers, rabbit fur and lapis lazuli, created by a practitioner in Coeur d'Alene.
















On our last night in Idaho, we were invited to a grilled steak and chicken kebob dinner with Jim and Mark, both airline pilots, at Mark's house overlooking Lake Coeur d'Alene. It was a splendid meal in a beautiful setting with great conversations. Mark is a JetBlue captain, flying mostly to the Caribbean, and Jim flies the Dallas Mavericks around and used to fly "special charter missions" to Iraq and Afghanistan. (Note: airline pilots have more wild stories than Navy ship drivers. Some may even be true.)

Here is My Lovely Bride wearing one of her new tops, chosen to match little Gretchen; a half mile below Mark's deck, a marina on Lake Coeur d'Alene holds dozens of moored boats. Like Lake Pend Orielle, this lake was created by the melting of glaciers 12,000 years ago. We envied Mark this beautiful view, but then remembering that this was August, wondered whether we could grill or sunbathe on the deck in January...












Finally, here is a brief exchange of emails between Lieutenant Colonel Charles Cunis, USA (Ret), AKA "Crusty",  featured in Suzanne's new book "Wolf's Message," and Your Faithful Correspondent, CAPT, USN (Ret), AKA "Salty", regarding a recent post about out of date cans of food, my hiking experiences in the woods, and my reference to trees as "green thingies." Those with any military experience will immediately recognize some fundamental differences between the Army and the Navy...

1. From Colonel Cunis; Subject: Observations of the Army and the Navy approaches to life's situations:

    -Navy tosses canned goods with 7 months past "alleged" expiration date of 7 months. Sailor lives.
    -Army ground pounder eats C-rations packaged during Korean conflict while with the 3rd Armored Division (Spearhead) in Germany in 1964-1966. In 1967-68 same C-rations manufactured date presented for dining consumption with The Big Red One.. Bon Appetit. Soldier lives.

    -Navy on patrol.  My Dear Captain. When you go off on your solo trips "into the woods" do you leave a strip map with the "route out" and "route back" with estimated ETR? With your MLB in the Villages Port of Call who is watching your "back" in case a tree falls on top of you?
    -Army patrolling doctrine(APD) requires that you register the patrol with the unit Staff Duty Officer with the time of departure, "route out", "route back" (never the same way as the "route out"). Commo checks on scheduled basis". ETR. Please assure me that you are following good APD. You can call me "Dad"

    -Navy discovers trees (Green thingies)
    -Army says "Green Thingies" Ha, Ha, Ha "Green Thingies" Stop! Please Stop! Does the bear s--- in the woods"?

2. From Captain Giesemann. Subject: Different approaches to life displayed by the Army and the Navy.  Sir, I appreciate that your experiences are somewhat more field-proven than mine, but the Navy has its own lessons, to wit:

A. When we discover out of date cans of food, we trade them to the Army for beer.

B. Navy on patrol in hostile sea areas goes into EMCON, with all communications secured, to remain stealthy. When in contact with the enemy, comms are authorized. This is called the "Shoot first, talk later" doctrine.

C. Navy Ships don't usually leave their planned route because we make it up on the fly. That way, you don't have to lie about where you're headed when you're really just going out for a beer.

D. Green things at sea are called waves. There are even more waves on the ocean than trees in the woods.

E. "Doctrine" is for the Army and the Chair Force. Navy uses command initiative. Sometimes it even works.

F. Yes, I think bears do s--- in the woods. But I wouldn't follow one to observe that behavior. You Army guys are really strange.

G. Back to food. When my battleship found some fishing boats off Nicaragua, we drove alongside and traded ice cream for fresh shrimp. You guys eat 20 year old C-rats??? Dude, you might think about at least trading them for some scrawny water buffalo... Or baluts???

Her Mother's Daughter; Empty Trails; Oh, Deer; It's Moraine, Not Maureen; Sanaya Waves; Dog in a Bag

I hope I can get away with long distance slander. Well, it's not really slander, because this is a true story. But I'm going to get into trouble with two women, and that's a Most Dangerous Game. In a previous post, I mentioned that Suzanne's mom Ruthie had this thing about not throwing away cans of food until long past their expiration dates. I'm talking 4-5 years or longer. She blames it on being born during the Depression. I never thought that was a genetic attribute until this week when I was going to fix pasta with clam sauce while My Lovely Bride was home in Florida visiting her mom. I inspected the date on the can from the pantry, and saw, to my shock, despair and consternation... "Best By Jan 2013". Hmmm; the can looked okay, but you never know... I had two options, (a) give it a shot and take a chance on salmonella or some other dread stomach ailment; or (b) toss it. I chose option (b), and lived to tell the tale. (I'm not sure whether that shall be a long-term condition when My Lovely Bride returns, so if this is my last post, you'll know why.)

