Bears

The photo above shows a bear called Nicki with three cubs.  Nicki was most often seen near Steep Creek.  She returned to the area for over a decade.

An occasional brown bear will enter the Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area in some years.  However, the bears most often seen are black bears.  Adult black bear boars tend to avoid areas with lots of people.  So most black bears seen will be sows or their immature cubs.

Female black bears tend to mate after their cubs are on their own.  So cubs will be about one and a half years old before there mother kicks them out.

Uncontrolled dogs can cause a problem with bears.  The seventh photo below of a cub with its ears raised occurred after two uncontrolled dogs charged their mother.

Notice the large bear walking on Dredge Creek when it was still frozen.  That illustrates that occasionally a bear will be awake rather than wait for a spring thaw.

Unless it is very warm, or the bears are fishing, they prefer to keep their feet dry.  Commonly, bears will use beaver dams to cross Dredge Creek.  In one photo below a bear is jumping a gap in a beaver dam to stay dryer.