Bear facts about glaciers

By Liz Fleming

"If it's a brown bear, lie down and play dead," advised the khaki-clad young guide at the Exit Glacier ranger station in the Kenai Fjords National Park near Anchorage, Alaska.

"Brown bears will leave you alone but black bears! If you ever see a black bear, don't lie down. He'll eat you!"
I've always been pretty good with colours -  I've had years of experience making those really hard match-ups at Winners - but was I up to this?! Could I make a snap decision on ursine shading if we found something fierce and furry on the way up the Exit Glacier? 

No time for my usual shade-by-shade analysis.

"Is that taupe?  No…wait…when the light hits the fur at that angle, it's more chocolate I think…no…no…wait. It's burnt almond…no…just a minute…I'm sure now…it's definitely…eat-you-alive black." 

So many pelt shades…so little time!

My family and I gathered a handful of brochures we knew we'd be sure to read if we encountered a bear and headed up the trail.

"If a black bear bites you," we read, "and the behavior appears to be feeding-oriented, fight back vigorously."

(How long would you let a black bear chomp away before determining the behavior was 'feeding-oriented?' We figured we could make that call pretty quickly.)

While we were happy to be educated about who and what might eat us, we hadn't actually come to see bears. Our goal was to see a glacier, up close. 

And we did.

Unlike many of its counterparts that require a helicopter flight for a visit, the Exit Glacier is surprisingly approachable.
More than 260,000 tourists make the two-hour drive south from Anchorage each year, park their cars in the lot and sashay right up to the blue-grey ice and snow. A three-mile river of ice cascading from the Harding Icefield, the Exit Glacier is breathtaking - a link to the ancient glacial tides that shaped our continent.

Ice compacted on a slope creates crevasses, pressure ridges and towers…all spectacular…and all far less stable than flat ice. (Note: Although hiking and camping are allowed on the icefield above, the glacier itself is off-limits. Glacial ice weighs 57 pounds per cubic foot and is highly unstable.)

Depending on your enthusiasm for uphill trekking, you can choose from several trails that offer unforgettable vistas and spellbinding photos. We aimed for the top.

Away from CD players, iPods and video games, our sons tuned in to the majesty of moment and place. "Awesome," they breathed as we reached the summit.  And that was exactly right.  The power nature commands to sweep everything away beneath a river of blue ice is nothing short of… awesome.

Fortunately, our glacier gazing wasn't interrupted by bears - brown, black or any other shade - but when we arrived back at the ranger station, we noted that others had certainly seen their share. Outside the station, the blackboard listed sightings: 11:40 am - brown bear; 11:50 am - black bear.

Not to be outdone, my son Jay added his own listing to the board.

11:55 am - GODZILLA!