Summer of Bears

This past summer on our trip up to Alaska and back, we saw 27 bears, of which we got pictures of 26 of them.  The picture above is, by far, the best bear picture(s) we have ever taken.  When this mother stood up to the oncoming vehicle…well, the only way it could be better is if “we” were the oncoming vehicle, but we give bears more space than that whenever possible.  With so many bears, and even though all 26 have been featured in the blog as we saw them, I thought it might be nice to post a blog posting showing all 26 bears.  In doing so, I have tried to post pictures which were not posted previously.


Bear # 1 – Tetons, May 5th


This bear was seen near Jenny Lake in the Tetons.  I had gotten out of the car, which was parked in the Jenny Lake Parking lot, as I wanted to get a picture of the river and lake.  Shortly as I walked away from the front of the car a lady says to me, “There is a bear down there…”  Sure enough, the bear was down there, and it was going to cross the small river stream, and head right for me.  I got this picture through an opening in the trees…the opening that the bear came through a short minute later.  Of course, I was not there any more as I had moved away.


 



 Bear # 2 – Yellowstone near Old Faithful, May 7th

As we pulled off the Grand Loop Road headed east at the Old Faithful exit, there is a very large grassy field off to the right before the road takes you to the left over the Grand Loop Road headed to Old Faithful.  Out in the middle of this field we see this large Grizzly Bear.  We are in the HHR, so it was easy to pull off and get pictures of this huge bear with no other cars around.  Marcia must have taken around twenty pictures, lots to choose from, and when we pulled away, it was still out there on the grass moving slowly toward the tree line.


Bear # 3 – Yellowstone Grand Junction, May 8th

This grizzly was digging into the dirt, probably for grubs and other bugs.  It never would let us see its face.  A small crowd had gathered alongside the road, and it was probably its way of ignoring everyone.


Bear # 4 - Yellowstone Blacktail Pond, May 9th

This Grizzly was getting its fill of Buffalo.  We were driving from West Yellowstone to Lamar Valley via the upper loop.  There were twenty or more cars parked along the narrow road, lots of folks outside of their car, getting pictures of this bear.  We also got a picture of a Bald Eagle which was waiting for its chance to get some of the Buffalo too.  On our way back from the Lamar Valley, the bear was still there working on the Buffalo.  I talked to a lady who had been there all day and she said that it took about a 90 minute break from eating, laying near the carcass, but far enough away that the birds were able to get their share.


Bear # 5 - Kootenay National Park, May 15th

 This was our first Canadian Bear which we saw in the Kootenay National Park on our way to Banff.  They have no parking signs in this area, and we were driving the motorhome with the HHR in tow, so I did not dare stop…although I slowed to a crawl.  Marcia did a good job getting this picture as I drove on.




Bear # 6 - Kootenay National Park, May 19th



When we first drove through Kootenay National Park, we were in the motorhome, so we decided to come back and visit with the car.  As we got close to the Mt. Sinclair area on the way to Radium Hot Springs, we see this bear near the concrete barrier running along the roadway.  Found a place to turn around, and Marcia got a few picture of him as I again “crawled along” the road keeping within the spirit of the “no stopping signs” along the roadway.





Bears # 7 & # 8 – Banff and Yoho NP border, May 20th

  

These two bears were walking the tracks north of the Trans Canadian Highway at the border of Alberta and British Columbia, which is also near the border of where Banff National Park and Yoho National Park is located.  They were a few hundred yards away from the roadway, and this is the best pictures I got of both of them.


Bears # 9, #10 and #11 – Yoho NP, Emerald Lake, May 20th

While visiting Emerald Lake in Yoho NP, I was looking for bears along the side of the mountains on the other side of the lake when I see this Black Bear.  I point it out to a few others who have cameras which can zoom in, and having my shots, I find Marcia and we start to leave…I give it one more look through the lens and see a baby bear come out.  We turn back and as I get more pictures, the second baby bear comes out of hiding.  Above is a picture of it coming down the slope to mama.


Bear # 12 – Jasper National Park, May 22nd

When we drove to Jasper with motorhome towing HHR, it was snowing at the summit.  As we got close to Jasper it was a light rain, and we see this guy taking picture.  Yes, bear in there, but hard to see, look at the end of the arrow.



Bear # 13 & # 14 – Fort Nelson, May 26th

    

After driving 280 miles from Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson, taking over six hours at our slow pace, we set up camp, went out to eat dinner, and on the way back I decided we needed to do a side road to get a picture of the Muskwa River.  On the way back we spotted these two bears, about 1/4 mile apart from each other, alongside the roadway.  The one on the left was along the driver’s side so I took that picture, the one on the right was on Marcia’s side of the road, and she got it…getting a few fairly close as we gently drove by it.

