Alaska bear safety
Bears are so cute, kinda makes you want to walk right up and pet them ... don't do that! From the comfort of my own car I've seen over 100 bears on the sides of the road, and from a car I can tell you bears react one of three ways:
- First, they quickly leave as you approach.
- Second, they stay for a few moments, then grudgingly leave. They may make a noise as they leave.
- Third, they don't leave, and seem to protect their spot. I assume this is because they have a good source of food I can't see from the car.
So, if a bear is willing to protect its spot when I'm in a vehicle like a Toyota RAV4, what do you think it will do if I'm on foot? Given that background, here are a few links to good Alaska bear safety pages:
- Alaska State Parks bear safety page
- National Park Service bear safety page
- Alaska.org bear safety page
I'm sure that if a bear ever charges me it will be all I can do to keep from running, but hopefully I'll just close my eyes and he'll do a bluff charge. Which reminds me, I also need to pick up some pepper spray on my next trip into town. From what I've read I can buy that at local sports/outdoor stores.
Alaska bear safety sign
If you don't want to read those pages, here's a photo of an Alaska bear safety sign I took at Exit Glacier in Seward, Alaska. It provides a summary of the bear safety rules I shared above:
