Alaskan Bears: Grizzly vs. Brown

When thinking about grizzly bears, the most common references that pop into my mind are, first, that crazy movie titled Grizzly Man about a guy who heads up to Alaska each summer and lives, not near, not by, but WITH the grizzly bears (as should be an obvious inference he eventually does in fact become the bears’ dinner). Second thought, news stories about campers being mauled and killed by grizzlies. Lastly, the cautions that all National Parks instill regarding the ferocious grizzly bear that will not, under any circumstance, hesitate in killing you at first scent.

My point: grizzly bears are not meant to be messed with unless you desire to be the next newspaper headline, “Young Female Mangled and Killed in Denali National Park.” Nope, definitely not something I wish to place on my list of things to do in this lifetime.

So, why then, may you ask is “Bear Viewing” part of many tourists’ itineraries when they visit Alaska?  Or, more importantly to this story, why was it just peachy keen fine for me to head out bear viewing on Sunday, July 24^th?

The answer to that question is based on a simple factor.  The large brown bears that we went and checked out, are YES indeed the same type of species as the grizzly bear, but remain less vicious because they are more well fed.

What this means is Alaskan brown bears live by the coast, so, when the salmon are spawning towards the end of the summer, they have a plethora of meaty substance to fill their very large bellies in preparation for the annual winter hibernation. In contrast the Alaskan grizzly bear does not have access to this large food supply because of their location being more inland.

The grizzly bears are more ferocious because, well, they are just hungrier.  With that said, we can understand why Alaskan brown bears are larger than Alaskan grizzlies.  Who would ever have thought a bear could be any bigger than a grizzly?  We are talking about MASSIVE brown bears here.

Homer Flyout

As already mentioned, on Sunday, July 24^th, I was given the chance to jump in on a bear-viewing trip for free. My best friend, Mimi works part-time for a pilot named Charlie who owns a small operation called Homer Flyout.  His packages include everything from glacier viewing, to bear viewing, to flyout fishing trips.  Mimi basically sells these packages in exchange for flying lessons.

During July, however, Mimi had to head back to Vermont for a wedding, so Charlie asked me if I could fill in for her while she was gone.  Sure, why not!  A perk, of this little job, just so happened to be the chance to partake in the offered package of bear viewing.  Sweetness!

The Story: Planes, Bears, and Wilderness

We took off from the Homer Airport in Trent’s six-seater plane (Trent is a pilot who operates with Charlie) quickly gaining altitude pointed in the direction of Cook Inlet.

After flying over the much more expansive waters of the Cook Inlet compared to the Kachemak Bay which surrounds Homer, we began to edge closer and closer to the opposite coast: a region of Alaska that has barely been touched by the human race.

As I looked outside my little window to the left, St. Augustine (a presently very active volcano) began to evoke images of a long lost world due to its perfectly cylindrical shape, black as coal, jutting almost super-imposed right out of the sea.

Humming along, we slowly moved onward, swooping in along the seashore where we touched down on the pebbly beach back dropped with, not only the grassy, green meadow housing around 25 brown bears, but the snow capped gargantuan volcanic mountain termed Iliamna

Many volcanoes dot the coastline along the other side of Cook Inlet because of this region being located along the Aleutian Fault Line: a rather active seismic zone.  I was at work one day and just about peed my pants after a loud speaker alarm went off signaling the town of Homer needed to immediately escape to higher ground owing to a 7.1 earthquake that had just hit outside the Aleutian archipelago chain causing the often chain reaction of a developing Tsunami.  Much to my relief this turned out to be more of a precaution, rather than an actual huge ass Tsunami headed our way, but still, it was quite a lot to deal with for a girl coming from Colorado aka we don’t really have issues with Tsunamis back home.

We de-boarded the plane, created a tight knit group (one person standing alone=bear meat), and began to tramp through the forest, after which we emerged into the meadow speckled with, yep, brown bears.  They were just roaming around, gnawing on grass (their food source pre-salmon spawning), minding their own business, and really giving us no heed whatsoever.  I really just found the whole experience rather relaxing.

Charlie handed me some binoculars and I was able to zoom in close to see what they were up to.  After glancing around the meadow for a couple of minutes, I spotted a couple sets of cubs playfully trying to irritate their mothers as much as possible.  So cute!

We weren’t allowed to move outside the pre-determined logged off section, by the Alaskan Wildlife Service, but I was ok with that.  Again, I really had no desire to become bear meat!

Two hours later, after enjoying the view, the seclusion, and the, almost, tranquil repetition of the bears’ eating activities we headed back to the plane, took off, and flew back to Homer!  I don’t think things could get more Alaskan than that: small planes, bears, and wilderness!  Yep, good day in the big AK!