Photographer's Comment: Last month, I had the opportunity to take my dream trip, and spent two days at Silver Salmon Creek, in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. This is just northeast of the Iliamna Volcano, across Cook Inlet and somewhat southwest of Homer, Alaska. During my stay, I photographed at least 23 different brown bears: boars, sows, juveniles, yearlings, and spring cubs. Some approached as close as 12 feet from my guide and me, but I never really felt threatened.....well, not after the first time. These bears are totally habituated to being around humans - but not as a source of food. The Park ranger, guides, Lodge owners and their staffs make sure of that, as did we. No food allowed outside the lodge. Anyway, this lady knew that we were no threat to her or her cub. All she was interested in was eating the sedge and grasses while she waited for the silver salmon to start swimming up the creek at high tide. I had a fabulous time, and took more than 24Gb of jpegs and quite a few more of RAW images. This is one of my favorites, taken from a distance of about 75 feet. Canon 300mm f/4 L IS USM with 1.4X Extender on a Rebel XTi, with a CP filter.

Tags: bear brown Alaska grizzly Kodiak sow female sedge predator top food chain scavenger single object multicolor horizontal grass behind log Silver Salmon Creek SSCL Lodge Lake Clark National Park Chigmit Mountains Range Iliamna Mount Volcano bears travel vacation adventure Cook Inlet

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