After rising up from the desert heat that surrounds it, riding through the high country of the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains is simply stunning. With thick groves of ponderosa and sequoia trees, there are times when you feel like you are riding a speeder bike on Endor, except that the little people wearing Ewok suits are replaced by real-life bears.
While the prospect of running across an ornery bear on the trail is a little unsettling, there is also something deeply satisfying about getting out into areas where you are not the top predator. I suppose it’s an integral part of “forest therapy.”
In late July, a riding buddy and I spent a weekend exploring some trails in the Southern Sierras, ranging from technical downhills with log rides and other features, to smooth alpine singletrack. We camped under the stars, and took showers under a freezing high-mountain waterfall. We also donated at least a pint of blood to the local mosquitoes, all of which must have been imported from Alaska. Good stuff.
On our last ride of the weekend, my riding buddy was dreading the climb back up to the car on his single speed, and turned back before the trail finish to get an early start. As it was getting toward sunset and I found myself doing a large part of the climb back by myself, the thought occurred to me that riding alone on the trail through bear country at this time of day might not be the best idea.
Continuing my solo climb, my mind started playing tricks on me as various shadows and hunks of wood took the shape of bears lying in wait. After about an hour of climbing, I finally caught up to and passed my buddy, grumbling something about it not being a good idea to ride alone.
Bear cave-womb? I think Georgia O’Keefe would have liked it.
About half a mile later, the trail overlooked a meadow and I stopped to stare at two curious shapes that looked like bears. As I looked more carefully, it turns out they weren’t bears at all, but just pieces rotting wood. Just as I was laughing at my bear paranoia, a real life bear sitting not too far away from the two hunks of wood sprinted away across the meadow. I didn’t get my camera out in time. Feeling vindicated for my bear paranoia at least, we continued, hoping not to get a closer look at any bears.
About five minutes later, however, we both approached another meadow and spotted two more bears! This time I was able to get the camera out and take a photos before the bears sprinted off. Glad they were as scared of us as we of them. Either that, or the they were satiated because they had already eaten Goldilocks. There are actually two of them in this picture:
Checking out the bikers.
Three Bears stories aside, here’s a few other photos we took in the course of the weekend:
Railing a banked turn on Just Outstanding.
Overlooking Isabella Lake. Photo by Barcy.
One of the most photographed Sequoias ever?
One of several log crossings. This one at least had a rope to help with balance.
Barcy was rocking the log rides! I wasn’t.
They might be giants. Photo by Barcy
Lovely alpine meadow. Beware the bears though.
Sometimes Barcy’s awesome speed cannot be captured by the camera.
This particular trail sucked. Luckily, the views didn’t. Photo by Barcy.
Nice cycling tan! The waterfall shower was definitely a highlight of the trip. Photo by Barcy.
Full photo set can be found here.
