BEWARE OF BEAR AND HUMANS.
Bear encounter about 2.5 miles up the trail. I've never seen so many berries in the lowlands ripening at the same time. There was bear scat in four places in about the first mile. I haven't been back since the slide. I'm not sure the trail is being used as much as it is being overgrown and encroached on by shrubs in places. I grew up in Alaska and made sure we were saying "hey bear" any time we were going through the shrubs. Just before we went around a bend in a dense area, a bear crash through the brush off the trail. No further interaction. Just be very bear smart during berry season. Unrelated to bears, I do miss the old trail before the washout. This was a pleasant day but there are better hikes out there now.
The bigger problem was the new road. While it is wonderful to not roll the dice on blowing out a tire, the general dodginess and danger levels haven't decreased. The road is narrow and there are a significant number of blind turns. Two minutes after we reached the trailhead, there was a major collision just past the entrance. One car, careened off into the woods and hit a tree. Keep in mind folks, there's no 911 within 10 miles and drive slow on the road.
Which brings me to the cyclist. There was a cyclist erratically careening around the road trying to get his cellphone in his shirt pocket. Between that and the blind turns, I stayed back a respectful distance until I could safely pass the cyclist and leave space while not risking a head on collision. At which point he started screaming and cursing at us for NOT passing him. Neat.
I might have preferred rolling the dice on the flat tires than the improved road. Definitely preferred the bears to the humans today.
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