18 October 2008 Big Wild Nature

Anchorage adopted a new slogan this summer: Big Wild Life. The local wildlife read the press releases and soon starting playing their role in a bigger and wilder way than the city marketers had planned on. In late June, a teenage bike racer was mauled by a bear during the wee hours of a 24-hour bike race in the large city park near us. This was the first mauling in Anchorage's history, surprising given how many bears inhabit the parks and fringes of the city, which consists mostly of open military land or Chugach State Park. Wildlife experts and the city recommended staying away from trails along the creeks running through the wilder parks in town, especially Rover's Run, the site of the attack.

The bears continued to be seen more than in previous summers. A sow with two cubs charged runners in two separate incidents. We learned that we had been in the same spot as one of those charges about 15 minutes before the runner was there. We never saw the bears but this was a reminder that the bears are always there -- they're just usually avoiding us as much as we'd like them to. Diva rides were somewhat modified to avoid the creeks and obvious bears. Then a second mauling happened on Rover's Run in early August and the city closed the trail.

Other trails in the park follow the branches of Campbell Creek or cross it, so anyplace is potential bear territory. I strapped bear spray into my water bottle cage, as I do every summer, and rang my bike bell often as I biked there, whether alone or with others. Luckily, I never saw a bear.

Yesterday Paul and I wanted to ride in the park and decided to see if Rover's Run was open yet. Officially, it is open, but it's current condition suggests that the city's slogan should be Big Wild Nature. A recent windstorm brought gusts near 100 mph in some parts of town. We rode the lower half of Rover's, about 1 mile, and had to climb over, under, or around half a dozen downed trees. We skipped the upper half because we heard that over 20 trees had fallen across the trail. The windstorm must have scared the bears away; we didn't see any tracks in the thin layer of snow.

We crossed Campbell Creek several times on other trails and were turned around at it once when a little used trail, new to us, just ended at the creek. At one bridge, I looked down to see bear tracks in the snow on a gravel bar. We explored a new mushing trail and followed day-old moose and bear tracks. Despite the snow, the bears are still grazing and preparing for the winter nap. A hunter in the Anchorage 'burbs legally shot a large boar in his backyard this week.

All the bear activity this winter re-aroused the debate about whether or not wildlife has a place in Anchorage. For some people, it would seem it does as long as it doesn't act too wild. For many of us, we live in Alaska because of the wilderness and the wildlife. Anchorage's parks allow us to experience that on a daily basis and remind us what a special place we are blessed to inhabit. We have to recreate in the city parks like we would in the state park and more remote parts of the state. Big and wild wildlife is everywhere. Respect it, try to avoid it, and if you're lucky, you'll see it from a safe distance.