Day Seven - Patience is a virtue. After many cold early evening hours, sitting up on my shack - a true encounter. A mother and her two cubs came strolling out of the scrub right near me.

This little guy was very much aware of our presence and came right up to the edge of the shack and stood on his hind legs (!) so he could be closer to us, to sniff. I bet he was six feet from my camera lens. Unbelievable!

If he could talk, I'm sure he would have said that he knows his mom doesn't want him over here, but he just can't help it. He's curious. The look on his face, believe it or not, said all that. His paws seemed very large compared to the rest of him.

Click, click, click. Here is a picture of the cub as he approached the shack. They didn't give me much time for adjusting camera settings!

These cubs will stay with their mother for one and a half to four and a half years. Young cubs may travel up to 100 kilometers after leaving their mothers and will avoid risky encounters with adult males.

Here they are minutes earlier, rounding the corner, curious about their environment.

With daylight still remaining, I am going to assume that this quieter time of day, is prime time for bear viewing - especially if you are hoping to spot cubs.

The cub that didn't come over to me was busying himself with a long piece of metal, near to where one of the float planes was docked.

He was aware enough to look up and smile for the camera, however.

A common site on the river, a bear strips the fish of its flesh, leaving behind the head, bones and tail. A steady diet of salmon in the Fall will allow the bear to gain the weight necessary for hibernation.

Notice the sea gulls in the background? They tend to congregate on sand bars and anywhere bears are eating. The little bits of fish the bears leave behind when they strip the fish are eaten by the birds. Once again in nature we find a hierarchy where little food is wasted.

Reflecting on my time here, I realize it was something very special. To share space with such amazing animals and feel at ease is absolutely remarkable.

Alaska is truly a place of many wonders and the brown bears of Kulik are just one of them. I do hope to make it back to those majestic mountains again one day.