Bear Encounter – Alaska

On a recent visit from my church friends Brian and Casey we talked a lot about bear encounters. I only have one story. In 2010 my wife and I went to visit our son Tom who lived in Alaska. He was stationed there at Fort Richardson. We rented a small cabin near Seward for a few days. That is where these pictures are from.

It was warm enough that we had the doors and windows open. I noticed 2 bear cubs going by out front. I grabbed the camera and due to my MS ran into the door rather than going through it. When I finally got outside the cubs were passed and were near the storage cabin the owner had. I took aim with my camera and then I noticed mama bear. Realizing the danger I had to go back to the cabin. The rest of the pictures were taken from the bathroom window. We were projected by the screen (not really much protection if mama got upset).

Tom still teases me about how unsafe this really was. He reminds me what I would have told him or his brothers if they had done this. Mama bear tried getting some garbage but could not get the bear proof garbage can open. She picked it up and threw it down a number of times. We described the bear and showed the pictures to the owner and he said it was a grizzly.