Walking With Grizzlies
Article and photos by Lynda Smith
In my
role
as director of the BEAR Group, I’ve given countless educational
presentations during which I explain typical black bear behavior
and underscore that, unlike grizzlies, black bears are not
aggressive toward people. I explain that many of the misconcep-tions about black bears come from beliefs about
grizzlies, such as “never come between a mother and her cubs,”
and that our black bears get a bad reputation for things that
grizzly bears do. It took a very long journey to the far reaches
of Alaska for me to come face to face with my own ignorance and
realize that, in trying to help black bears, I’ve done a great
disservice to grizzly bears.
In 2005, BEAR group member Kathy Wedral and I were privileged to
join Dr. Lynn Rogers of the North American Bear Center and
others on a bear-watching expedition in Katmai National Park
offered by Katmai Coastal Bear Tours (www.katmaibears.com). The
areas we visited are extremely remote and are accessible only by
small plane. As we flew to our first destination, South Hallo
Bay, from the air I could see Lynn and our small group waiting
for us on the beach, a
nd
right behind them (oddly resembling cows), were about a dozen
grizzlies grazing on sedge grass. I wondered, did Lynn and the
others realize that all these dangerous bears were right behind
them? Our plane touched down on the beach (after making sure
driftwood didn’t block our “runway”), and we were immediately
given some waders, and off we went, trudging through a creek
full of muck,
surrounded by bears. We didn’t have a gun and we didn’t have any
pepper spray. While Kathy and Lynn started talking about the
pros and cons of Nikon cameras and which lenses were best, a
very large, battle-scarred male grizzly weighing close to 1000
lbs. approached our little group. He was looking right at us,
and walking directly toward us. Kathy and Lynn were babbling
about tripods and I was starting to get a little nervous. A
naturalist and guide named Buck Wilde, with years of Alaskan
grizzly experience, was along on our trip and noticed my
apprehension. He looked at me, laughed, and said, “Just wait…it
gets better!” And Buck
was
right. That grizzly (who we nicknamed John Wayne because he was
old and walked like an arthritic cowboy) paid us no mind and
sauntered right past us. He wasn’t aggressive in any way. To
him, we were just fellow creatures out in the sedge grass, not
worth his time or trouble. John Wayne taught me a few things
that day….
Over the course of several days, we visited many bays along the Katmai coast, observing bears in various habitats grazing on sedge, digging for clams, and catching salmon. We were 150 miles from the nearest road and slept on a renovated tug boat. A skiff brought us to shore. In the more remote areas, we would spot bears and try to go ashore to see them, but they’d take off at the sight of the skiff. These bears have very rarely seen humans and were completely intimidated by us. This area is called the Forbidden Zone, because of the large number of bears who live there. On a map, it’s called Swikshak Bay.
In other areas
such as Hallo Bay, the bears are accustomed to small groups of
bear-watchers and don’t run from people. In fact, they barely
acknowledge our presence. In one case, we came upon two bears
sleeping on some logs. They were out cold, and just wouldn
’t
wake up even when Lynn made some noises to get them to open
their eyes for a photo. I wasn’t apprehensive anymore, but the
jokes continued to flow. As we set off down a bear trail through
some alders, I told Lynn he could go first and he’d be the
appetizer.
We also visited Kaflia Bay, a very remote site featured in Timothy Treadwell’s Discovery Channel special, “Grizzly Diaries.” We took the skiff, waded through the creek, waded through the lake, negotiated a system of ancient bears trails called the Grizzly Maze (sometimes crawling on our stomachs to do so) and climbed a ridge to get to the upper lake. John Rogers of Katmai Coastal Bear Tours led this expedition, and I kidded him that he’s really running the next episode of “Survivor Alaska.” When we finally reached the upper lake, John told us that probably fewer than 20 people had ever been where we were standing. Kaflia had an eerie feeling that is hard to put into words. Walking ancient bear trails, with zero visibility, and wondering whether or not we’d encounter a bear in the maze, was an exhilarating experience. We didn’t encounter any bears, but Kathy and I both agreed that we’re finally ready for one of Steve Ember’s hikes! For more information on coastal brown bears, I highly recommend Timothy Treadwell’s book, “Among Grizzlies.”
As we became
more accustomed to being in close proximity to large numbers of
enormous bears, we almost began to stop noticing them. Along the
beach of Hallo Bay at low tide, beautiful shells, rocks, and
sand dollars washed ashore. Kathy and I searched for shells to
bring home, while several yards away, grizzlies walked alongside
of us, searching for air holes in the sand that signified a
buried clam. We’d stop to pick up a shell, and they’d stop to
furiously start digging! We were co-
inhabitants on planet
Earth, harmoniously enjoying the day.
On our last
night, Lynn, Kathy, and I set out about 10:00 pm for one last
visit with the bears at South Hallo Bay. The sun was still out,
and it was a gorgeous night. We encounte
red
a beautiful blond sow with two yearlings, eating sedge along a
creek. We waded into the middle
of the creek
and just spent some time with this family, watching the cubs
play. The sow was enormous and
beautiful. She approached us in a nonthreatening way, and
brought her family very close
to our spot in the creek. We were able to get some wonderful
photos and video. The cubs frolicked and their mother calmly
chomped on sedge grass. Here we stood within feet of the most
dangerous of all grizzlies, a mother with cubs, seconds away
from certain death if she chose to attack, with no means of
defense and not another living soul for miles. And I have never
felt more at peace in my entire life.