- Hello, bear!
Heyo!
- Heyo, bear!
[indistinct chatter]
- I think what's cool about the wildlife in Denali
is that they have this vast uninterrupted ecosystem
that starts up in the glaciers and goes all the way down
to these low-lying areas.
just this very broad array of wildlife
have a whole entire that is capable of sustaining them.
And it's protected forever,
so what a cool thing...
[laughs]
That we get to walk around in the middle of it
and witness that.
- I absolutely love foxes.
- Ptarmigan have a lot of personality.
[imitates barking]
- It's completely raw and unfiltered,
and the wildlife is such a huge part of that.
- Seeing a wild animal in the backcountry
can be an incredible experience,
but knowing how to behave
in an encounter scenario
might make all the difference.
This is bear scat.
It's a little bit old.
We know it's bear scat because it's big
and you can tell what they've been eating.
- Denali is home to hundreds of black bears
and grizzly bears.
- Bears are omnivores.
They eat anything from roots and berries
to caribou and moose.
- I really like bears, because they're so...
they're so individual.
There's intent.
Like, you can tell that they're thinking about things.
- When we go out on any hike in Denali,
we remember the two basic rules:
stay alert and keep your distance.
Do you see the little whit specks?
- Always keep at least 300 yards,
or three football fields,
between you and any bear.
- What I do when I'm traveling in the backcountry
is always go through what's the worst thing that could happen
right now and how would I react to it.
- Scenario number one:
what if as we're hiking we spot a bear out in the distance?
- As soon as I see a bear,
I'm thinking, "All right, how do I need to change my route?"
- It looks like it's in a cheeky place.
- It is.
If the bear is still far away
and hasn't noticed us yet,
we simply avoid it.
We take a different path that gives the bear
plenty of space, keeping an eye out
to make sure the bear doesn't move into our new route.
- If the bear is still far away
but has noticed us,
we would wave our arms over our heads
and back away slowly,
making it clear that we are retreating.
We are going to make ourselves look as big as possible.
staying pretty close together.
And we're gonna speak in a low, calm voice
to let the bear know that we're not threatening.
- At this point, we don't yell or shout
to draw attention to ourselves.
- Their number one sense is their sense of smell,
and so that's usually how they know that you're coming.
You know, they can smell you from a mile away.
This is a really, really windy park,
and so if you're on the other side of the wind,
you can very easily sneak up on bears.
So making a lot of noise,
letting bears know that we're coming
is number one.
- Heyo, bear!
- Coming through! - Hello, bear!
- Scenario number two:
encountering a bear at close range.
- Bears, especially grizzlies,
are so complex.
They're going to base their reaction
on each individual situation.
- I look down, and maybe 100 feet away from us
is this sow and her two yearlings
looking up at us.
The first thing we remind ourselves
is to never drop our packs and never run.
Running might trigger a predatory instinct,
causing the bear to chase after us.
- Staying calm is really important.
- We wave our arms above our head
and speak in a loud voice to indentify ourselves as human.
We group together to look bigger.
So I'm behind Diana with my trekking poles extended
and, like, trying to look big,
and Diana is in front of me with her bear spray out
and her hand sort of shaking.
We talked to the bear and back away slowly,
facing the bear at all times.
If the bear follows, we stop and hold our ground.
Hey, bear, go!
- Yeah!
- Though bears don't make a habit
of attacking humans, they can pose a threat
in certain situations.
- I stepped toward him and turned to look
and saw this bear just running
as fast as he could away from us.
He ran off, and then turned around,
and then squared up to charge us.
- Scenario number three:
if a bear charges.
A bear might charge if we've taken it by surprise
or it feels threatened and is protecting its food or young.
The charge is usually designed to intimidate us,
not to provoke a fight.
- The bear had squared up.
It was gnashing his teeth,
and we had to convince him
that we were not a threat,
but also don't mess with us.
If a bear charges, we will not run.
We stand our ground, yell loudly,
and wave our hands, pulling out our bear spray
so that we're ready to use it.
Often the bear will veer off or stop its charge,
but if the charge continues and the bear is in range,
it's time to use our bear spray.
- You shouldn't have it buried in your pack
because you're gonna need it right away.
- Once you've used it, leave the area immediately
because bears and other wildlife
are gonna be really curious about the smell that this has.
- Our response in a bear attack
partly depends on what type of bear is attacking,
so it's important to know the difference
between a grizzly bear and a black bear.
- Grizzly bears have these dished faces.
They have these big huge heads
with, like, a dished-in nose,
and then they have this big muscular hump,
and it's because they're digging up roots all the time
or digging after ground squirrels.
