Instant Karma
I couldn’t stop thinking about the trail. We’d had such a great time the previous week, minus one Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, that I was chomping at the bit to get back in the saddle. It was now late May and the days were growing longer. I left work early on a Friday in hopes of getting an early start on the ride. The plan was to drive to the start of the Ironhorse/John Wayne/Palouse to Cascades for a 3:30 pm start, but unfortunately, we were stopped in traffic for over 2.5 hours where a semi truck ran off the road in way that the trailer blocked the road entirely. Because of this, we didn’t get to the trailhead until 6pm which would just barely give us enough time to do the planned ride, but once again, the uncertain and chaotic nature of life had other plans….
As I was assembling the bike and trailer, a woman walked up, pushing a fully loaded touring bicycle, and she asked if I could give her a ride to town. I told her I'd be happy to help, but that I only had just enough time to do my ride and that if she was willing to wait, I'd be back in 3 hours. She said that was fine and then mentioned that she needed the ride because her chain had just broken. I asked her if she had the tools to fix it and she said, "no". I told her she was in luck and that I did. I asked her if she had the quick links that fit her size chain and she said, "no". Quick links are small pieces of metal that are similar to the links in a bike chain and are used to reconnect a broken chain. Anyone who is on bike tour should carry a few of these as they only weigh a few grams and are the only way to repair a broken chain on the trail.
I thought it was fairly irresponsible of her to not be carrying such a simple, small, inexpensive, and essential piece of equipment on her journey across the U.S. and Canada and I could have left her stranded, but decided to be nice and take a look at her chain for her. To my surprise, she had the exact same chain that I did, KMC X1 Silver 1/2 x 3/32, which meant that my spare quick links would fit her chain perfectly and get her up and running. I set about fixing her chain which normally would take just a few minutes, but it wound up taking way longer than planned. Though we had the same chains, our bikes had a fundamental difference: I ride a single speed with a Rohloff Gearhub and she uses a derailleur and triple chain ring. Since her chain was off the bike, I didn’t know how to properly rethread it and she didn’t know how either. I was starting to have serious doubts about this woman’s trip based on lack of knowledge about her bike and her lack of equipment for basic repairs, but I kept them to myself. By the time I finished, there wasn’t going to be enough light to do the entire planned ride, so the dogs and I would have to cut our miles in half. It was frustrating to have to change our plans because of a careless semi-truck driver and a totally unprepared cyclist, but in the end, my good karma would be rewarded…
Zilla still keyed up from our encounter - Near Ragnar, WA
With her bike fixed, the woman (I never found out her name) and I rode together for a few minutes, but it quickly became obvious that she was much faster than I was (it probably had something to do with the fact that she didn’t carry any tools to fix her bike with….) so we parted ways even though we were going in the same direction on the trail. Because of the lateness of the day, the dogs and I had the forest mostly to ourselves. We started the long climb up towards the Snoqualmie Tunnel some 20 miles away.
After finding a logical spot to turn around where we could pick up the trail the following day, we began heading back to the car in the failing light. We came around a bend and in the middle of the trail was a beautiful, jet black bear! I'd estimate about 175 lbs, so not extremely large, but still a good size. The bear was only 50 yards away and we made immediate eye contact. Then, without hesitation, it bolted off the side of the trail and into the forest before I even thought about the camera. Zilla had noticed the bear too and went nuts! You can see how amped up he is in this photo taken about 2 minutes after the bear went into the woods; Zilla was still itchin' for a fight! He spent the next 5 minutes or so frantically sniffing the air and barking. We hung around for a bit to see if the bear would come back.
I’m sure some people probably think I’m nuts for hanging around, but I’m very comfortable around black bears. I spent part of my career with the National Park Service as a bear ranger in Yosemite National Park where my job was to chase bears out of campgrounds and other human inhabited areas. Years later, while working at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, I once came home to find a bear in my kitchen with his butt hanging out of my refrigerator. I wound up having to escort him back outside. I have had hundreds of bear encounters in my life, have learned a thing or two about their behavior, and have a healthy respect for them. Based on my experience, I could tell this bear was not a threat and that it would be safe to try and observe him from a safe distance. Ultimately though, he did not come back and so we headed on our way.
Had we not gotten stuck by the semitruck and then stopped to help the cycle tourist in need, we would have come through the trail at a totally different time of day and never had had our brief but memorable encounter with such a magnificent animal. Our good karma had paid off almost instantly.
