Alaska Trip 2013: Monday 7/8/13 Grizzly Bear Day in Brooks Camp!!!

Today was unbelievable! We started our day with a plane ride in an Otter, built in 1958. It has a turbo prop, seats 11 people. It took an hour and 30 minutes, lots of fog and so we weren't sure we would be able to land but we did and it was a great landing. Yesterday in Soldotna a plane crashed and all 10 people were killed, we were alittle nervous, but a great pilot we had! Then the King Salmon jumping to go up the falls to lay their eggs. I can't express how big and powerful these fish are! They were magnificent!! It was raining all day so standing at the Falls and not seeing a bear in sight for probably 45 ,invites, you start to get nervous they won't be here. Enter Grizzlies...they walked up the river and jumped, dove and ran in the river to come up with fish in their mouths. They would skin them, eat the skin and the brains and their eggs and the rest let the Eagles and the seagulls have the rest.you could see fish filets laying all over on the ground that the bears had left after they got what they wanted.

We had to be back at the plane at 3:30 so Craig & I started back around 3:00. You have platforms to walk on for most of the trails but sometimes you are just in the woods with the bears. If you run into a bear you need to back away and let the bear have the trail. We ran into a momma and three yearlings on the trail, we backed up and let them pass us, WOW how often do you get close enough to a bear, let alone a GRIZZLY to reach out and touch and not feel scared? They could care less we are around, we talk to them to let them Know we are there and then give them the trails. It's so cool!! Then we continued down the trail and another Momma with 3 cubs comes out and they are babies...so cute I can't even say I words how adorable these 4 bears were! We finally get to the last platform to cross a bridge and a congregation of probably 15 bears start to gather. HUGE males chasing the younger females and the momma's with cubs. Yes, the males will eat the cubs. BAD, MALES!!!so we got stuck on the bridge platform for 1 1/2 hours watching males interact with each other and males chasing the females. Some even took naps along the the path and blocked our way thru. You have to let the bears do whatever they want. The biggest ones we saw were around 700-800 lbs. they will put on another 4-5 hundred pounds in the next two months!

So enjoy these photos and know what a wonderful world our God has created for us to live in and ENJOY! How blessed we are!! I am in awe that I saw what I saw today! I so wish you could have been here too!! HUGS!!! BEAR HUUGS!!!