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!