We Saw a Bear in Alaska!

After rounding the corner from the 1400year old tree right about 10 feet away from where we were just standing was a big old Black Bear! I was hoping to see a bear while we were there, and we did. We have heard, bears do not like surprises so make noises when walking in the wild and we were and he stayed away, in fact I doubt he even noticed us, he was busy eating the spawning salmon. He would take a bite of one, toss it away, take a bit of another, toss that away, and then just kind of walked around and then walked away. The guide on the tour said another one was close by as well, so we should move on.

Hello Bear on our tour, we were just a few feet away from you around the previous corner.

65 responses to “We Saw a Bear in Alaska!”

Lydia Potter

September 20, 2019 at 10:19 pm

WOW! That’s sooooooo scary, but incredible at the same time!

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1. David & Laura Speer
  
  September 20, 2019 at 10:20 pm
  
  It was both for sure, this bear fortunately was too happy eating and doing his own thing to be bothered with us.
  
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2. Sunshiny SA, Kavitha
  
  September 21, 2019 at 1:00 pm
  
  I’d run faster than a cheetah. Probably sprout wings as well. 😅
  
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  1. David & Laura Speer
    
    September 21, 2019 at 1:02 pm
    
    Ha, this bear was preoccupied with the salmon, he looked at us, but didn’t seem to care. We knew there would be a good chance of seeing a bear if we kept walking around in the woods in Alaska I’m just glad it wasn’t when we were all alone by ourselves because I’m really not sure what we would have done at least we had a guy there to give us solid advice.
    
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  2. Sunshiny SA, Kavitha
    
    September 21, 2019 at 1:19 pm
    
    You both are brave. I’m sure he had much sport with the salmon. 😁
    
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  3. David & Laura Speer
    
    September 21, 2019 at 2:01 pm
    
    Thanks Kavitha, We do not think we are brave, just driven to experience things. We really believe whether we are sitting on a couch or out in the woods with a bear near a creak, when it will be our time it will be our time, until then we will live as much as possible. We will be following you along on your blog, because we think it is very interesting so we can keep up with each other.
    
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  4. Sunshiny SA, Kavitha
    
    September 21, 2019 at 4:08 pm
    
    Carpe Diem… I understand. 🌻 Thank you for joining my blogging family, I look forward to your posts. 🌻🌺
    
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  5. Lydia Potter
    
    September 21, 2019 at 2:17 pm
    
    Yeah! Me too!!!!
    
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Dragthepen

September 20, 2019 at 11:58 pm

Wow. Great shot.

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1. David & Laura Speer
  
  September 21, 2019 at 11:13 am
  
  Yeah, that is David, he is a wonderful photographer, I wish my writing skills were as high, but you work with what you have!
  
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Pete

September 21, 2019 at 12:14 am

As Im from Africa, the place I love to see bears are in photos, safely out of harm’s way. They’re not nearly as cuddly as some folks like to teach their little ones. What an amazing sight.

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Chocoviv

September 21, 2019 at 12:34 am

These bears are beautiful!!

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1. David & Laura Speer
  
  September 21, 2019 at 11:07 am
  
  I know, how lucky are we to see such a site!
  
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  1. Chocoviv
    
    September 21, 2019 at 1:24 pm
    
    I got to see a caribou driving up there too!
    
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  2. David & Laura Speer
    
    September 21, 2019 at 1:43 pm
    
    What! That is awesome, just on the road side?
    
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  3. Chocoviv
    
    September 21, 2019 at 2:04 pm
    
    Yup! Trotting beside our car!
    
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  4. David & Laura Speer
    
    September 21, 2019 at 2:07 pm
    
    Oh, wow how cool. Very cool!
    
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  5. Chocoviv
    
    September 21, 2019 at 2:08 pm
    
    We have a hybrid so it’s so quiet that wildlife really don’t notice us….
    
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  6. David & Laura Speer
    
    September 21, 2019 at 2:18 pm
    
    Oh, even better, but you know – we read Bears do not like surprises, so they might hate that…
    
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  7. Chocoviv
    
    September 21, 2019 at 2:20 pm
    
    Yes, bears you want to stay away………
    
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Sheree

September 21, 2019 at 1:19 am

Wow, how amazing!

