Nightglow Window

Alaska

Sarah Palin's sudden entrée to the world stage has had an unfortunate byproduct of making quite a few people view Alaskans as bozos. In my experience spending time up there for a few months with my sister, that's definitely not the case.

But the Alaska experience is different. Even in Anchorage, the bona fide big town of Alaska (I'll stop short of calling it a city), the wilderness is just outside the door or down the street. And because of that, you have to be on your toes, as this e-mail from one of my sister's triathlon friends makes perfectly clear:

"Andy: I had an scary experience that you might want to share with the group. Many of you asked for details. Here’s what happened.

I was mountain biking with my dog Barley Friday afternoon near our home. Barley and I have had many run-ins with bears this summer. This one was very different.

We were going downhill on Moen Trail. This trail connects Goldenview just south of Bluebell with Potter Valley Drive just downhill from the bridge. We were going slow downhill and making lots of noise as this is a “bear-y” area and the trail was sloppy from all of the recent rain. Barley, a Goldendoodle, was out in front by about 20’ and was wearing a bear-bell. I was yelling out to warn any bears I was coming.

I heard a ruckus up ahead: grunting/growling and crunching branches. I was expecting an ornery, horny moose that have been prevalent lately. What I got was a 1000lb, angry, charging, brown-bear.

I was at a full stop and yelling when the bear came out of the alders at me. I was straddling my bike going for my pepper spray that was strapped to my cross-bar. But the bear was in my face before I could get the spray out.

I truly felt I was going to be attacked. My life flashed before my eyes….

Then, “Should I punch it in the nose or continue to go for my pepper-spray.” Instead I did neither, afraid that a sudden movement would further provoke it. I stood my ground and yelled at it for all I was worth.

Just as quickly that it was in my face, it turned and ran off down the trail.

It all happened within seconds and inches.

Barley, who has chased off lots of black bears for me this summer, wasn’t as effective against a big brown. He apparently had doubled-back around me; as the bear turned off and ran down the trail Barley came from behind me and gave a couple of half-hearted barks and slowly trotted after the bear.

And that was the end of it.

The interesting thing was that I didn’t startle or surprise this bear. It heard me well before it saw me. Yet it still aggressively came at me. Rick Sinnott, the AF&G biologist thinks it was defending a moose kill which makes sense to me. He's posted incident at the trail heads and suggests steering clear for another week.

I don’t know what the lesson is here. I think more than anything I was lucky. But I did hold my ground. I will however, practice going for my bear-spray and be quicker on the draw. I did get the spray out as soon as it turned away from me, but I decided not to spray it in the ass; it was already retreating.

Needless to say, it was a fast ride back up the hill. Hope that story helps someone be better prepared."

-Dave

Certainly puts my encounters with yappy dogs into perspective.