Bear takes a nibble out of mountain bike trek
Head Out
Published: June 22, 2006
Last Modified: July 10, 2006 at 03:18 AM
Jay Nordeen's heart skipped a beat. He slammed on his brakes. Then he turned his titanium custom-made mountain bike 180 degrees.
"Sssp... Sssp... Sssp..." Nordeen sputtered, trying to say "spray" (as in, "Grab the bear spray").
Words, at the time, couldn't describe Nordeen's encounter. He was leading a pack of five mountain bikers, including me, down the technical, bear-infested Russian Lakes Trail on the Kenai Peninsula.
Starting at the Russian River Campground, it's a 23.5-mile round tripper to Upper Russian Lake and back. We started at Gwin's Lodge, Restaurant & Bar, an awesome eatery about 1.5 miles east of the campground at Mile 52 of the Sterling Highway.
We parked there because the campground's driveway was ridiculously packed on Father's Day. It was lined with cars from the pay booth for a quarter-mile back to the highway.
Nevertheless, riding 25 miles and ending the day at Gwin's for a juicy burger and cold beer was our goal. But in a split second, one bright blond bruin changed our agendas and the way we look at mountain-bike travel in bear country forever.
The trail travels through some of the most beautiful country in Alaska, passing thick spruce forests, lush green meadows and burnt trees from past wildfires.
For about the first four miles, the trail is gravel, wide and slightly uphill. Then it forks at the Lower Russian Lake and follows the Upper Russian River.
Most of those we passed, before reaching the fork, looked like tourists. They were walking either to or from the Russian River Falls. Most wore light jackets, blue jeans and carried an occasional fishing rod.
The falls is a popular two-mile destination to watch red salmon, rainbow trout and Dolly Varden gather at the falls' base, waiting to find the muster and leap upstream, fighting the arduous white-water currents.
We felt like fish battling ferocious flowing water ourselves after we took the left fork and headed south into thick bear country on a single-track trail. But in reality we were just grown men, tussling with Mother Nature's wild playground.
We had a blast dodging jagged rocks and exposed roots, cranking our two-wheeled crafts through foot-deep puddles and up gnarly hills. We also helped one another portage our bikes and bodies across a raging creek.
At Mile 3.5, beware of the muddy, six-foot wide creek that doesn't have a solid bridge. There's a slippery narrow spruce lying across it. Just put your bike against the log so the current pounds your bike against the log. Then use your bike as a guardrail as you carefully make your way across.
And don't forget your bug dope. Mosquitoes are thick this time of year, and they will instantly swarm you after dismounting your bike.
So we kept riding. The more miles we rode, the farther and farther we grew apart. Two of us were expert riders, two were mediocre and one was just taking it easy.
Occasionally one of us would yell, "Heeeeeyy bear!" to let some unsuspecting bruin know that we were approaching. Bear scat littered the trail.
Around Mile 12, Nordeen -- one of the expert riders -- came to a sudden stop when he saw the rear end of a 200-pound black bear following the trail. He would have grabbed a can of bear spray, which is the most effective way to defend yourself in a bear attack without using a firearm, but the taking-it-easy rider had the bottle. After waiting for his arrival, we put the bottle in the netting of Nordeen's backpack and kept riding, yelling the entire way in a five-person pack.
"Six percent!" one rider screamed, referring to his body fat.
Moments later, about a half a mile before our destination, Nordeen's heart skipped. He saw a 400-plus-pound grizzly standing in a grassy meadow.
Trying to say the word spray while turning his bike around, the bear quickly dashed into the woods. Traveling in a large pack likely saved us from a possible bear attack.
As we reached Gwin's safely, the bike odometer read 24.99 miles. Though we technically didn't reach 25, we were lucky our stomachs were still in tact.
"That bear cheated us out of 25 miles," Nordeen said.
But at least it didn't cheat us out of that juicy burger and cold beer.
• Daily News reporter Kevin Klott be reached at kklott@adn.com.
Russian Lakes Trail
Length: 23.5 miles round trip
Start at: Russian River Campground, Mile 54 Sterling Highway
Watch out for: bears, mosquitoes, slippery crossing over creek at Mile 3.5 of the trail
Web site: For updates on trails around Alaska, check out www.mtbr.com. Click on "Forums" and scroll down to "Alaska."
