swalker
Very helpful member
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2014
- Messages
- 1,580
- Reason
- DX MND
- Diagnosis
- 07/2014
- Country
- US
- State
- CO
- City
- Vail
We are back from Yellowstone and I am still recovering and going through all the pictures I took (about 5,000). I will post a trip report soon, hopefully within the next week. In short, it was a great, but very damp, trip.
Now that we are home, I have been resting a lot while it rains outside. Yesterday we got enough of a break in the weather for me to try a stroll in the wheelchair along one of my favorite bike paths. I have done this many, many times on my bike, but this is only the second try on the wheelchair (it is only recently that the snow has completely cleared from it).
About 2 miles into my stroll, I came a cross a black bear on the bike path. It was a beautiful animal, but I was a bit concerned about how it would react to a wheelchair vs a pedestrian or cyclist. I was upwind, so the bear could certainly smell me. It did not acknowledge my presence, but ambled along the path until it felt like getting off. I gave it a few minutes to get clear of the path and then proceeded past its last known point. A bit scarier in a wheelchair limited to 6.5 mph vs my bike where I used to be able to do about 40 mph on that stretch. Bears can do 20+.
I have done that bike path hundreds of times over the last 20 years. My wife has done it about 5 times. She has seen a bear on the path, but up until yesterday, I had not. Now I have. It was great and very memorable.
The stroll was wonderful. I went 9 miles round trip gaining about 1000 feet. I saw crows, chickadees, robins, a stellar jay, a redtail hawk, a marmot, ... and a bear. It was very pleasant.
Steve
Now that we are home, I have been resting a lot while it rains outside. Yesterday we got enough of a break in the weather for me to try a stroll in the wheelchair along one of my favorite bike paths. I have done this many, many times on my bike, but this is only the second try on the wheelchair (it is only recently that the snow has completely cleared from it).
About 2 miles into my stroll, I came a cross a black bear on the bike path. It was a beautiful animal, but I was a bit concerned about how it would react to a wheelchair vs a pedestrian or cyclist. I was upwind, so the bear could certainly smell me. It did not acknowledge my presence, but ambled along the path until it felt like getting off. I gave it a few minutes to get clear of the path and then proceeded past its last known point. A bit scarier in a wheelchair limited to 6.5 mph vs my bike where I used to be able to do about 40 mph on that stretch. Bears can do 20+.
I have done that bike path hundreds of times over the last 20 years. My wife has done it about 5 times. She has seen a bear on the path, but up until yesterday, I had not. Now I have. It was great and very memorable.
The stroll was wonderful. I went 9 miles round trip gaining about 1000 feet. I saw crows, chickadees, robins, a stellar jay, a redtail hawk, a marmot, ... and a bear. It was very pleasant.
Steve