Denali Discovery Hike--Part III

We continued our hike toward the shelf overlook after crossing the creek and a fun encounter with Willow Ptarmigan.   (click here to see previous posts)

While hiking in the wilderness it is always advisable to be on the lookout for grizzlies.  A large group like this makes enough noise with movement to pretty well let any wildlife know humans are around, however, chest high willows can obscure the view of a feeding bear or even a sleeping bear.

 

Above we stop to examine a bear dig.  Grizzly bears dig down through the tundra soil to unearth roots, voles and ground squirrels, as well as, the foods the animals store.  The freshness of the dig gives an indication of how long ago the bear was present.  This dig was hours old, but later we came upon a large depression in the foliage where a bear had recently taken a nap.  Denali bears nap and feed all hours of day and night.  

Grizzly bears are omnivores and eat foliage and berries along with meat.  Below you see a stand of soapberries, a favored food in August and September.  (Not a flavor I enjoyed!)

Below:  a clump of saxifrage

Above and below, the fire red autumn leaves of the Fireweed.  

Above a variety of lousewort, possibly whorled-leaf lousewort.  Below, the entrance to an arctic ground squirrel's burrow.

Arctic ground squirrel, above.  In one hunting technique, Grizzly bears are known to slam their forepaws against the ground to cause the earth to tremor in an effort to scare a ground squirrel out of its burrow.  In late summer, juvenile ground squirrels are dispersing from their natal homes and dig temporary, shallow burrows.  These shallow tunnels are easier for bears to dig than a deeply tunneled family burrow.

Above and below, tall cotton grass.

Below, flowering Sitka Burnet

Below you see our views as we approach the tundra shelf.  Beyond is the glacial river.

Caribou paths carved in the tundra, below.

The caribou have already begun their migration, but have left behind trodden trails and an occasional hoof print (below).

Next:  Discovery Hike IV and more about the Arctic Ground Squirrel

For more information about Denali's caribou herd click the link.

And for an incredible read about caribou:  Being Caribou by Karsten Huer.  Visit the Being Caribou website.

This is the third post in a series about my Discovery Hike in Denali National Park and Preserve lead by Denali Ranger, Bob King.  To see the entire series click here.  Scroll to the bottom for the first post.

Links and Resources:
Click this link to view all my posts on Denali National Park and Preserve.  To see all posts on my visit to Alaska in the fall of 2012, visit Alaska

Denali National Park and Preserve
Willow Ptarmigan
Alaska wild berries

Grizzly Bear Gets a Good Scratch!

On my first full day of visiting Denali National Park, I was fortunate to not only get a good view of Mount McKinley which had been hidden by clouds for many days, but to also get some extraordinary views of grizzly bears.  In the images below you are seeing the same bear from my previous post and, above, my sketch of that bear.       

Just over the rise in the image above and below, is the Stony Hill pull off, where vehicles can pull over to take in the view.  The Stony Hill area lies between the Toklat River camp and Eielson Visitor Center, at mile 66.  The only vehicles on the road are buses and the few vehicles that have special permits.  Road restrictions are one of the key preservation features of this national park:  private vehicles are restricted beyond Mile 15 to preserve the integrity of the wilderness and wildlife viewing.  And to help with perspective, the Eielson Visitor Center is an eight-hour drive from the Wilderness Access Center near the entrance of the park where visitors catch shuttles to the wilderness.

I will let the images below speak for themselves--a bear thoroughly enjoying a favorite scratching/rubbing spot.  Bears are also believed to rub and scratch to scent mark, leaving information for other bears in the area.  

We most often hear about the fierceness of the grizzly bear as a top predator. What you see in this post and the previous, is a more rounded glimpse of the daily life of this omnivorous species.  The images are a bit like an impressionist paintings, fuzzy.  The distance was out of range for the 200 mm lens I was using, but, nonetheless, an intimate look into a seldom seen behavior.  My impression from the postures--pure pleasure!

Mount McKinley and our Stony Hill grizzly, Denali National Park and Preserve.


Links and Resources:

Click this link to view all my posts on Denali National Park and Preserve.  To see all posts on my visit to Alaska in the fall of 2012, visit Alaska

Denali National Park and Preserve
Grizzly Bear
Bear behavior
Bear Safety

Grizzly Bears in Denali National Park

Beautiful bears with shaggy blonde backs and thick, dark hair growing in for winter insulation.    

Bears are more than beauty, of course.  They are wild animals.  We have to be mindful of our human  tendency to see them as less than they are--wild predators.  In fact, grizzly bears are wild predators that are at the top of their food chain, a species to be admired and respected from a distance.

There are about 300 grizzly bears in Denali National Park.  This is quite different from the more than 3000 that can be found in Katmai National Park, many of them concentrated around the rivers in summer months and accustomed to seeing large groups of visitors.  At Denali, visitors encounter bears in a sparsely populated wilderness.  There are no crowds, only crowded buses.  The park road cuts through 92 miles of the six million acres of park and preserve land, and it is along this road, while in park buses, that most visitors view wildlife.  Beyond that, deeper in the wilderness, a bear will encounter humans infrequently.

The safe distance to view a bear in Denali is 300 yards--that's three football fields. This measure of safety comes from years of experience and is based on the agility, speed and nature of these animals.  So keep in mind, when you see these photos, the bear is that far away, brought closer only by the lens of the camera and image cropping.  In a few images, like the one above and below, the bear was on a hillside about 100 yards from the road. The images were taken through the window.

It was a special treat to see these bears in their element with the fall season changing around them, their shaggy fur also in transition, their foraging intent as they fattened up for winter months, their bow-legged gait passing over knee-high willows as if they weren't even there.

In the images below you are seeing (and imagining with me) this bear after he came down to willows near the road.  He was higher on the hillside when we pulled over, but in a matter of minutes, faster than you would expect, and using an unhurried gait, he reached the stand of willows near the road.  He briefly disappeared behind them.  

I watched and waited, sensing, or maybe only imagining, that he was still there, foraging with his head down.  It didn't matter that metal and glass separated us, my heart rate increased.  While others in the vehicle were watching for his appearance ahead of us, my eyes were still scanning the willows.  All at once he rose-up on hind legs, just enough for his shoulders and head to rise above the willows.  There aren't too many things that could startle more, even though the bear was simply getting a better check on his surroundings.  I gasped and barely got the words out--there he is!


Then just as quickly, he was down on all fours again, moving on.  For an instant, I got a glimpse into what it must feel like to encounter a bear hidden by willows while hiking in the wilderness.  This is the reason for the infamous chant, "hey bear, hey bear."   Neither bears nor humans like this kind of surprise.

Don't miss the cool foot pad on his left hind foot in the image above.

You will love seeing what this bear does next!

Links and Resources:

Click this link to view all my posts on Denali National Park and Preserve.  To see all posts on my visit to Alaska in the fall of 2012, visit Alaska

Denali National Park and Preserve
Grizzly Bear
Bear behavior
Bear Safety