Instead of taking the long, looping Western States trail, I opted to cross-country up to the ridge following the old logging roads when I could find them. Earlier than I usually start hiking, I thought I might have a reasonable chance of seeing some wildlife. Indeed there was plenty of bear sign along the roads; lots of fresh scat (berries are on the menu these days) along with opened logs, scratched trees, and overturned rocks.
Found what I was hoping to see about an hour into the hike when I ran into a big black bear in willows along what I'm pretty sure was upper Rice Creek. He/she peeked over the 5-6' tall willows about 60' feet away and bolted when catching a glimpse of me. However, the dense brush meant the bear had to struggle pretty mightily to escape - took about 30 seconds of plowing through the brush before I could no longer hear the bear. This might have been as close as I've come to laughing out loud while hiking solo
Topped out on the ridge about 1:45 in (about 1.4 miles north of Mildred at the highpoint) and then traversed the ridge along loose sand, low manzanita, and small talus to the named summit. On my way back down, I tried to follow the ridge north as long as was feasible but ended up dropping down through heavy manzanita and brush
My shins are black and blue today from the nasty descent. Also accidentally kicked open a honey bee hive while I was in thick willows. My escape was slow (perhaps foreshadowed by my rude interruption of the bear earlier 
) and I ended up with at least 3 solid stings. However, as I was within 3/4 mile of the car I was rewarded with another glimpse of a bear running down the hill away from me. I don't think it was the same one encountered earlier in the day (seemed quite a bit smaller).To add insult to literal (but not serious) injury, my tire went flat and I mean "you can hear the air escaping flat" after about 1/4 mile into the long drive back to the highway. Well, no way to get back home in reasonable time now
Drove out on the donut much longer than is healthy, but made it safe and sound
Memorable trip, but I've got a few regrets
