Bears in Denali

 We were more than lucky with bear viewing when we drove the Denali Park Road last weekend. When we started heading into the park, we first saw a sow and two cubs way up on a hill which was cool enough. Then we saw this very dark grizzly close to the road and thought we were pretty special. Once it started to realize how many cars had stopped to watch it eat blueberries, it decided to head the other direction.

A few miles later we passed some people stopped at a pull-out with tables and a big picnic lunch set up. A few minutes later we stopped to see this nice round medium brown grizzly. It only lingered on the tundra for a few minutes and then lumbered down onto the road right in front of our car and walked by us.

The bear continued walking down the road like nobody was watching (or like it enjoyed performing) toward the people having a picnic. Once we drove away we could see that they had packed up and were pulling away, I'm sure in a hurry.

After a few more distant bear sightings, just as it was getting dark we saw this bear at the same place we had seen the dark grizzly earlier in the day (this is definitely a different bear). It foraged around near the road for quite some time, then crossed the road and continued foraging along the other side. A great end to our day!