We had a 14-mile (1,700ft elevation change) hike out today, so set our alarm for 5:30am to get up and get going early. Yup, the alarm went off at 5:30am and we promptly re-set it for 6am! 😊
Last look at The Enchanted Valley............
We broke-down camp, ate breakfast, and were on the trail by 8am (and back over that damn bridge), getting to Pyrites Creek by 9:30am. After a quick snack, we continued on our way (making pretty good time) until Brad saw a mother bear and cub in front of us – directly on the trail. We were talking and making noise, which scared the cub who ran across the trail and up a tree. The mother was eating in the shadows, and being dark brown, we would have walked right by her. She heard us and we watched her sniff the air a few times to identify us, and once she was secure knowing that she wasn’t the prey (but were we???), she went right back to eating and left us standing there on the trail watching her, her cub, and thinking, “Huh, gotta get around the Mama Bear and the cub – who went to the other side of the trail. And what do they say……never get between a cub and her mother. Hmmmmm.”
Suzanne took a ton of pictures – the bears were in the shadows
so with a lot of editing (lightening) these were the best she could do….. (Bottom right is the trail.....)
After about 15-minutes, with the cub staying on the right side of the rail in a tree, and the mother staying on the left side of the trail eating, we decided to go off-trail around the left side, into the forest, keeping the mother and her cub on our right. We worked our way back to the trail and continued, arriving to O’Neill Creek at 11:30am.
We also saw this cool-looking bird on the way back….we didn’t have to go around it. 😉
We got to Pony Bridge at 1:45pm where we saw a mule train – they (whomever “they” are…) are doing trail maintenance near the valley – ahhh….that’s why there is a gate at the entrance (however there was no gate on the other side…..).
We took a short break and were back at the car at 3pm. So seven hours, 14 miles, about 30 minutes in breaks (eating, talking, peeing), and two bears. (Yes, our feet were getting a bit tired.)
Overall a very fun time with cooperative weather, great views, fabulous campsites, and a few bears to boot!
One last look at the awesome campsite!
