Alaska's Winter Horizon

Alaska's Winter Horizon

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Haines Junction, Canada, to Tok, Alaska

Remember to click on the pictures to make them larger. 

We slept in a little later and by the time we checked out, it was time for lunch. We grabbed some burgers at a local cafe and then hit the road toward Alaska. We hadn't traveled far when we spotted a black bear wandering in a dry creek bed.

 By the time we got into position for a picture, it had made its way back into the trees. It seemed like a good omen for the day to offer some prime wildlife viewing. Once again, the drive was beautiful.
 The mountains seemed so very close!
 Again, Kluane Lake and all the other lakes and rivers were awe-inspiring on this gorgeous day. We stopped briefly at one of Canada's visitors centers near the lake.
By the time we reached the areas that we felt were sure places to see some wildlife, we ran into a lot of road construction, delays, and super dusty conditions. It became obvious very soon that nothing would be likely to be grazing today on all the dust-covered vegetation near the road. In between avoiding huge potholes and heaves, we stopped in at Burwash Landing and read about the fire that nearly destroyed the town. We drove on and made our way through Beaver Creek. We were barely out of the city when we spotted movement on the right side of the road. We saw 3 bears but we had to turn around and get in a good spot to take pictures. By then, we could only see 2 cubs near the road.
These 2 cubs were very strange in the fact that one was so much larger than the other.
It was almost as if one was from last year and one from this year.
That would be quite unusual as the sows don't normally give birth again until the previous cubs are no longer with the mother.
 Greg is going to check with a wildlife biologist friend to investigate this further.
 We drove on and made it back into Alaska.
 We stopped briefly Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge and then rolled into Tok for the night.

1 comment:

  1. How is it that you guys can find bears so easily? I have traveled to many of these same places, including the Alaska Highway, countless times and have never seen much of anything. With you, its as if everytime you get into your car, you see bears. This post almost makes it seem as if photographing 4 bears is a bad day. What's the secret?

    ReplyDelete