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1. David & Laura Speer
  
  September 21, 2019 at 11:04 am
  
  I know, I was and am still amazed!!!
  
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MichaelStephenWills

September 21, 2019 at 6:55 am

great memory in a good way.

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1. David & Laura Speer
  
  September 21, 2019 at 11:02 am
  
  It is – and that is how we try and think of travel, the memories, and when we are super old we can re-look at our website and laugh at all the things we forgot!
  
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  1. MichaelStephenWills
    
    September 29, 2019 at 4:22 pm
    
    amen
    
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steveknife

September 21, 2019 at 7:25 am

Great pics! Only came close to a Bear once and luckily he and I went in opposite directions!

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1. David & Laura Speer
  
  September 21, 2019 at 10:56 am
  
  It was amazing Steve, Yeah – I would have been way more scared if he was not so busy with the Salmon.
  
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  1. steveknife
    
    September 21, 2019 at 11:24 am
    
    Yes I’m sure! The one I saw was happily munching berries on the edge of the creek…plenty of time to ease on by!
    
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Joan Wallner

September 21, 2019 at 8:00 am

So fun that you saw a bear! If you want to see grizzlies, check out Katmai National Park on your next visit to Alaska. I’ve been there once and am going back next summer. They are amazing creatures!!

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1. David & Laura Speer
  
  September 21, 2019 at 10:38 am
  
  Ok,Joan, that sounds like a great idea! I am looking into this and we are going back, not right away, but for sure we are going back.
  
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2. David & Laura Speer
  
  September 21, 2019 at 10:40 am
  
  So, I looked into it!!! Katmai National Park that is across the Gulf of Alaska and for sure doable on our list of the next visit to Alaska – plus my quick search showed so many bears in the pictures, this looks like an awesome place, excellent tip Joan!
  
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ourcrossings

September 21, 2019 at 8:06 am

Wow, I think this is one of the best ways of seeing wild animals – in their natural habitat – without being attacked by one, of course

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1. David & Laura Speer
  
  September 21, 2019 at 10:27 am
  
  Yes, we agree. My girls and myself are really into animals, and go to a lot of zoos, but always feel awful about it them caged up. So just walking around and seeing a bear was both extremely scary and wonderfully amazing. Glad to see him, but glad he left as well.
  
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  1. Prosperity
    
    September 21, 2019 at 10:41 am
    
    There’s a place in Vancouver called Grouse Mountain and they have two bears, both were found as orphans – one dehydrated and weak, the other was a lone survivor of an accident, so they raised them there. That could also be a good way to see bears without feeling like they’re being exploited. We almost went there but ended up going to Vancouver Aquarium instead.
    
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  2. David & Laura Speer
    
    September 21, 2019 at 11:01 am
    
    I could see that, they would be gone if it were not for the saving. Are they hanging out together as friends?
    
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Pit

September 21, 2019 at 10:06 am

We did see bears, too, but not from that close-up.

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1. David & Laura Speer
  
  September 21, 2019 at 10:10 am
  
  Hi Pit, the scary part was we were just walking about 10feet from that exact point, and there was nothing from him just attacking us – well but the guide. Assuming she had some tricks to save us. I don’t think that bear was interested in us though because of all the spawing fish, that is what really saved us.
  
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Manuel Chiacchiararelli

September 21, 2019 at 12:25 pm

Wow! What a bless!

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1. David & Laura Speer
  
  September 21, 2019 at 12:56 pm
  
  He was beautiful, I felt blessed to see him, but also a little scared. We finally got a photo that reminds me of some of your beautiful photos, not the same, but we both said we thought if your work when we were posting it…
  
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  1. Manuel Chiacchiararelli
    
    September 21, 2019 at 1:05 pm
    
    Really? Thanks … i envy you for this beautiful encounter, it’s one of my dream and one of the reasons I want to see Alaska so much.
    And probably I will be scary as well 😀
    
    Thanks for sharing about your wonderful trip!
    
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  2. David & Laura Speer
    
    September 21, 2019 at 1:07 pm
    
    Manuel, you especially would love it there. Honestly there was so much wildlife everywhere and we were just on tours. We want to go back and just do our own thing, see more, have more time.
    
