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In September 2013 my wife, Michelle, and I had the opportunity to check off a bucket list trip.  We headed to the Kenai River region in Alaska for 10 days of fly-fishing.  While the ten days were filled with memorable experiences, fishing stories, and phenomenal vista views, all packed full of photographic opportunities at every turn, there was one encounter that remains welded within my soul. 

 

It was the next to last day of our scheduled fishing itinerary and the weather had just opened up enough for the floatplane excursion to take off to a glacier lake.  Once our plane taxied to the shoreline drop off, our party quickly disembarked the plane, just to board a couple of flat bottom johnboats waiting our arrival.  As we proceeded toward that day’s fishing destination, the floatplane took off with the promise of returning for us at the end of the day.  

 

As we began to get our lines wet, it was apparent to each of us from the lower 48, we were experiencing a new level of wilderness isolation.  All around us were signs of grizzly bears.  Fresh, half-eaten salmon were all along the banks edge, a bank’s edge that went straight from water line to a dense vegetation line.  Feeling a bit uneasiness in our situation, we quickly turned our attention to fishing.  Looking back, even with a modest catch for the day, the day passed quickly.  As the day ended, it was time to shuttle back up the glacier stream to catch the floatplane.  Michelle and I were among the first shuttle trip of four to be dropped off at our shoreline meeting point while the guide, leaving the bear spray behind, went back for the others in our group. After a few minutes the remainder of our party made their way up the stream and entered the mouth of the lake.

 

From their vantage point in the boat they could see the entire shoreline, much more than we could see from where we were standing waiting for their return.  As their shuttle boat came into our site, those in the boat became very animated, informing us that we had a visitor approaching… BEAR!  At that point, it seemed the right thing for me to do was to step forward and peer around the corner.  Sure enough, about 70 yards out, we had a mature grizzly, strolling up the shoreline, coming directly toward us.  There was never any doubt, this curious grizzly knew exactly where we were and was coming to check us out.  The guides being the professionals that they were did their thing and prepared for an encounter with a grizzly that was an unknown to them.  You see, these guides being in these same fishing spots day in and day out, get to know the personalities of the bears in the neighborhood.  They soon get to know which bears are the more territorial ones and which bears just tend to check out the neighbors and move on.  This being a new bear to them, they were uncertain of what they were dealing with.  The more experienced of the two guides was clearly uneasy with the present circumstance, while the younger of the two guides, in almost a whisper told me and Michelle and another couple to jump into the boat he was driving, of which we quickly followed his lead.

 

As luck would have it, I had just changed out my camera lens to my 300mm zoom option, ready for those up close and personal photos.  Our young and very capable guide used the water current to stage the boat just off the shoreline, at a safe distance from this huge beast who lives at the top of the food chain.  There I was able to click away, capturing photographs that documented that memory for years to come of my grizzly bear encounter.