Well the winter rains have finally come to my part of Oregon so as usual I find myself recounting last summer’s adventures. So I just thought I’d finally get this story to you guys.
It was dawn as I slung my leg over my trusty Mountain Bike. I had a great early morning ride planned for this day. But this wasn’t just any day. This ride was commemorating ten years of mountain biking bliss. I was only 13 on that day ten years past. As I climbed up that deserted gravel road I couldn’t believe just how long ago that really was.
I made good time to the top of the ridge that ran between the road I had ridden up and the one I would take down. On this ride I had a mission as well. All along the ridge there are pieces of an old railroad that once carried timber from that area. Given the size of trees that had grown up in-between the trestle timbers I figured that it must be at least 80 years old.
Stopping occasionally to snap pictures for a book I will more than likely never publish I became tired of repeatedly fishing my camera out of my backpack. I’m not usually so reckless as to let a spendy camera swing wildly around my neck while riding but I was on that day. After all I was riding along a relatively level ridge.
Not too far into the dawn I came to a new clear cut. I mourned the loss of my trees and thanked the destruction for a fresh new view. I took some more pics and rode on. I only got about halfway threw the clear cut when I came to a huge pile of crap. Now I’ve seen enough crap in the woods to know when some things wrong. So I stopped and had a close look. The stool was huge bigger than any bear, mountain lion, dog or anything else I’d ever seen! I also took note that this stool consisted of mainly berries.
Just before saddling up to move on I regretted not being able to at least get a pic of the stool for the fine folks at bigfootforums to look at! Thirty feet down the road I skidded to a stop and kicked myself in the head several times for forgetting that I had a digital camera hanging from my bloody neck! I put my water bottle next to the poop so I could estimate its size later on. Then just before leaving I said out loud, "Well it either came from Bigfoot or the biggest baddest mack daddy black bear of the whole Pacific Northwest."
The large pile of poop quickly vanished from my mind as I continued on. Further on a mile or so I came to a climb. But by this time I was really regretting my choice not to bring any food with me. I was starving and starting the wheeze pretty bad because of it. Never the less this was a long but relatively shallow climb and I was going to ride it.
My head was down and I was completely out of breath when I herd a sound to my left. Heroooooooahhhh came screaming from the bushes 75 feet to my left. I swear it sounded like a Tasmanian devil screaming thew a PA system. Blahhhhhhhhh one again came screaming thew the thick rhododendrons to my left and slightly above me. I quickly dismounted and drew my knife from it’s sheave without even realizing it then I looked for cover. Stink you’d think that in the middle of a forest in Oregon one could find a tree to hind behind but there were not trees anywhere close to my position. I thought to myself oh my god this is it I’m going to see Bigfoot!!! No wait my rational mind took over it must be a couple elk fighting or something. Crash bang herahhhhhh once again came from the bushes.
By this time the brush was being whipped into frenzy like ten people were charging around up there. Then I saw something. Threw a hole in the brush I caught a glimpse of a big black bear butt running parallel to me. "Oh cool I thought to myself I love seeing bears in the wild." "After all I’ve seen three black bears and it’s always a great experience."
It was at that moment that the bear took a abrupt right hand turn and came charging directly at me!!! Oh F--udge this was the Mack daddy black bear of the entire pacific Norwest and he was coming to kill me!! He was closing at full speed and my mind was in overdrive. The bear got closer and closer and I prepared to run to a tree that separated us. I was going to have the tree on my left side, hold up my bike like a shield on the right and stab threw the frame. But when he got within forty feet he stopped.
It was at this time I became aware that perhaps my years of watching the Discovery Channel had just paid off. Especially that show about predatory black bears. Because at that point I suddenly became aware that I had turned into a wild man. As soon as the bear had come towards me I had started jumping up and down wile screaming. Not just any screaming this was screaming like Ozzy, Kurt Kobain, Steven Tyler and Ted Nugent but mostly like Ted Nugent. No wonder the bear had stopped.
But this presented another issue the bear had stopped not gone away. The dammed thing was just sitting there looking at me. So naturally I did the stupid thing and took a couple of shaky blurry pictures of the thing. But even after I put the camera away he was still there looking at me.
So there we sat for was seemed like an entirely stink it must have been nearly a minuet. But I still knew that I was in deep trouble because he still didn’t seem the least bit afraid of me. Then he made a quick jerking move to his left. I immediately knew what this meant. When I would play with our big guard dogs some times they would stop and make the same strange jerk. This jerk was to see if he was going to chase me or if I was going to chase him. Pow out the screaming monkey man again I even took a step in the direction of the bear. But dam it worked he tore off into the brush and away from me.
It was at time point that I retrieved my pepper spray from my backpack. Doh! Listing closely I determined that the bear had only gone a short distance out of my sight into the brush. He was giving me room to pass but that was it. I spend the next quarter mile walking my bike with a knife in one hand and pepper spray in the other.
The rest of my 10th anniversary ride was uneventful. I could not have asked for a better gift on that ten-year celebration ride. And honestly if that bear had killed me I’d be fine with that. Better to get in on ones feet than laying in bed 40 years from now anyway. I am of the opinion that humanity simply doesn’t have the right to do what ever it wants to. I feel privileged to have almost gotten attacked by a bear. It’s nature’s world we just live in it for a time. Oh and do at least carry strong stream pepper spray on your Bigfoot adventures! Oh and have it handy. (ie not burried in a backpack) doh!