I continue to be amazed by the paucity of other mountain bike riders and hikers on the trails here in Idaho. I have accumulated almost seven hours of bike and foot travel on the gorgeous trails of Farragut State Park, and have passed all of eight other trail users, all within 1/2 mile of established campgrounds, none deeper in the woods. Admittedly, many of the other campground users have ski and fishing boats, but many others do not.








So far, I have seen more whitetail deer (Odocoileus virginianus) than people out on the trails, including this doe and fawn early one morning. I kept my distance so as not to disturb them, and they walked off into the woods a few minutes later.

The only structure visible in this photo taken from a trail high on a hillside is the park's water tower. All the green thingies are trees, mostly hemlock, larch, cedar and fir. I haven't seen any bears, but am now carrying my industrial-sized can of bear spray, just in case, because I can't assume that there will be another hiker for miles around.










 Now, about the green thingies... oh, yeah, "trees"... here in Idaho, logging provides lots of jobs, and is of more than passing interest to the locals. They practice sustainable forestry here (take that, you Sierra Club people!), and looking out over the woods from a mountain top seems to support their efforts.... it's a sea of green, everywhere you look. There is one sawmill on the road toward Coeur d"Alene, and the piles of logs there are very impressive. Next time you send a card or write a letter (yes, some people still do that), use your laser printer, or use TP (I was being delicate here), thank a logger.



Now for a sociological note. After observing the behavior of fellow campground users, I am beginning to believe that many spend most of their time watching TV, playing video games and eating hot dogs/drinking beer. I don't completely fault the last activity; I am guilty of it myself on occasion. But I watched one guy load up a huge plastic bag of empty beer cans, wine bottles and a single Bombay Sapphire bottle, and his party had only been there for a few days. (Worst of all, they didn't invite me over, darn the bad luck!) On the one hand, I am happy to have the trails to myself, but on the other hand am worried about the lessons being taught to youngsters today. In my humble opinion, they should be out in the woods, not skateboarding around a campground on asphalt roads. I have not seen a single father out hiking with his son or daughter, only older adults (30 and up) and a few teenagers. Sigh...

On my hike yesterday outside the park, I scaled an old (very, very old - 12,000 years old, in fact) glacial moraine left over from the Ice Age. This area was once covered in ice by the Cordilleran Glacier, and there are many glacial erratics and piles of boulders scattered about the Coeur d'Alene Mountains. Peek Hole Rock is one, dropped when an ice dam blocking the Clark Fork River burst, releasing 500 cubic miles of water, which then ran at an estimated 60 mph downstream, tossing boulders wherever it pleased.

Okay, another sociological lament... but not a rant! This time the subject is political correctness and the Boy Scouts. Having been a Cub Scout, then a Boy Scout, and finally an Explorer Scout, I think I know the organization pretty well. Farragut State Park once hosted the largest Scout Jamboree in history, with 40,500 scouts attending. Back then, these towering cedar poles were raised to honor the Scout Laws, attributes that Boy Scouts were supposed to uphold: "A Scout is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent." Large letters on each pole illustrated each of these attributes. I found these poles about a quarter mile off the nearest road, in now-dense forest, with no easy access to them for visitors. In the recent past, new "Friendship Poles" were erected with a large parking lot adjacent. The new poles state a new message in several languages. "For Friendship". C'mon, what was wrong with the old ones? Like, they sounded too much like good citizenship?

Just back from another mountain bike ride in the woods. Now, the thing about woods is that they have lots of trees there. Who knew? This is not an earth-shattering revelation, right? Well, there was a windstorm recently, and lots of trees were knocked down, including the three below, in the space of 75 yards, which effectively blocked the trail. I was able to lift my bike over the first, but the second and third were so close together that I had to bushwhack around them. All part of the fun and zest, as we used to say in the Navy...

As you know, MLB is back in Florida... I would like to thank the couple of hundred attendees at Suzanne's Sanaya session on Sunday evening in The Villages who gave me a long-distance wave. I recognized a lot of smiling faces there, and know that Suzanne was so happy to be back with all of you, even if just for a few days. We are looking forward to our return to TV in October! 








Whoops, a late entry. I was going over some photos from our Alaska trip, and found this one of a "Dog in a Bag" that I hadn't published. Rudy is a great traveler, and he always gets lots of attention when people see him in his travel kennel.