Bear # 15 – North of Muncho Lake, May 27th

This bear was a few hundred yards away from us heading for the tree line.  By the time we got up to where it was, it had vanished into the woods.  Along the Alaska Highway, there is nice buffer between the road and the tree line through much of the way.  One has to constantly be looking straight, and to the right and left for the signs of wildlife…bears are easy to see.




Bear # 16 – South of Watson Lake, May 27th

This bear was also along Marcia’s side of the road, but the tree line was closer to the roadway, and this bear walked along the tree line for a good 1/10th of a mile.  As with many of our Alaska Highway sightings, we stop the motorhome, and no one else stops because there are no other cars on the road near us.  Sometimes car will come along, but many just keep on going, I guess they get used to see bears along the road.




Bear # 17 - 17 – South of Tutshi Lake, June 2nd

On our way back to the Alaska Highway coming out of Skagway we saw this Cinnamon Black Bear along the side of the road.  It was not there very long, and we were lucky to get a few shots before it shot off into the woods.  The Cinnamon Bear is a subspecies of the American Black Bear, native to the North West US, and Alberta, and British Columbia.


Bear # 18, # 19 and # 20 – Near Haines, July 26th

We thought we were going to “Strike Out” seeing any bears in Alaska.  As we got close to the Haines Border Crossing, we saw these three Grizzly Bears, a mama and her two cubs, running along the Klehini River which is a typical glacier river with lots of rocks along the banks for when the river swells during the spring or heavy rains.  The width of this rocky area is at least 250 yards wide, and the bears had a long way to go to get to the safety of the trees.  I first saw the mother bear, then one cub close behind.  Suddenly the mother stops and looks back and the third cub is spotted, sniffing around.  She must have given it a growl, because it starts running, and took 20-30 seconds to catch up to momma and its sibling.  I only got three or four pictures of all three bears together, and this one is one I had not shown before.


Bear # 21, # 22 and # 23 – Cassiar Highway, July 29th

This is the same set of bears as the opening picture in this blog…it by far was our most interesting, fascinating, longest sighting, and most cherished bear moment of our trip.  Driving the Cassiar Highway about 50-75 miles north of Meziadin Junction on our way to Hyder, I spot a black dot way ahead along the highway.  I slow down and quickly we see it is a bear.  We creep to under 100 yards away and stop…no traffic coming or going…and we enjoy a 15 minute encounter with what ends up being a mama bear with two cubs.  And when this blue car coming toward them, the mama bear gets up on her hind legs until the car stops.  We still had another 3-4 minutes with them before she takes them safely into the woods again.  15 minutes of our life which we will cherish forever.


Bear # 24 – Meziadin Junction, July 29th


After our earlier encounter with the mama and two cubs, this bear alongside the road at the junction of the Cassiar Highway and the Highway to Stewart/Hyder.  It pretty much just sat there as traffic went slowly by…as the traffic going slowly by looked at it.




Bear # 25 – Near Stewart, July 29th

This big bear was just walking along the road as we were about 4 miles out of Stewart, BC.   When we slowed to a stop, it stops and looks back at us…but for the most part it was ignoring anything that drove by.  As we drove by I tried to get an even closer shot of it, but that did not work out…and I wasn’t about to stop right next to it and roll down the window, that’s for sure.


Bear # 26 – Near Stewart, August 1st



This was, by far, our saddest bear experience.  This little bear looked so thin, its fur was in bad shape, and we could only hope that it was going to make it through the winter.  It was located about the same location as the bear we saw on the way to Stewart/Hyder a few days earlier.  It was the last bear we saw on our trip.




I have seen bears out in the wild since I was a young child.  Camping up at Lake Tahoe or at Yosemite…seeing a bear walk through the campground was not an uncommon sight.  However, seeing this many bear during our trip to Alaska and back was surely a special treat for us.

A Beary Good Day – Haines to Whitehorse

We got off around 8:20 this morning, 40 minutes ahead of schedule.  Waved goodbye to Joyce, owner of Oceanside RV Park which we give full thumbs up to.  Joyce “MAKES” the park, she set the tone, is a very hard worker, good socializer, and you can tell that she loves her RV Park. 

