Brown Bear Trail, Alaska

The Brooks River in Katmai National Park, Alaska is famous for Brown Bear viewing while salmon are spawning. While I did take part in that, I gave myself an extra few days there to avoid feeling rushed and to enable my self to be observant of the landscape as well. This image epitomizes the mood of this place. This is a bear trail in the rainforest. I can only imagine that this trail has been warn down over the course of hundreds of years, if not more. In a time when no humans had intruded, the bears moved through this forest, wandering from pool to pool along the river feeding on salmon in preparation for yet another winter of hibernation. A lush, bountiful, yet harsh place to survive. The bears I witnessed walking these trails were the great, great, great grandchildren of those that created the trails. You can sense the the history of survival and evolution here. it is powerful!