Birthday Girls; Wild Corvette Chicks; Dinners Out; Fishies; White Hats; Running with Deer

Yes, it's official. My Lovely Bride is a year older. Being a Southern Gentleman, I could not possibly divulge her actual age, but to me, she's about 35. You can either do a "number drill" on that figure, or deduce her chronological age from her PT this morning, when she ran 53 minutes, did 53 pushups without a break and 53 crunches. She is back in Florida celebrating with her mom Ruthie, with whom she shares a birthday. Here are the Two Lovely Birthday Girls this morning, after they received some nice flowers from an admirer.







Suzanne's Lovely Sister Janice is visiting from West Chester, PA, and today they were out in the Corvette tooling around The Villages, shopping and hopefully not breaking any speed limits or spending too much on hot-looking clothes (I'm not very hopeful on that last item, but there are certain fringe benefits to that kind of shopping). This selfie was taken in The Red 'Vette, at a stop light or in a parking lot, rather than on I-75 at 105...












Okay, here's a complaint. I'm in a state park with Rudy and Gretchen, and we're eating leftovers, while MLB is back in Florida going out to dinner every night. What is wrong with this picture??? No, not the photo at right... But here we have evidence that MLB is out partying... The three party girls with brother Brent at a country club in The Villages, with Brent's Lovely Bride Cheryl acting as photographer. (While I had leftover pizza in the woods). Sigh...

Actually, I have taken advantage of the time alone to do some fishing. (Yes, Bob, and "catching" as well.) In fact, I caught this nice one on my very first cast! I landed four smallmouth bass and perch last night, and two this morning, and decided to do "catch and release" rather than having fishies for dinner. (At least I know now that I can feed my family when Social Security runs out of cash.) Five reasons for my catch-and-release decision: (1) I forgot my fish cleaning kit with dedicated cutting board and fillet knives at home, (2) because of reason (1), I didn't want to use MLB's cutting board and knives, because of the fish smell that would remain, (3) they weren't trout, salmon or walleye, (4) I was feeling generous; and (5) they'll be bigger next year. Oh, and reason (6)... I was feeling lazy. The joy of fishing, though, is not so much in catching fish as simply being a part of the environment. While on the pier, I watched an osprey circling overhead, looking for breakfast. It was more than a casual pastime for her (him?), because there was surely a young osprey in the nest to feed as well as the beautiful bird I watched diving and carrying away a nice fish.

Where are Rudy, Gretchen and Ty, you might ask? Well, we are in Farragut State Park, Bayview, Idaho, north of Coeur d'Alene. This used to be a naval training center in WWII, where 293,000 sailors went through boot camp from 1942-1945. During the war, it was the largest "city" in Idaho. One of its buildings, the Camp Bennion Drill Hall, was large enough to have six full-size basketball courts, an Olympic-size swimming pool, a chapel and a boxing ring; 2,000 men could watch a movie there (the young sailors probably did not rate recliner seats). Basic training started out at 13 weeks, but was shortened to 6 weeks when the war intensified (both to ship losses and the amazing building rate that US shipyards achieved after Pearl Harbor). The memorial you see here is to the young sailors who trained here and did their duty to their country on all the world's oceans.



Why put a naval training center in Idaho? Supposedly Eleanor Roosevelt had flown over the lake on a trip to Seattle, and when her husband Franklin was looking for a secure inland location for a major training base, she suggested this location. It is adjacent to Lake Pend Orielle (pronounced "Pond O-ray"), where the Navy now has a submarine research facility, located here because at 1,150 feet deep in some places, it is the fifth-deepest lake in the US. Formed by glaciers eons ago, it is 43 miles long, and most of the lake's shores are unpopulated. The acoustics (absent the noise from jet skis on weekends) are very similar to the open ocean, ideal for testing full-size submarine prototypes. (A Russian spy trying to get information around here might be just a bit conspicuous...)

The land around Lake Pend Orielle was the traditional home of the Kalispell Indians. The name of the lake is French for an ear hanging, which the Kalispell often wore; coincidentally (?), the lake is shaped like a human ear. The woods here are full of wildlife: deer, elk, grizzly and black bears, coyote, gray wolves and moose all reside in the vicinity. I have been mountain biking over many of the park's trails, and have startled six deer... it's eerie to be riding along at 12-15 mph, and all of a sudden, two fawns or a buck and doe going 30 mph in graceful bounds break out of the woods and cross the trail not 50 feet in front of you. Thankfully, I have not crossed tracks with a bear, but I think they keep clear of the state park because of all the people around. (Note to self: in four full hours of mountain biking on approximately 30-40 miles of trails, you have not met a single other bicyclist... like in Alaska, urban sprawl and overpopulation are not issues here... carry your bear spray! "Yessir!")