Our suspicions were raised about the conditions lying ahead when we had to ford a fairly deep stream immediately after turning onto the jeep road. After 5 miles of rough going, we camped at the edge of an aspen grove and had a great mac and cheese dinner next to a small stream. We are in bear country and everyone has a bear story to tell us. A bear broke into an empty house by breaking down the double doors to get at the garbage. A bear destroyed a car when someone left the groceries in overnight.
Bears kill dozens of lambs each year.
With these methods we have had no problems. This is Bill talking. I need to set the record straight about a big mistake, correction, make that a huge mistake, that I made. When we planned this trip months ago I studied the maps and talked to a lot of people. I felt that roads and some trails shown on the maps would be suitable for mountain bikes, even with loaded panniers.