The Bare Bear Facts (08-31-14)

So, Hyder Alaska is all about the bears and yes, we did see two bears. 



This is how it works.  The U.S. Forestry has a boardwalk set up along a creek that is frequented by bears- both brown and black bears.  Everyone is very quiet while they stand around waiting, so the bears won’t get scared away.  







Paul and I donned our full rain gear, since of course it was raining, and stood there on the boardwalk for about an hour or so.

We talked to the rangers and to other “watchers”. Some people had elaborate plastic bag set ups to keep their cameras dry.  We had an umbrella. Finally, we saw a black bear, across the street, eating berries in the bushes.  Nice, but not what we came for.

We were thinking of leaving but the ranger told us it was just getting to be the time of night when the bears will show, so we waited.  Soon enough an enormous brown bear came waddling down the creek.

Just look at the size of the belly on this guy.  He is an older bear, so not as skittish with the large audience he had while he ate his dinner. The ranger says older bears are not as much fun to watch because they are so experienced at fishing that they just stomp on a fish and eat it, whereas the younger bears haven’t figured that out, and they chase the fish. 

This guy just ambled down through the middle of the creek, picking up salmon as he went.  You can see all the dead and dying salmon all over the stream.  It’s late in the season and many salmon have spawned and died so the bears have been feasting and are pretty full,  allowing them to be fussier about what they eat.

It was extremely difficult to get decent pictures because it was getting dark, and still raining pretty heavily.  You can see that this guy’s fur is soaked.

So that was our bear experience at Hyder.  We felt lucky because many people hang around all day and never get to see a bear.

Our luck got even better the next day- after we left Hyder.  We were continuing our trip down the Cassier Highway when Paul said that the guy we had just passed had made a motion towards the nearby bridge, as if to say there was something to look at.

It’s pretty common for people to share information that way, so we stopped to look. 

There were two brown bears fishing in the creek!  They were both pretty young, not huge.

 


 

This guy climbed up some debris in the middle of the stream, to take a break from fishing.  There weren’t as many dead fish in this area, so these bears were working a little bit to get their lunch.

  

We watched them for about 10 minutes before they went around a corner and out of sight.













This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip- to have the chance to watch  the bears just going about their business.

One of the things we noticed in Alaska, is that sometimes the bears would be called Brown Bears and sometimes they would be called Grizzly Bears.  Of course we asked about the difference between Grizzly and Brown and we found out that although they are technically the same species- there are differences.

A Grizzly bear lives inland and lives on berries, plant roots, and small animals such as ground squirrels.  A Brown Bear is a Grizzly Bear that lives on the coast and feasts on mostly salmon and berries. Brown Bears grow bigger because they have a more plentiful food source. 

  The shoulder hump is actually a muscle, and it’s usually bigger on a Grizzly- they use the muscle more to dig out their food than Brown Bears do.

Black Bears don’t have a hump on their shoulder at  all. That’s one of the differences between black bears and grizzlies. Which brings up the question- what are the other differences between a Black Bear and a Grizzly Bear?  When you’re hiking in bear country, it’s really good to know which bear you encounter because how  you should react depends on the type of bear it is.







The color of their fur means nothing.  A Black Bear can be anywhere from black to cinnamon in color. 










A Black Bear’s ears are wider apart and actually bigger than a Grizzly’s. Grizzly ears are also more rounded and not as pointy.

The shape of their snout is different.  A grizzly snout is curved and a black bear snout is straight, from ears to nose.

Their paws are shaped differently, and a Grizzly's claws are bigger (not that I plan on getting close enough to distinguish the difference!).

It would come in handy on the trail to know who has been on the trail before you. This was in Yellowstone, obviously an old print, but fun to find.

  Black Bears and Grizzly Bears also have somewhat different habitats.  Black Bears are found more in the woods and trees and Grizzlies prefer the open fields.

When we’re  hiking in bear country, we’re always alert for signs of bears on the trail.  One of the ways to avoid a bear encounter is to make noise while you are hiking.  I tend to sing, or call out “ here, kitty kitty” just to be goofy.  It doesn’t matter what you say, just that you make noise.  Some people wear bells on their backpack, so their noise is made without them having to talk.  One of the signs of bears that we might come across is bear scat (poop), and the scat is another difference between the two types of bears- Grizzly Bear scat has bells in it. 

I’ve heard that joke about a hundred times, but it does point out one of the major differences between blacks and grizzlies-  attitude.

Black Bears tend to be more afraid of people and will be less likely to attack (unless there are cubs involved!)  Grizzlies are more aggressive.

These Black Bears were on the hiking trail in Yosemite.  The mama bear was well aware of the many hikers and was fine with sharing the trail as long as no one got too close.

That’s probably more than anyone wanted to know about bears, but I really enjoy seeing the animals in their own habitat so I got carried away- plus, it’s raining again and I am bored.
We have been moving pretty quickly through British Columbia, headed towards the border.