The main event in Hyder is bear watching. At 6:30 pm our group heads out to the Tongas National Forest and the Fish Creek viewing area. There is a long boardwalk built out over a stream where spawning salmon are near the end of their journey and the bears are busy fishing. The U.S. Forest Service has rangers here to help the tourists find the bears and keep them safe. The parking lot has a fenced walkway to get you safely into the complex and it is jam packed with bear watchers and photographers from around the world. As we walked in the cameras were clicking. Meet Meera and her cub Francis. They are grizzlies and Francis is a 20 month old male. The park rangers give all the bears names and love to tell you lots of stories about them.
Meera and Francis put on quite a show as they fished, ate salmon and cavorted. Francis is a typical kid and he splashed around in the water and then rolled around on the ground touching his toes and generally very pleased with himself. In the second photo Francis reached out to sample mom's salmon and she let out a mighty roar so he retracted his paw quickly. I love when he stood up to look around.
In addition to the bears were golden and bald eagles and a large wolf who came to fish at the far end of the stream. A perfect night!
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