A BIG Bear Encounter

Sally and I have wanted to see bears in the wild while we were hiking but in a low risk situation. We are not completly foolish.... yet.   One thing that we have learned here in Alaska is that these bears are huge.  Really BIG.  We had two cubs stand up beside the car near our campground in Haines, Alaska, and we could not believe their size.  The cubs were larger than our eastern black bears.
  
We are in the the Kenai Peninsula now on the Cooper River which is next to the Russian River, and we decided to hike along the Russain River to watch the fisherman who are trying to catch the spawning salmon and look for bears who are also trying to catch the same salmon.

In Alaska, it is very different than the lower 48.  People here go into the woods with several different levels of bear protection.
 Here is our interpretation of the categories:

1.   At the bottom is People Noise.  Generally bears do not want to attack humans so if they hear you coming, they will melt into the surroundings. This catagory includes bear bells, but there is an old joke that asks: "How do you tell the difference between Black Bear scat and Grizzly Bear scat? . . . . . . . The Grizzly Bear scat has bear bells in it!!"

2.  Next is Bear Spray.  It is really a giant pepper spray canister.  Sally and I are each armed with it, and we have been Professionally Trained by a National Park Service Ranger during our stay at Yellowstone.  We got to spray it at a tree which I think counts for something.  :-)

Note Sally's bear spray hanging from her belt. 

 I read a scientific study of 94 encounters with bears where bear spray was used. The bear spray performed very well, and very few people injured themselves. This gave me much confidence.

3.  Next is to go in Noisy Large Groups.  Bears hopefully will not approach overwhelming odds.

4.  Last is to go Well Armed, leaving the bear bells and bear spray at home.  We have not seen this in the lower 48 but in Alaska in public areas like the Russain River we have seen many people carrying side arms and shotguns.  We talked to one man who had spent  a lot of times in wilderness areas and carries a rifle whenever he goes into the woods which he does frequently.  While we were riding the ferry with him and his wife, he told us his life story.  He was a Delta pilot living in Atlanta for many years; was captain of a fishing boat tender for 10 years; a game warden in Mozambique for two years; and is now returning to Gustavus, Alaska, where his 3 sons live, for the rest of his life.  He said that if a wild animal gets within 20 feet of him, he kills it.  He said if they get that close, they do not have good intentions.

Note his gun in the holster.  

Well, Sally and I hiked along the Russain River armed with our bear spray.  We saw many fishermen, but they were not catching anything and there were no bears around so we decided to take another trail to the Lower Russian Lake.  When we got to within about 1/2 mile of the lake, we started to see some foliage uprooted and mashed down.  Then we saw bear scat which was slightly smaller than other brown bear scat that we had seen.  We figured it was cub scat -- maybe second year cub scat.  Right after that, we saw more of the large plants along the side of the trail trampled for about 50 yards. Considering that it looked like the work of more than one bear, was very recent, that it was probably the work of a mother and cubs, and that Sally and I were alone, we made the easy decision to turn back.  We did not really want to put our Bear Spray Training to the test! 

When we got back to the lake trailhead, we saw a family of 5 sitting and trying to decide if they should head up to the Lower Russian Lake.  They are from Portland, Oregon and are spending two weeks in Alaska for a family vacation.   After hearing our story about getting spooked by the signs of bear activity on the trail,  they said, "Well, you have made up our minds for us.  We will head back, too."  As we walked back to the trailhead, we thought . . . . . . with seven people and significant noise, there is virtually no chance of suprising a bear or of a mother bear allowing her cubs to get too close to us.  With this revelation we went back to the family and discussed the situation with them.  They were very outdoors-aware, having done a successful thru-hike of the entire Appalachian Trail in their BC (before children) days.  They said, "Let's do it!"

The family was a lot of fun to talk to on our way to the lake.  We passed through the area where we had seen the signs of bear activity (scat and broken, partially eaten branches) and spotted the lake ahead.  Between us and the lake was a meadow going down to the lake and on the back side of the meadow stood woods.  The oldest son in the family kept moving too far ahead of us and had to be slowed down.  As we got closer to the lake, he called out "Bears!"  His young sharp eyes had spotted them on the edge of the woods.  He told us where he saw them, and we could all see several brown spots on the edge of the woods.  After a few minutes they moved out of the woods and started moving in our direction, grazing on the grass in the meadow.  We were on a hill overlooking the meadow. and it was close to being the perfect spot for safely spotting bears in the wilds.   We were all thrilled to see them, and after watching for a few minutes, two men came out of the woods closer to the bears than we were by about fifty feet.  They said, "We aren't bears!  Don't shoot."  We asked if they had seen the bears, and they said no. They looked and were suprised and elated.   

The bears kept moving our way as they were grazing.  They were two large cubs and a very large sow, all a light golden brown.  Very large.  In Alaska, they call them Brown Bears, but they are really Grizzlies!  We could even see the large hump on the back of the mother bear.  These cubs were also larger than a big eastern black bear.  At one point, one of the cubs became startled, jumped and scurried a few feet away.  This made the mother take a quick agressive position, but quickly they all relaxed, and we did too.  At this point, we decided that we had all been very lucky to have such a great sighting, and that it was not a good idea to press our luck so we headed back up the trail.  One of the men we met was carrying a good camera so he sent us some pictures which we are posting here.  It was a great day, and we were very lucky to have met the nice people that we met on the trail AND who were willing to go on a Bear Expedition with us.