Fotolog - Sunday

aerial shot from the plane to Katmai

(this is a picture of...) me in my waders heading to the beach















our group heading up from the beach; it was 8 of us plus Chris, our fearless leader (center)














we hiked up into a meadow where the bears eat, play, fight and...well, this is a family blog...
















this is toward the back of the meadow: mama, yearling cub (1 1/2 yrs old) and another young female. the bears tolerated our presence, aware of us but unconcerned since we respected their space. because of all the tours that visit there, most of these bears have seen humans since they were cubs.













Bro and sis Ben & Emily in the foreground approached by another male who wants to play. They're all around 3 1/2 years old, about a year before sexual maturity.















here's that young male running from Emily -- we know who wears the pants...














here's Peaches sunning herself as a gentleman caller looks on














here's scare bear, so named because she's extremely shy around other bears. she's known for being much more comfortable around humans. whenever we saw her all day she was hanging by herself.














here's my favorite bear shot of the day. so peaceful, as though we're not even there.














throughout the day we were fairly consistently surrounded by ten plus bears at any one time, but at a pretty good distance away. it was amazing how unfazed we became by the presence of wild bears in our vicinity. I found myself even wanting to get closer. well, as the day wore on, one bear in particular seemed to feel the same way. as we walked back toward the beac, this dude decided to come by and check us out.

















to give you a sense of how close he got, I took this with the zoom of my digital camera, sans telephoto lens. he was definitely within 20 feet. definitely got my heart rate going.














and here's what they call the "hero shot."
















here's a shot from the beach at the end of the day. you can see the mountain where the mama bears have their dens, and the beach where the bears come down to dig for clams.















Chris's husband Ken came to get us in the plane. Thanks Chris and Ken for an incredible adventure.