Spending time in brown bear territory of course has its risks. However, the bears in this area of Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska generally just ignore the human fishermen and photographers.
They are far more interested in the salmon than us bipedal creatures. We saw dozens of bears, most didn’t even cast us a glance.
Our guide explained that the ones to be most wary of were the young ones. They will have not been on their own for long, are inherently curious and have not quite learned the rules of the road in dealing with humans.
These two fit that description. They were coming up the river toward us and showed no inclination to keep a healthy distance. Our guide told us to be prepared to back up should the pair continue to approach and, of course, we didn’t need to be told twice.
Thankfully, after stopping a bit close and sniffing the air, they decided we weren’t worth their interest and moved on. A fun but slightly disconcerting encounter. 😉
