Local man helps bicyclist chased by bears

Aaron Hankins was driving south on the Haines Highway on Aug. 31, down a long grade, when he saw two juvenile brown bears running with traffic on the side of the road. He glanced at the bears as he passed them and continued down the highway until he saw a man on a bicycle on the opposite side of the road coming up the grade.

"Do you want to sit in the passenger seat and wait for them to go by?" asked Hankins when he pulled over to warn the cyclist of the coming bears.

The man, who did not have a gun or any bear spray, declined the offer. He had already outpaced two black bears since beginning...