Grizzly Sow and cub

Wow, what a great couple of days – I don’t even know where to start – well you can’t go wrong with a big sow Grizzly and cub!

The last couple of days I have driven across portions of Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia and now I’m back in Alaska, Haines to be specific.  Tomorrow I catch the ferry for a 24 hour trip to Ketchikan in about the most southern portion of the Alaska. 

I was hoping to do some shooting along the way, but didn’t expect to get so many cool opportunities.  I think I have blog entries for the next four days at least!

I seemed to surprise some photographers in Yellowstone and the Tetons recently when I would say I wasn’t interested in photographing bears.  There, a sow and cub like this would have created a huge traffic jam, and would have been a very frustrating as a photographer.  Here, along the Haines Highway in British Columbia, I sat and watched this sow and cub for at least 20 minutes from the relative safety (maybe ?) of my truck, and never saw another person or vehicle!  In fact on this whole 900 mile drive I was surprised how I could go long stretches without seeing another vehicle.  I appreciate it much more after my recent travels into some high traffic areas at a busy time of year!

This sow was huge!  Even her face was huge.  In contrast, her cub was tiny – as you can see, even on its hind legs it wasn’t even taller then the dandelions!