Some days you get bear. Some days the bear gets you.
And some days, you’re just lucky.
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| Grizzly opens wide to snag a salmon from atop Brooks Falls |
My bear encounter of the close kind lasted seconds.
It ended as fast as it started.
Nothing happened. But it could have been so much
worse.
Everyone who visits Brooks Falls in Katmai National
Park goes to bear school. There you learn that visitors can encounter bears
anywhere at any time.
Tourists are instructed to give bears a wide berth,
staying at least 50 yards away. Making noise when walking the trails is
encouraged. Running away if one happens upon a bear is heartily discouraged.
Of course, getting between a sow and her cub(s) is
definitely to be avoided.
Because of bear activity in the area, early one
morning I was the last person across the bridge over an estuary that leads to
the Lower River viewing platform en route to the famous falls.
This was no quick closure because a bear was nearby.
No one else crossed the bridge for nearly five hours.
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| Mama leads her three cubs across the Brooks River in search of a salmon snack |
When the waiting hordes were finally released, it
was time to leave the viewing area at the falls. Large noisy, excited groups
passed by as I headed back to the lodge and visitor center area.
Cameras, with the iconic shot of a grizzly snagging
a leaping fish from atop the falls, were packed away from the intermittent rain
falling that day.
Then just as quickly, there was no else on the
trail. Suddenly a juvenile grizzly, what the rangers call a sub-adult, gamboled
down a side trail behind me.
The bear was as startled as I was. He (she?)
apparently didn’t know about the 50-yard rule, stopping about 30 feet away.
We looked at each other. Before I could even waive
my arms or shout “Whoa bear!” the ursine took off, running away from me.
No harm. No foul.
But the youngster could have just as easily come
running off the side trail toward me. I could have been five seconds late and
we would have collided.
Worse, Mama and a brother or sister could have been
trailing behind. Human between sow and cub would have happened in a split
second.
It didn’t. I wasn’t a news item — just a happy bear
photographer with the photo that was the purpose of the trip.
A trip to Brooks Falls is well worth it. Be sure to
visit more than just one day. My first day was so-so. The second magical.
Whatever you do, pay attention to the ranger
teaching bear school.
Close encounters of the bear kind are a real
possibility.