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  3. Manuel Chiacchiararelli
    
    September 24, 2019 at 3:41 am
    
    I can imagine, it has to be amazingly wild!
    Hope to get there some day and hope you’ll be back too 😉
    
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  4. David & Laura Speer
    
    September 24, 2019 at 7:20 am
    
    We will go back, but it is amazing there, you should plan it
    
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  5. Manuel Chiacchiararelli
    
    September 24, 2019 at 9:16 am
    
    I will, Alaska and Yukon are my dreams … and usually I manage to fulfil my dreams 😉
    
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  6. David & Laura Speer
    
    September 24, 2019 at 11:28 am
    
    Us too, see we do have a lot in common!
    
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heavenstobetty

September 21, 2019 at 1:09 pm

Amazing!!
Kudos on the great photos! I’d be shaking in my hiking boots.

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1. David & Laura Speer
  
  September 21, 2019 at 1:13 pm
  
  I was too in awe to shake, it was more like…scared but a respectful scare.
  
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Aspasía S. Bissas

September 21, 2019 at 1:11 pm

I’ve seen black bears from the safety of my car. They also seemed not to notice us, which is probably exactly what you want from bears 🙂

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1. David & Laura Speer
  
  September 21, 2019 at 1:12 pm
  
  He definitely looked right at us for a second or two, but then he looked down and started eating again.
  
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Aspasía S. Bissas

September 21, 2019 at 1:29 pm

He had more important matters to attend to 🙂

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1. David & Laura Speer
  
  September 21, 2019 at 1:42 pm
  
  Exactly, better to eat a fish then a human!
  
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lovehateexperience

September 21, 2019 at 3:35 pm

Wouldn’t be a true experience of Alaska without having a bear 10ft away from where your standing? Amazing!

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1. David & Laura Speer
  
  September 21, 2019 at 4:02 pm
  
  Exactly.
  
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Renee/Heart Tokens

September 21, 2019 at 5:51 pm

Awesome but a little frightening at the same time!

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1. David & Laura Speer
  
  September 21, 2019 at 6:45 pm
  
  True, Some of the best feelings all wrapped up in one!
  
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salsaworldtraveler

September 21, 2019 at 11:20 pm

It is great that you experienced and survived your close encounter. Years ago my son and I were fishing on the Big Susitna River near Talkeetna and saw brown bears as I recall from a distance. Alaska is amazing!

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1. David & Laura Speer
  
  September 21, 2019 at 11:33 pm
  
  It was amazing, but I kept thinking I see the bear, but what about the bears I cannot see, the one around the corner…
  
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monybseattle

September 22, 2019 at 2:50 pm

Super cool and super scary!

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Jim Borden

September 24, 2019 at 2:00 pm

that is awesome! hard to top that!

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1. David & Laura Speer
  
  September 24, 2019 at 4:45 pm
  
  You know Jim, that is true. Very few things in our travels have been able to beat this.
  
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  1. Jim Borden
    
    September 24, 2019 at 10:48 pm
    
    but I am sure it was fun trying to!
    
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  2. David & Laura Speer
    
    September 25, 2019 at 7:55 am
    
    We just got back from Alaska so we’re in the middle of trying to plan our next trip we think it’s going to be too China we’re trying to decide do we want to do an independent trip where we just get the airfare and figure things out when we get there or are we going to do a tour group it seems to be significantly cheaper taking a tour group to China so we’ll see if there’s something that can top seeing a bear in the wild I’m ready to top it though onward and upward we say
    
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  3. Jim Borden
    
    September 25, 2019 at 7:58 am
    
    you are living the dream, and I hope you somehow top seeing a bear in the wild! we will be going to Singapore in a few months and staying for about 10 weeks. so we are busy trying to figure out where else to go while we are there. we’d welcome any suggestions!
    
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  4. David & Laura Speer
    
    September 25, 2019 at 8:41 am
    
    Ok, we are not going until march, we have too much to do until then so we might be there at the same time, we can share notes as we go, lol
    
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Jim Borden

September 25, 2019 at 10:05 pm

sounds like a plan!

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