June 12 we saw this gorgeous fox on Stampede Road.

Then on June 14 I watched a mother grizzly bear and her year old cub from the Park Road. Whenever they sat or stood up I enjoyed seeing them at a distance as they rolled around, interacted, and watched a raven. Mostly they laid down out of view as I stood on the cold road shoulder for an hour and a half. (I had dressed to go hiking, not planning to stand still for so long in the wind.) At times it was only me and a patient, friendly photographer. Other times there were a dozen private vehicles and 2 busses full of people. Most didn’t hang out more than 10 minutes, often leaving before they saw the bears at all.

I left on a bus to meet C as he got off work. The two of us and a friend drove the truck down the park road hoping the bears were still there. Yep, big bear jam of vehicles and one of the bears was sitting up so you could see her (above). Very cool!

Then someone said, “look, there is a bear behind us.” Much closer there was a 3rd grizzly! We got a great look at this one only about 100 yards away. All of the visitors behaved staying near the road and wisely not trying to get closer.

I am now at the airport waiting on our delayed flight to Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow). As week 13 is nearly over, I have seen 4 predators and zero mammal prey such as moose, caribou or hare. Weird.