Road Trip - Bound for Newfoundland: Bear Viewing

Hyder is a very small Alaskan town that is completely surrounded by Canada. It's a sleepy place that is dying. When we were here in 2010 the population was around 73. now it is under 50. Buildings that were standing in 2010 are now ruble. Sad to see...

The road to Hyder is beautiful with glaciated mountain views. You are apt to see wildlife along the way and we did spot this Mama Bear and her adorable little cub along the road, they were just munching on grass and Mom was digging in the dirt, perhaps for grubs? I don't know, maybe a tasty root? What do I know, I'm not a bear. 😃

But, the big reason we go to Hyder is for the bear viewing at Fish Creek. Below you can see part of the viewing boardwalk that is built along the creek. Before the boardwalk was built, the locals told us they used to come and just sit near the creek bank and watch the bears. The bears start showing up when the salmon return from the ocean to the creek of their birth to spawn and then die, starting a new salmon life cycle.

Unfortunately, the salmon were a little on the late side and had just started returning to the creek so bear viewing was really slow. We only saw this one black bear and then just for a moment. He stripped some leaves from a bush and then ducked back in the bushes, re-emerging downstream just a little ways and only long enough for me to snap a few photos.

I love how he is holding his paw up checking out his surroundings. One ranger thought perhaps he smelled a grizzly that had left scat nearby and decided to leave. Black bears will defer to grizzlies.

These are photos I took in 2010 of a grizzly mom and cub. The cub was so cute trying to catch fish, he was not successful while we were watching. Mom even caught a fish and gave it to the cub, but the fish got away from him. These salmon were really big and can weigh as much as 50 lbs. The cub played with dead fish while Mom caught dinner and shared it with him!