Day: April 16, 2026

Grizzly Bear #2 in Haines, Alaska

October 10, 2025

I returned to the State Park near where I had seen a grizzly bear yesterday. It had crossed south of the bridge and swam across the northern tip of Lutak Inlet. It then strolled down the shoreline, and started to come back before venturing into the woods west of the bridge.

When I arrived today I drove in the access road and saw some of the photographers I had met yesterday. One of them was waving at me and pointing out into the water, and sure enough, there was a grizzly bear out on a rock- probably the same bear I saw yesterday.

Those were both taken with my iPhone camera. Most of the rest of the bear photos will be taken with the digital camera.

Before I go on I should describe where I am. The Lutak Inlet is south of the bridge I took photos from yesterday, and is south of where I am now. Chilkoot Lake is a short distance north of where I am. The stream with all the rocks in it is called a “weir” and connects the two bodies of water. Water flows south from the lake, through the weir, to the Inlet.

That is looking north from the bridge.

In this situation, the weir enables fish, mostly salmon, to swim north from the Inlet to the Lake, and enables authorities to monitor how many fish pass through. Of course bears eat fish, so this is a major draw for them to have a reliable source of food.

This is a graph showing the timing and volume of three types of salmon who pass through this weir.

I am here in early October, so the Sockeye and Pink salmon period has passed, and the salmon the bear is finding are now Coho. As you can see, the supply of fish was considerably higher from early June to mid-September, and I imagine there were probably lots more bears here at those times.

OK. Enough talk. Here are more bear pictures. This is the only one I saw, and according to the “locals” it is most likely the same one I saw yesterday.

The next 5 photos are a sequence which show him catching and methodically eating a fish. He brought it up out of the water and set it down on the rock he was on.

When he was finished with that one he kind of wandered around looking for more salmon.

This when he decided he had had enough and started coming ashore. I was up on edge of the road near the water as I took these photos. When it appeared that he was coming back to land I moved to the far side of my car, which was parked parallel to the weir on the opposite side of the one lane road.

When it was clear he was coming up to the road the other photographers started moving further up the road and behind a short concrete wall. They were familiar with this location and felt that the bear posed no risk, though I was told all of them had bear spray with them (as did I).

At this point I got IN my car.

Before he crossed the concrete barrier which prevents vehicles from driving off the road, he stood and looked off to the right for a short time, then turned around and started walking up the road to the left.

When he started walking away I got out of the car to take my final photos.

He continued walking up the road and eventually went up into the woods. The other photographers apparently felt the show was over and they dispersed. The road only continues a short ways before reaching the lake.

From start to finish, this whole photo encounter took 16 minutes. I hung around for a little while but soon had to leave to get back to the ferry terminal.

I will post photos from the ferry ride, and the town of Skagway, tomorrow.

Day 2 in Haines, Alaska

October 10, 2025

I left my Airbnb early in the morning to spend a little more time downtown, drive up to the ferry terminal to check in for my mid-day ride up to Skagway, and return to where I had seen the grizzly bear yesterday to try my luck again.

Haines is a very small town. I have seen population figures ranging from 1,800 to 2,400 permanent residents. The population increases in the summer as visitors arrive, either in their own vehicles, on cruise ships, or on ferries that shuttle people and vehicles between coastal towns.

This was the view from the deck at my Airbnb, in the woods above the downtown area.

It was a mostly clear morning but there were some clouds above some of the mountains – mainly on the opposite side of the Bay, as seen above.

This is the view from the marina parking area looking across the Bay as the sun was getting ready to rise above the clouds.

And this is the view from the same spot looking north, towards where I will be going to try and see more bears.

These were some of the houses at the former military base. They bordered a large, grassy field overlooking the Bay..

And this is a hotel, across the field from where I was parked.

I wish I had paid more attention and included more of the mountain in the background and less of the grass in the photo.

This black dog showed up with a ball in his mouth and wanted to play fetch. I indulged him for a few minutes but then told him I had places to be.

Back in town I stopped to take a photo of the Hammer Museum. It was too early for it to be open, and it may have been closed for the season anyway.

As I started to drive north towards the ferry terminal and this was the view from a parking area looking back towards town. Some of the buildings near the marina are visible, as are the houses at the former military base which are up on a hill.

Below is the view looking further left, across the Bay, in the direction that cruise ships would traverse to and from the Gulf of Alaska. Some stop here in Haines, some continue on up to Skagway, and they may well go to both. Juneau, the capital of Alaska, is only about 90 miles southeast of Haines, so there are ferries that shuttle people and vehicles between them. In fact the ferry I will take to Skagway originated in Juneau.

While Juneau has streets, there are no highways that go there, so people must get there by ferry if they have a vehicle, or by air. Since I am driving most places, I did not have it on my agenda. I did speak with another visitor at one of my Airbnb’s who told me she had never seen so many bald eagles in one place as she did in Juneau. She even seemed to think the eagles outnumbered people.

Below is the view looking straight across the Bay. I am glad I am on this side, as the clouds over there would certainly make picture taking problematic.

This is the view looking north, where I am going to try and see more bears.