I have lived in Vermont 16 years now...

I have seen moose, deer, fishers, coyotes, porcupine, ground hogs, skunks, beaver, turkey, grouse, hawks, bald eagles, pileated woodpeckers, and many other various mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and insects...

But never a bear...


Cresting a hill there was a black bear crossing the road...

I caught site of him/her about half way across the road...

About the size of my Black lab/Shepard mix but much bulkier with a light brown snout...

Stopped and watched it run off into the woods...

Made my ride...


Unfortunately, later in the ride I had to help a concerned driver track down a house fire in the woods...

Once we found it, he was on his walkie talkie getting the Fire Dept...

Vacation house, no one home...

Sounds like a cub. I'd be more concerned of the mother.

My Dad and I saw a bear once on a ride in NM. It was a Mom and her cub, on the Enchanted Loop, near Sippapu We stopped and gave them plenty of space as I heard they can be quite protective of their cubs. It made our ride too!

I think thats great!! Maybe the wildlife is coming back. I've seen bears in Sequioa National Forest many times, always a treat.

awesome. i've seen a few bears over here, but never during the day, always at night on the back roads.

i did year a loon this morning out on the pond that's across the road from my house. so cool.

A bear can sprint at upwards of 35MPH if need be. I'm just sayin'...

Hello Hammer. I also saw a bear big one 400-500lbs but I my friend am in NWNJ.....I was deep in the woods and BAM!...I just stopped and watched him slowly walk away....kinda ruins the ride..as I am now looking for others....I saw a mommy & cubs last fall now this...Makes one wonder

I came across a bear once in Vermont, somewhere near-ish to Chester. Little stream to my right, big open field to the left. At any rate, I see this adult black bear running across the field pretty much straight towards me. Talk about an moment. I was positive that I was going to die as bear food.

The bear ran across the road maybe 20 feet in front of me, jumped in the river, and started fishing. He'd swipe his paw, and come up with a fish that he'd eat in one gulp. Swipe, gulp. It was pretty cool to watch once I realized that he wasn't interested in me as food.

+1

I've seen 4 bears in total this year while on rides. The only time I get worried is if there is a cub around. You don't want to between it and the mother. Otherwise they usually run away or stop and look at you.

That's a need-to-change-shorts moment!

I see black bears occasionally on my morning commute. Brown bears much more rarely, usually when the salmon are running in Ship or Campbell Creeks. While it certainly gets my heartrate and cadence up a notch, but for the most part they look at me, say "too fatty", and get back to whatever they were doing. I did have stare-down with a juvenile brown (slightly taller than am)a couple years back (he was put down a week or so later) where I didn't want to trigger the chase instinct. I came grunting and wheezing up the hill, turned a corner, and there he stood- slightly perplexed by the sight. He moved off after a few tense moments. This was a couple blocks from downtown Anchorage. After a local cyclist was mauled during a 24 hour mountain bike race last year, I'm a little less bold in my dealings with bears.

That said, I'm generally more scared of moose. They're much more unpredictable and common.

Once came around a corner and nearly hit a male peacock doing the whole flashy tail thing.

Riding in Del Water Gap park in NJ last summer and saw mother bear and two cubs on adjacent hillside. Couple minutes before, I was hitting 55 on a big downhill. I would not want to hit a bear, or even most bugs, at that speed.

Hammertoe, I saw one just below Somerset Reservoir while looking to fish the Upper Deerfield; a mother with two cubs.. Made this father with his son very nervous as I was a 20 minute walk thru heavily forrested trails from the road and my car.

Fixed.

Last summer on a ride in the Canadian Rockies, I went by 3 separate Grizzly Bears feeding in the ditch on berries. You find out your maximal power output when there is a Grizzly Bear 15 ft away. Fortunately, I don't think they even looked up at me.

I saw a bunny today on my ride.

We have a place in the adirondacks and my son was jogging down the camp road to town (a quiet, windy paved road). He came around a corner and was within twenty feet of a fairly small black bear. The bear stood up, they looked at each other and both backed away in different directions. He was definitely shaken up. It wasn't much taller than him but definitely a shock.

I can sprint to upwards of 36MPH when being chased by a bear!

Flatlander!

I've seen all those things from my porch, even had a loon land on the road in front of my house.


You don't have to outrun the bear, just your riding partner.

i came across 2 or 3 bears on a ride on skyline drive in virginia a few years back. I even snapped a photo of one

Came across a mama and 2 cubs while riding home on the local MUP after dark one night last fall. This MUP had opened not long before and I thought the bear family was just some kitschy trailside art when they dimly appeared at the edge of my lights. Then came a "WHUFF?"

Oh crap, they're REAL!

All 3 of them stood, very straight, with my blinking headlight strobing back at me from their eyes in a way that suddenly made me aware of my bowels. It was a Gary Larson cartoon begging for a caption! All 4 of us stared at each other until Mama dropped to all fours and took off up into the trees with her cubs in tow. It was one of the weirdest commuting moments I've ever had.