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On my bicycle trip around Lake Superior in August of 1977, I rode counter-clockwise. I am not sure why I chose this orientation, but as a prospective mathematics major, this was a natural choice. (Mathematicians always measure angles starting from the positive horizontal axis and proceeding counter-clockwise.) At roughly 2:00 (± 30 minutes) on this imposed clock upon Lake Superior, I had an incident that I have not forgotten.
As I was biking along the major Canadian road #17 that roughly follows much of the perimeter of the lake, I started noticing blueberry plants in the ditches of the highway and surrounding land. Since it was the middle of the afternoon and I wanted a snack, this seemed like a good place to take a break. I was on a moderate uphill on the road and I pulled over and laid my bike down on the grass, just off the shoulder. I brought a plastic bag with me and started picking.
As is often the case when I pick fruit like this, I use the policy of one for me and one for the bag for later consumption. (I guess this is good practice for working with one's finances also; spend some, but also save some. And 50% is a good goal for a savings rate in one's latter stages.) Unlike the time that my family picked blueberries east of South Bend, IN (check out a related blueberry story), these bushes were not dense with berries and they were the typically smaller-sized, wild blueberries. Thus, I wandered about the area seeking more and was soon a little ways from my bike.
After having picked for a while, I found myself satisfied and with a cache to add to my oatmeal for breakfast the next day. As I headed back towards my bike, I realized that I was not alone picking berries. Off to the side of the road, a bit up the hill, was a black bear also enjoying itself. Since the road didn't have much traffic, the bear felt fine picking there. But, I didn't feel fine with him picking there.
I thought about my options. The distance to my bike was about half of the distance the bear was from the bike, so I was confident that I could get to my bike. But then what? I could play it safe and go downhill, opposite the direction I was heading, or try to continue on my path and hope I could pick up my speed and go uphill. I decided the latter made more sense, and so I decided to get on my bike and pedal against traffic in the far lane (when there was no traffic). I got on and pedaled as quickly as I could, and I was soon past the bear and then moved over to the right lane. Looking back, I saw the bear just doing what he was doing before: trying to gorge on the blueberries and paying me no heed.
Published 2021-06-01. Revised 2025-07-02.
If you find any error(s) in the text, please let me know. Thanks. Contact me with errors or comments using hibbardac@gmail. [Back to the top] [About the author, Al]
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