R

Sounds like a close one, be careful out there man. Maybe when you started acting like a wildman the bear thought that you were buddies with the local sasquatches and calling them in!

Pictures we want to see some of them pictures you say you took.

Dude! :willies:

Glad to see you made it back in one undigested piece.

A good example of what a saquatcher can come across in the forest.

And the pictures are.......post them!

Rains - was the bear running on 2 feet? Are you sure it was a bear?

was from the picture but I can tell you that the downed tree behind the bear was laying more than 4 feet off the ground. So he was big.





R

wow :notworthy:

Yes I almost got it on that one. But at least I got a pic. Never did get a good look at the cougar that screached at me from a few feet away then ran up a hill many years ago.

But it is proof that bike riding is the best way to happen on large creatues. I've happened opon cougars, three bears, many many deer, Elk and qute a few coyotes.



R

Yes, cycling is the best method IMO, although it has its dangers. You can travel in a given direction much faster that you can walk, and the smooth pedal action makes very little noise apart from the chain and the turn of the wheel which would sound like a gust of wind to an animal. The animal would also have less time to react.

Any more pics?

Sorry to say that the rest of the pictures are super blurry and not worth posting. The 4 year old digi camera I was using had a slow shutter speed so most of pictures I took were pretty bad.



R

Oh my gawd what a bear!

Glad you made it though and the wildman stomp did the trick. Too scary.

Wow!! Great story, RAINS. I am glad that you made through the experience unscathed.

forget it because I can't seem to attach a photo. Sorry!

Check the size of the photo PR.


That's usually the problem.

OK - here we go...RAINS - that bear IS really scary. Did you notice the bigfoot watching you from deeper in the woods?

AHHHHHHHH !!!!!

Holy cow!

I'd say you got lucky there Rains... dang, there's a nightmare come true.

Um, are we sure the bf was watchin Rains? Maybe he came to help that bear that was stuck under that log.

Oh no not anouther blobsquatch! And dam this one was actually hunting me! Ok ok here is the only other kind of ok picture I took. I'll let you have this one full size too.




R

The first photo seems much closer. Did you zoom in or walk right up to the bear? Is this the first time you've ever come across one in this area? Do you think it would have killed you if you didn't make tarzan noises?

If I may say so... Having a bear try to eat you can really mess up your camera shots. :willynilly:

Not to mention your shorts!

I'm not an animal expert by any means but you may have been able to outrun THAT one. That is one FAT bear! You could throw a Twinkie at him and run to the car.

The bigfoot is in the trees in this photo. Did he drop the log on the bear to protect you RAINS? :doh:

No way I could have outrun him. He was charging to fast! Plus I was tired and on level ground. I think I might have used the zoon a little but not much. From the sounds he was making I came real close to buying the farm. From what I have read I did the perfect thing to avoid a black bear attack. Try to make it think that you are bigger and badder than he is. Thank god for the Discovery Channel!




R

Man, I was kidding around earlier and all, but I woulda had to change my drawers after that encounter. Glad you shared your story.


Thig