Realizing that I had forgot to brush my teeth, take my high blood pressure pills, get the car information for the boarder crossing (yep, stopped again, but more on that later), we stop at the turn out for the eagle preserve and I take care of business.  Off we go, and soon the Chilkat River crosses to our right, and its largest tributary, the Klehini River, is alongside the road to our left..we are now at the northern most part of the Eagle Sanctuary.  The Klehini is the second largest gathering of eagles along an Alaska River in the winter months, and it is much more rocky than the Chilkat this time of year…it is truly a Glacier River.  As we drive along I glance out onto the rocky riverbed…and I see a bear.  I tell Marcia, who gets the camera ready, and I pull over.  As I take the camera and get a shot (top picture) I say, “See them, there are two of them…”  She replies, “No, there are three of them!”  Sure enough, there are three bears…a mama and two cubs.  The third cub is running a bit behind, and in the first picture you can see mama looking back…I have seen that look before, that cub is IN TROUBLE!

      

Finally it catches up, and they run off into the woods on the other side of the river.  Well, this is going to be a very beary day!   About 10 minutes later, we are at the border…and the bubble is burst again.

Above is a Google Maps picture of the Canadian Border.  We pull up, right where the white truck is above.  The kindest border guard comes out, she has a nice friendly smile, and gives me a friendly greeting, which I kindly return as I hand her our passports.  She asks about liquor, money and guns, and says she will be right back…goes to the back and gets our license plate, and vanishes inside.  After 5 minutes Marcia says, “I think she is calling the Canadian Mounted Police, and they are going to come and surround us!”   After another 5 minutes I wonder if Marcia might be right.  Before the next full five minutes go by, she comes out.

“Have you had troubles getting across the border before?”

“Yes,” I answer…”the first time was coming through in Idaho where they searched us.  Skagway wasn’t too bad, but in Beaver Creek the guy said that someone has the exact same name, but different birth date than mine.

“Not only is it the same name, but the birth date is only different by the month…the day and year are the same," she said.  "I am sorry, but you will face this each and every time you cross the border from now on.  I hope you understand, but we are just doing our job…” 

“I understand,” I said, “I did not know that the birth dates were that close…the guy in Beaver Creek just said it was a different birth date.”

“Well, I probably told you too much myself…but I felt you should know.”

After that the three of us talked about how the guards live right there along the border in Government housing.  She told us how she has been to Australia and to England…that she would like a family some day, but for now she is satisfied doing what she is doing, which allows travel each year.  We must have talked for another 10 minutes after she brought back our passports…and we would have talked longer but another motorhome finally showed up behind us.  For nearly 30 minutes we were the only vehicle crossing the border.  And now we know why it is so hard for us to pass through into Canada each time come to a Canadian border.

For the most part the rest of the trip was just fine.  Hit some heavy ground fog/clouds for a few miles, came across some wild Indians (actually it was a hostel), saw a few more Trumpeter Geese (no pictures though), and had a few more construction patches which were a piece of cake compared the real rough ones earlier on the trip…and we were in Whitehorse.  Went to the Vet to get some food for Skruffy, went into Walmart to get more insulin and needles for Skruffy, and over to the Canadian Superstore to stock up on food for the next 7-10 days before we will be near a “real” grocery store again.

     

Tonight we are back at the Pioneer RV Park, where for $160 Canadian I filled up our fuel tank ($140 before discount for staying in the park), and full hookups at the park.  We stayed here on our way to Alaska, and the lady who operates the park remembered me.  Tomorrow we head towards Watson Lake, but turn south on highway 37, the Cassiar Highway towards Hyder.  Most likely we will stay at the Baby Nugget RV Park like we did on the way…which had terrible Internet.  Not sure how much Internet we will have going down the Cassiar Highway…it does not look good.  If you don’t hear from us for a few days, that is why.

Weather Delay, Oh Darn, Stuck in Yellowstone! :)

I have been watching the weather for the past few days, and I knew this spring storm was going to be upon us.  This morning we awoke to slight rain, but snow and rain up in the areas we want to travel to.  We thought about heading over to the north entrance and camp for $10 in the park (senior rate), and we even looked at the Fishing Bridge RV Park on our trip yesterday, but it is the same price as what we are paying now, would add extra miles, and we would not have any TV or WiFi Internet which would require us to use our aircard.  So we are staying put for two more nights.  Oh Darn!    And since the weather is not over Yellowstone today, we still get to go out and enjoy the park some more!  Double Darn!     

The map above shows the open and closed roads currently in Yellowstone.  By the 13th nearly all the red will be green (which means open), with only the area from Tower Fall to Canyon Junction being closed until the 27th.  So far we have found the roads to be in good condition which just a few spots here and there that have pot holes or frost heaves.  We are at West Yellowstone, which is the middle far left of the map.  We traveled to Old Faithful (marked as Day One) on Saturday.  Yesterday we traveled to Yellowstone Lake (marked as Day Two).  Today we are traveling to the Lamar Valley (marked as Day Three).  We have seen Grizzly Bears each day, and hope to see more today.

