Black Bear Sighting while Hiking P7 to King Mountain

I'm leading a hike again on Sunday morning - a more challenging and more interesting one. One of my favourites in Gatineau Park, in fact. This afternoon I motivated myself to meet Jivka (who also pushed herself) to go do this planned hike to remind ourselves of the trails and check conditions prior to leading the group there.

 Well, I am so super glad we got out there for a late afternoon hike. Not only was it a great workout, but about twenty minutes into our hike we saw a beautiful, big black bear. He (or she) was gorgeous!

 Here's what happened: We were on trail #17, a rough and rocky road, and had just come to an intersection with trail #31. Curious, I stopped briefly to see what this trail #31 was all about. I looked left down the trail, then right...and there, about 150 meters away (at a guess), I saw what I first thought was a big dog out all by himself. Of course it was irrational, and my brain adjusted for the reality.

 I said calmly to Jivka, "There's a black bear." There bear, at this point, was looking the other way.

Jivka, distracted, said, "Hmm?" So I repeated, "There! It's a black bear!" I was started to get excited now, and thought I ought to get my cell phone out to snap a pic.

Then the bear turned his head and looked right at us, as we were looking right at him.

Jivka said, "What do you want to do?"

Me, not wanted to temp the bear into seeking a human snack, said, "Let's just keep going!".

Of course, I know that black bears are not really dangerous. Unlike the scary Grizzly, the black bear just wants to go about his business. But still, honestly - I didn't want to be staring down that muzzle!

So back on our course we went. And I have to say, the adrenaline was pumping! We moved up the hills pretty quickly, talking loudly to make sure to scare off any other bears in the area, and we did not take any breaks! We did the 8 km hilly loop in 2 hours and 10 minutes :)

As I mentioned at the beginning, this is one of my favourite routes - it's got rough, rocky and narrow trails, involves some navigating over / around water. It's steep in parts, and really just has a lot of character. Also, it's a loop, which is my preference. This reminds me a lot of the Wolf trails, but it maybe a fraction easier and A LOT less busy since it's not so well known.

Basically, from P7 on Kingsmere, take trails #30, to turn left on trail #1, then left onto trail # 17. After a while, go left onto trail #23. When you get to the main traffic road, cross, turn left and walk about 150 metres. Turn right into the King Mountain parking lot. Follow the King Mountain trail to the right, stopping to enjoy the lookouts along the way. When you are nearly done with this loop, watch for a choice to the right. It is not well marked, but there is a sign that says toward Kingsmere. Take this right-hand fork, as this is trail #8. Stay on #8 until you get back to #30, and keep straight back to the parking lot!!