Black Bear

This is our fourth bear sighting, and it was beside the highway between Whitehorse and Dawson City.  We were about five metres away in the car and just quietly kept pace with it as it munched it's way along.  Luckily there was no other traffic on the road to disturb it and we watched it for at least five minutes.

Shortly afterwards, we saw bears numbers five, six and seven, being a mother and two cubs, but they scuttled away quickly before I could get a photo.

These were all black bears, no grizzly sightings as yet.  However, we did hear a story about one today.  There are numerous roadworks in progress (due to the harsh winter conditions here and the short summer period in which to do the repairs) and we were first in line at the stop/go.  The lollipop girl (university student) came over to chat and Richard asked her if she had seen any bears.  The answer was yes, on Monday she saw a grizzly about 25 metres away, and by the time she went to her vehicle to get her bear spray it was about 2 metres away! It was probably just curious but she used her bear spray and it took off pretty quickly.  I am definitely taking my bear spray everywhere with me when we go off on any walks!