After a day of some 30 kilometres of riding I was only thinking of rest and a warm room. The sun was low in the sky and the chill of late autumn evening replaced the mild day. I was tired and was coasting on the downgrade. I was close to the animals before I instinctively and almost reluctantly halted my progress. I thought I might have to wait some time but after about a minute the bears decided to leave and went down the very steep slope of the deep gully to the right of the path.
Black bears fear nothing but they always seem to prefer to avoid confrontation.
Given a few seconds after an unexpected meeting they calmly find a way to depart. A person can bicycle almost the entire distance between Ottawa-Hull and the Pontiac on secondary roads. There is only a section of highway 148 bypassing Luskville that has to be used. There is a bike path from there through Hull, to Sacre Coeur Boulevard and Montclair Avenue. There are many paths in the vicinity of Gatineau Park and it is possible to find a quiet route to the junction of St. Raymond Boulevard and Mountain Road.