On day 1 and 2 of driving, we saw small black bears beside the road on two different occasions. The first sighting was very exciting for us because we had not seen much in the way of wildlife early into our drive. Initially, he looked like a dark rock because of the rounded outline of his back while he was nibbling on foliage.
Once we got closer, it was clear that he was indeed a bear. Mom and dad passed right by him ahead of us and never noticed him. As I was snacking on some trail mix, I quickly grabbed my phone to snap a picture. This is when I could not get my phone to unlock. Dang touch ID! I had been putting food in my mouth and my fingers were greasy and wet from licking them, so my fingerprint didn’t work. It was already too late to type in my 6 digit code to unlock the phone.
Now that I knew my phone was going to be unreliable at a moment’s notice, I equipped myself with full picture taking ammunition. Keeping the Milepost book open on my lap to read everything as we drove, it held my big Canon camera with a nice zoom lens. I also found a good place to put my point and click camera within reach in the side pocket of my door. No more missed shots!
On day 3 of our journey down the Alaska Highway, a bear stopped in the middle of the road in front of my dad. He slowed down and pulled over to the shoulder. As he was getting close to it, a semi truck came speeding around the corner and startled the bear. I grabbed my big camera and tried to get a shot. This is how it turned out as the bear ran to the woods in the rain.
Day four’s bear sighting turned out a little better. This one ran across the road in front of my dad and I got a couple of shots of it. Maybe we should drive in front so I can get good pictures to share! I promise to get better ones once we get into Alaska.
