My Best Bear Story!

Once upon a time, actually June 11,2008, I was fortunate enough to be a guest at North Face Lodge at the end of the park road in Denali National Park. The day prior, I had quitre the workout hiking for several hours on the tundra, while battling willows and alder up AND downhill. On this day, I opted for the easier "foray", hoping to spot more wildlife. Shortly after getting started, we happened upon a farily large (in my book) grizzly, directly on the side of the road munching on edibles. Everyone on the foray was EXTREMELY excited to have this large bear only 5-10 feet from our windows! Like any
excited nature enthusiast, we all quietly flung open the windows and stuck our camers out of them to get even closer!

After watching for several minutes, we decided it best to move along. Well, great minds... without warning, the grizzly jumped with a start directly onto the roadway, and eventually right in front of our vehicle! So, for about 2 miles, we slowly coasted behind the bear, who definitely owned the road at this point, not knowing how far he planned on going!

Suddenly, as fast as he jumped on to the road, he quickly ran to the right side of the road, resulting in us coming to a screeching halt! For an instant, we really thought he was going to dig up a tasty Arctic Ground Squirrel (known in these parts as a bear burrito).

Instead, he appearantly took advantage of the near 24 hour daylight/twillight and overindulged,and now, was in need of a cool place to rest! The 8 of us on board could simply not believe it! We all kept hastily snapping photos! Thanks to my quickness, I was able to get this amazing shot below!

But...the show wasn't over! he proceeded to flop over and start his nap!Every once in a while, he would stir, sit up and scratch himself...slways drifting back to sweek slumber!

If only I had a camcarder to record this absolutely hilarious "moment in the life of a bear". Without the photos, no one would have ever believed this scenario.

Several hours lter in mid-afternoon, on the way back to North Face Lodge, we came across the same bear. Only about 2 miles from his nap site! (must have been a long nap!) Once again, he owned the road, forcing buses to yield! I was able stick my camera (and head) out of the window to capture the grizzly walking toward me.

When he was almost directly below me, I could hear his heavy breathing! This was probebly too close! I was lucky that I was able to fit his whole body in the frame being that close! What an incredible bear day! After that, I saw several more grizzlies, usually at a distance, a fellow passanger would shout "grizzly !". Those of us that saw this one so close would exclaim, ahh. its just anouther bear. Who would have thought I would every say that! Nothing culd ever compare to that expierence!

A Hike Along Savage River in Denali National Park

I arrived in Denali the evening of Sunday June 8,2008, not wanting to waste the evening when there was so much light, I decided to explore the first 15 miles of the park road. When I got as far as was allowed by private vehicle, I decided to take a 2 mile hike along Savage River, hoping to see Dall Sheep. It was clear and sunny and about 7pm. I did notice some other hikers on the opposite side of the river. I thoughly enjoyed the fresh air and serenity of the river while closely checking out the lichens and tiny flowers just beginning to bloom! I really liked the Arctic Willows above!

Evenutally a mile later, I came to a small bridge that allowed me to cross and head back the way I came, hopefully offering even more diversity. I could have went further, but it was all uphill tundra with no other hikers venturing on beyond this point, and with the growing storm clouds, I felt it prudent to head back.
On the right side of the glacially carved valley, I spotted 2 caribou casually grazing, and 2 photographers with rather large and expensive zoom lenses. Now, I have always been advised to stay 75 yars from hooved animals, and not to disrupt them. Appearantly, these two did not heed that warning. As I kept hiking, I watched the animal paparazzi try to "sneak up" on them. When the one got about 100 feet away from the caribou, it quickly turned to face the idiot, got a really wide stance with an aggressive posture and then charged him! He reached him in less than a blink of an eye and veered off at the last moment, only missing him be a few feet! (I wonder if he got that shot?) Needless to say, the photogs retreated, a good lesson learned. The

picture is of the caribou starting to charge. I had not expected this and was not prepared to photograph it!
Anyway, I continued my hike and about 1/4 mile further downstream, only a few feet in front of me was an Arctic Snowshoe Hare! I literally froze and he continued to munch on the growing grasses and flowers for several minutes!

About 30 seconds later 2 feet from my left was a female Willow Ptarmigan! Just ike the hare, bery comfortable, but she did keep a very close eye on me! Shortly after the skies grew even darker as I scrambled for my raingear and the car, making it just in time! my reward for this hike..just around the corner, a BEAUTIFUL double rainbow! The next morning, on the bus delivering me to North Face Lodge, just a mile from where I was hiking, was a mother grizzly and 2 year-old cubs feasting on fresh moose calf kill! Boy, I sure am glad I didn't continue further on that trail over the hill!!!