Bear with me...

Prior blogs have featured the ursine cast of black bears that we have seen plenty of this trip. More elusive have been our attempts to view the black bears more formidable relative the grizzly. Brochures speak to there being approximately 6,000 grizzlies in this neck of the woods so we knew if we were patient we'd  eventually catch a glimpse.

The road from Whitehorse towards  Haines Junction and then on to Destruction Bay sees the Vistas become more expansive  with mountains to the left and lake after lake to the right. And yes, finally the anticipated grizzlies.

We were planning on spending the night in the campground in Destruction  Bay but when we pulled in the sign indic ated only hard shelled campers and RV'S were allowed due to lots of bear activity. As we continued on we noticed a blackish bump off to the side and as we got closer saw it was moving. Sure enough our first grizzly sighting was upon us and this time we hit the mother lode as it was a sow with two cubs

looking like they were just a month or two old. They were partaking of the lush grass and dandelion  smorgasbord and really couldn't have cared less that a couple of gawker were being quite rude by watching them eat. Grizzlies are very distinctive up close from black bears having a pronounced shoulder hump and a

somewhat dished face. While momma bear was going back for second and third helpings the two cubs were doing nothing as much as simply playing with each other and enjoying a spectacularly beautiful day.

When I was working at Pinnacol I would share some bear stories with my coworkers.  One, Doretha, who I miss seeing every day, feels that roughing it is when the hotel doesn't have a hot tub and wouldn't be caught dead sleeping in a tent in the woods. I always told her the golden rule is to never hike alone in bear country and that rule number two is that you don't have to outrun the bear, you just have to outrun the person you're hiking with. So for her I'll share this last picture that we took in a gift shop after crossing into Alaska because as much as we wanted to set a spell with momma and her cubs we eventually had to bid them adieu and continue down the long road.