August 31 - Fish Creek Bear Viewing

Bears. Oh, yes, we saw bears. We got up early and were at the boardwalk before 8 this morning. There was a huge crowd of people there with tripods, multiple cameras and lenses. I have a pretty decent lens, but I’m telling you, I had lens envy bad looking at all the big, powerful telephoto lenses lined up on that boardwalk. Of course, a lot of them are so big I’d need to adopt a sherpa to carry it for me if I got one. There are people who come here every year and stay for weeks to see the bears and take thousands of photos of them. It was pretty awe-inspiring.

The atmosphere was like a friendly block party with everyone quietly visiting, exchanging tips and having the “where you’re from, where you’ve been, where you’re going” discussion that is the immediate conversation starter among the wanderers. Then, one of the docents got a radio call that bears had arrived and were in the stream by the second boardwalk. There was a quiet but rapid mass exodus to the other boardwalk and the talking stopped and the snap snap snap of the cameras began. I would put the camera down and just watch the action sometimes, so I had a mere 300+ pictures to wade through. So, here are my best picks. There are two bears, 4 year old twins, who are the subjects here.


Bear right below the boardwalk.


Strolling through the water.



Can I get to those berries without getting my feet wet?



Catch that fish!



Caught that fish! Snack time.



And now it's play time.


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My mouth's bigger than your mouth.




A pause in the romping. "MOM, he's leaning on me!"