- They have long straight claws
and short rounded ears.
Black bears have no shoulder hump.
They have a straight snout,
taller ears, and shorter claws.
Black bears have a longer snout.
They have kind of a Roman nose,
and it's hard to use color
to discern the two.
Black bears tend to live in forested areas of the park,
whereas grizzlies live in the open tundra
and are often found along gravel bars and streams.
Grizzly bears, they're just trying to preserve themselves,
so if they see you as a threat,
then they're going to try to convince you, like,
"You don't want to mess with this."
- Scenario number 4:
what if the bear is about to strike?
If a grizzly bear is about to strike,
we drop to the ground and lay flat on our stomachs.
Or we can curl into a ball with our packs,
protecting our spines
and our hands protecting the back of our necks.
- If you curl in a ball and play dead,
they're gonna mess with you for a little while
and then hopefully leave you alone
once they realize you're not going to hurt them.
- But if the bear attack escalates
into biting and scratching,
that's when we fight back.
If a black bear is about to strike,
we immediately fight back.
For black bears, we do everything we can
before an attack to frighten the bear away.
- With black bears, be really aggressive
and throw rocks, yell, let them know
that you're this mean, scary thing.
Whereas with grizzly bears, it's more of a mind game.
You want to appear big enough to not attack,
but you also want to look like you are not a threat to them.
- This right here is one giant bear dig.
The bear just going to town,
probably digging for ground squirrels.
We were cooking and a bear walked basically straight
into our camp.
Scenario number five:
what if a bear approaches us while we are cooking?
If a bear comes to our cook site
while we're in the process of making food,
we quickly reseal our food in a plastic bag,
place it in the bear resistant food container,
and lock it.
We grab any pots that don't fit into the bear camp,
and with pot in hand, back away,
leaving the locked container for the bear to investigate.
My boyfriend woke up in the morning to the shadow
of a bear on the tent wall,
and he was like, you know, "There's a bear right outside."
- Scenario number six:
what if we encounter a bear or a wolf
while at our campsite?
If a bear or wolf approaches the campsite,
we wave our arms and speak in a loud voice,
and if it's convenient,
we shake the tent.
If the animal continues to come back
or has damaged our gear,
we'll have to immediately leave the area.
- Hey, bear.
- Coming through the brush, bear!
- You're out there with the animals,
and sometimes they do walk right past you.
And so those experiences do really get at you
in your core.
- Wolves are hands down my favorite animals in Denali.
They, to me, represent what wilderness is.
Scenario number seven:
what if we encounter a wolf on your trip
into the backcountry?
Denali is home to several wolf packs,
and it's a great place to see wolves in the wild.
I was way up high on this ridgeline
looking down on the gravel bar.
I saw a whole pack of wolves hunting,
and that was amazing to see that.
If we do see a wolf, we won't run.
We'll wave our arms above our heads
and talk in a loud voice.
We'll group together to make ourselves look bigger.
A wolf has never aggressively approached a person
in this park.
But if it did, then you would want to stand your ground
and not run, because a wolf is still a predator,
so running away can trigger a chase instinct.
- [shouting]
- Heyo, moose!
- Hey, mooses!
- The moose habitat is generally, you know,
a place with a lot of vegetation like willows,
but we've got some tracks here.
Most moose in the park live in forested areas,
where they can be hard to spot from the trees.
Those moose generally keep to themselves,
they can become aggressive if approached too closely.
- The moose's ears were kind of, like, going back,
and his back heels started sort of stomping in the ground,
and I was like, "Whoa."
I didn't--I just didn't want to be there anymore.
- Scenario number eight:
what if we come across a moose while hiking
and it runs at us?
In late September, early October,
during their breeding season,
the male bulls can be especially aggressive.
- In early spring, mothers protecting their young
are prone to attack and should be treated
with extreme caution.
- We should always be at least 25 yards away from a moose.
Heyo, moose!
If we encounter a moose at close range,
we run.
We dodge behind large trees, cars, or structures
to put a barrier between us and the angry animal.
If we're caught in the open,
we should run in a zigzag pattern,
dodging and changing direction often.
A moose will chase us to get us out of its space.
Once we're far enough away,
it should leave us alone.
Moose are not predators and don't have a chase instinct.
- You need to pay attention to how wildlife
is reacting to you.
If wildlife are changing their behavior because of you,
you're too close.
- They're just going about their lives,
just like you are,
and you need to be aware,
you don't want to get too close,
but you shouldn't be afraid to go hiking here.