Yesterday’s bear was near Canyon Junction, and there was a line of cars lined up along side the road, with many people outside of their cars with those cameras that a lens that is a mile long.  We pulled over and got a few pictures, but this bear was camera shy…always had its back to us.

This picture here gives you a better idea of how far away we were from it, and even his picture was zoomed in to at least 2-3 times normal…so the bear was “way out there”.  A park ranger arrived, and did not seem concerned at all with people being out of their cars, but I am sure she would stopped anyone trying to go out into the field toward the bear.  And don’t think people wouldn’t try it…we have seen some pretty stupid things around here, back in April there were viral Internet clips of a lady who petted a bison  (See Clip One and Clip Two).

Here are some pictures we got yesterday.

   

   

Grizzly Bear, Wolf, Elk, Bison – A Good Morning Yellowstone

Knowing that the best time to see wildlife in Yellowstone is in the early morning, I told Marcia that we should be on the road by 7 am.  I think we were entering the park‘s West Entrance at 6:40.   It did not take us long before we saw our first bit of Yellowstone Wildlife…

…yep, a Bison, aka: Buffalo.  Back in 2012 I promised Marcia that we would see a lot of Buffalo.  Took a quick trip into the park the first evening we got to the area…no buffalo.  Took a full day trip the next day, saw Old Faithful, some Elk, some Deer, but no Buffalo.  The next day I promised her that we would see some Buffalo before we left the park, and sure enough, we had a close up and personal encounter with them.  By the time the week was over, she was Buffaloed out!  Well today, we saw this lone Buffalo first thing headed toward the valley as we were barely into the park. 

A little further down the road we see a few Elk.  Seems like we always see some Elk between the West Entrance and Madison Junction.  These three looked a bit thin, but they did survive the winter, and I am sure they will be looking better in a month or so.  Later we see a couple larger Elk while we are on our way back to the motorhome, those pictures will come later.

At Madison Junction we see our first herd of Buffalo.  There seemed to be three distinct herds today between Madison Junction and Old Faithful, with a few stragglers here and there.

    

On the left this multilegged Buffalo turns out to be a mother and baby on the right.  (Note, the sun came out from the cloud cover and really highlighted them.)

When you see a car pulled over, especially this early in the morning, you slow, pull over, and watch…and if you are lucky, you see a wolf cross the road in front of you.

   

And “if” you are really lucky, the wolf will stop, look back at you, before it heads back along to its real interest, ducks swimming in a small, shallow stream along some tall grasses.  If you are a bit unlucky, the wolf will be standing with the morning sun behind him making it hard to get a good picture.

So as you continue on toward Old Faithful, your wife praises the Lord for allowing us to see a wolf out in the open as we did, and adds, “Ok now Lord, how about a bear?”   A few more miles down the road and we take the Old Faithful exit, which takes us up and over the main roadway we were on…and just as I start to follow the turn to the left over the roadway, a very large grassy field appears over the elevated roadway, and there it is.  “Well Marcia, there is your bear!”, I say. She thinks to herself, “Ya, right…” and she looks out into the field, as I slow to a crawl, and then a stop, and yes, there it is.  A very large Grizzly Bear.

Well, that is the biggest bear I have ever seen in nature.  Thank goodness we had a good enough camera to capture it from a safe, very safe, distance.  And as for Marcia?  She took every single bear picture, and many of the other pictures today too.  She said that taking the pictures of the bear gave her the chills…and as she talked about our day at breakfast later, she said it still gave her the chills.

On our way back to the motorhome, we did see the larger Elk that I talked about earlier, and some more buffalo.  Way off in the far distance I saw another wolf or Coyote, but even in full zoom mode I can only tell that it was the size as a large, thin dog.  Saw a guy with one of those cameras with a lens that’s a mile long…good for him, not interested in lugging one of them around...but I'll bet he can see the hair on its head with that thing.

Rest of the day was spent doing laundry and resting and trying to figure out where to go from here on Monday.

Note: Yesterday I said that the camping in the park was not open yet, but there are three or four places one can camp now, and there are empty spots.  Full hookups at Fish Creek RV Park, about $49 per night and senior pass will NOT give you a discount (but will give you free entrance into the park of course).  Madison Campground is open, $11.50 with senior pass and reservations are taken, and Mammoth Campground, $10 with senior pass and is first come, first serve, and all three are not currently full.  Here is a good link for those interested. (We might stay in Mammoth Monday night after we leave here.)