I posted this in another forum but thought it may be of interest. I have included the crappy wolverine picture but not the scenic ones as I don't have a hosting site and I don't want to resize. This happened in the Columbia valley near Jumbo glacier and the resort of Panorama. As I mentioned in the story there has been two grizzly mauling's this spring near Calgary and a distant friend of mines sister was mauled (died) downhill mtb biking at Panorama about 10 years ago. Carry bear spray where you can get at it..
The story:
Does anyone have a good setup for a bear spray holster on their handlebars? When it the bush I carry one on my backpack (in case I need to walk out) but I learned a few days ago that bear spray that you cannot access quick is useless.
Due to extreme heat I did a late solo evening trip on some mellow but remote two tracks / bush roads. In the valley at 7:00pm the temp was around 40C (104 F) and it felt like a blast furnace the plan was to get some elevation (up to 6000-7000') and hopefully that and the glaciers and their creeks would bring the temp to something reasonable. It was glorious, much cooler up in the mountains.
Unfortunately my ultimate destination was out of reach due to a glacial stream washing out the road. Being solo and late in the evening it was not worth the risk. I hadn't seen a soul in over 20kms.
Tomorrow I would ride to the ridge on the right in this picture (around 9000-10000' I believe)
The next morning I woke early at 5:45am, gassed the bike and headed off to gain some serious altitude. The temp was already at 22C (72F) and climbing. I was solo so I was consciously riding at a moderate pace and enjoying the morning. On this usually busy trail again I saw no one. About 18km up the abandoned mining road things got interesting....
First I came across something I have never seen before in the wild. It was a medium grey wolverine ambling along the road edge. He seemed pre-occupied and didn't pay me much attention. I stopped, fumbled for my phone and got this crappy pic. I had heard horror stories about these things being viscous so I planned to ride past him at pace and keep going. In hindsight there was a reason on why the Wolverine seemed preoccupied (you NEVER see these things, they are solitary and avoid humans). I rolled the throttle, went around the bend of the road in the pic and nearly crapped my Klims... Smack dab in the middle of the road about 30 yds away was a rather large bear standing on a kill. (Sorry no pic, I was crapping my pants lol) Worse the bear hadn't noticed me (I was downwind) and when he did he immediately stood on two legs and sniffed to air to see what I was. I was strangely calm and could see that he was just identifying me. He looked to be about 8' tall (I am about 6'5" with boots and helmet and he looked a good foot taller.) I He then dropped down and swung his head side to side. I didn't get a good feeling about that but I think it meant "My kill you F off!" I blipped my throttle a few times while backing the bike up and sideways so I could throttle my way out the way I came which I did... The wolverine had either been driven from the kill or was poking around to see if he could steal some.
First time in 3 decades of riding in the woods of riding up on a grizzly. My timing couldn't have been worse: Isolated road, solo and bear sitting on a kill. Had the bear decided to charge I was in dire shape. He didn't seem real fazed about the engine noise. Bear spray strapped to the back does nothing here. So back to my original question. Does anyone have a good way of securing a spray holster on their bars? I am a little nervous days later but not at the time. There has been two grizzly mauling fatalities in my area this spring and that has been in the back of my mind. Oh yeah the crappy wolverine pic, he is in the middle on the left side of the road. To topit all off as I was riding back down a moose came out of the bush beside me and nearly gave me a heart attack at first. F me, enough riding for the day!
