The plan was to shuttle to Southfork and then ride all the way to my house in Redlands. We followed that plan but there were a few unexpected things that happened along the way. The first 12 miles were typical great SART singletrack with about 70% downhill. Then came the 2.5 mile climb to the restaurant.
After a good lunch and a fun technical singletrack we were on the fireroad that goes to the turnoff for Morton Peak. About 2 miles down I was stopped and off my bike waiting for Joy, and I look down the fireroad and see a full grown brown bear walking right towards me. There was nowhere to go but back up the fireroad. I quietly moved around the corner and then started riding back where I came from. After waiting a good 5 minutes we proceeded down slowly and making a lot of noise. Luckily the bear was not to be seen again. It's the first bear I've ever seen in the wild.
After the rest of that downhill came the steep 1.5 mile climb to Morton Peak. There was a nice couple that had rented the lookout tower for the night and they let us come up and check it out. After spending a little time there and taking some pictures we were off for the last of our ride.
The Morton Peak singletrack was actually in much better shape than it was 8 months ago when I last rode it, but it's still overgrown in a lot of sections. We managed to get to the pavement just before dark. We took mostly side roads the last 8 miles back to my house for a total of 40 miles (actual odometer reading on my computer was 39.99 miles)
-----------------------------------------The rock I would have used---------------------------------------------Waterfall along Middle------
The exact spot I saw the bear. ----- to fight him off-------------------Joy a few miles past Glass Rd.--------Control Rd.-----------------
----------------------------------------The lookout Tower at Morton Peak------------------------------------------------------------------------
The ride was over, but there's more to write about. We drove back to Southfork and I was back to my car at 11:00pm. As I'm coming down the mountain, thirty minutes later, just past the Forest Falls turnoff, I see two cars coming from the other direction. The car behind wants to pass the other car, so the front car pulls into the shoulder to let her pass, she goes to pass him and just as she starts to pull next to him she sees a dead deer laying right in the middle of her lane. She starts to turn to the left to avoid it. Remember, I'm coming from the other direction watching this...she turned right towards me. As soon as she did that she realized I was coming right at her so she swerved back to the right and hit the truck the guy was driving. I look in my rear view mirror and all I see is a giant wall of sparks from the guys truck flipping. I quickly stop and turn back. Luckily everyone was okay. The girl was perfectly fine (other than a little shaken up) and the guy driving the truck had some neck pain and was eventually taken to the hospital by the paramedics, but he seemed okay and there wasn't a scratch on him. It was pretty remarkable considering his truck flipped at least a couple of times and looked to be totaled.
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