I met my camping neighbors last night when they came over to tell me the family that was at my campsite the night before had a black bear cub sniffing around for some food at 1:30 am. Guess that family decided to activate their car alarm as a deterrent to no success and luckily the ranger showed up and stomped around long enough to have the bear leave. Sounds like a few cubs have been abandoned by momma bear. Did I wake up at 1:15 am and stay awake until about 2:00 am? Maybe. It was nice to hear the ranger drive around our loop during that time.

The neighbors were really nice and are taking an extended vacation visiting numerous sites and parks as they move from Georgia to Oregon. They will actually end up living about thirty minutes from us, small world. They have two kids and it is nice to know the word ‘poop’ is enjoyed being used continuously not only by my kids.

I got up and was raring to go this morning and fortunately I did not beat all the traffic. An early bird driver passed me and after I got about ten feet further down the road I heard something crashing down into the woods from the embankment. I saw the black butt of the bear as it pushed into the woods. Maybe he would not have been so startled by me on my bike and that would have been a close encounter, thank you early bird driver for your service.

A little further on down the road and I see a car from Texas with the hazard lights on as it is stopped in the middle of the road. Another car coming the opposite direction also stopped and obviously this was a sure sign that something interesting was nearby. As I got closer, I see the black bear make it’s way across the road and I pedaled hard to get beside Big Texas. Once there, I looked to the left and saw the black bear stop and look back and it was absolutely beautiful. What a nice looking bear.

This morning was a little chilly according to the Garmin, 37 degrees. The views and animal activity were a nice distraction to keep my mind off of my complaining digits.

The GDMBR and the TransAmerica Trail play a little bit of the childhood game of “tag, your it” while climbing up and coming down from Togwotee Pass. The GDMBR separates from the main highway twice to get in some good service road usage. The first deviation was up Buffalo Valley and when I came back to Highway 26, I met a couple going east to west on a tandem bike and then a young Dutchman by the name of Belle going west to east. It was nice to talk about last year’s adventure with them while having a good morning break before climbing the rest of Togwotee Pass.

After crossing the pass, the GDMBR takes another turn and gets on a service road for about six miles before coming back to the highway. The views are simply amazing on the route and I was so glad to see this different perspective versus just bombing down the highway.

It was not long before I arrived at Falls Campground where I secured a campsite with power for only $2.50 extra. Money well spent as my Zoleo needs recharging. About to take a walkabout and see what these falls are all about.