we found out yesterday from a neighbor that a person was killed by a grizzly very close to where we live. near the road we frequently use for hiking and mountain biking. plenty of other people use it too, not obscure, but off season, like now, use is low. road is closed to motorized until roads dry out. our neighbor walks there regularly, we ride, people ride horses up the road. when we hike/ride we carry bear spray (on the bike frame) because we are 'bear aware". carry binoculars, scan slopes for anything obvious. not heard yet if there was a "reason" for the attack or if it was predatory. mamma bears with cubs are aggressive. if the person or if someone accidentally walked up on a carcass. this is extremely close to home for us. especially since that is where we are heading tomorrow. we wont be riding there until the bear issue is resolved.
cathy states have become more wary of lawsuits. avalanche control is a big part of highway safety here especially on the interstate with its heavier traffic. we have a lot of bridges here too. falling ice is not an issue, but bridge collapse is! and landslides. huge landslide here 7 years ago (Oso) was a near miss for us. 43 people were killed mostly in their homes, but also on the hwy. we drove thru the area 2x that morning .missed it by half an hour. went to the mountains but were uneasy because we saw so many minor slides along the forest service road. we decided to bail, and not do the planned trip. the drive home was fine. while we were unloading our car our neighbor texted me pictures of what had just happened. since that day I always tell her where we are going and check in when we return. the state ended up paying our a lot of money to families who were killed though it was a slope that had never been considered risky at all. I feel the state has to be very careful.
