In search of Bears!

[IWannaBeAMousketeer]

Heading to Alaska on the July 18th cruise. I can't figure out which excursion (DCL or other) to take to try to see bears. We looked at Bear Country and Wildlife Expedition, but I haven't seen many reviews. Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[MUN]

We saw bears at Mendenhal Glacier in Juneau in 2014. It was a momma bear and 2 little cubs. They were very cute. Also, on the ship Koda from Brother Bear was posing for photos.

 

[xlxo]

Bear hunters may want to check out Grouse Mountain in the mornings. They have a breakfast program.... please don't feed the parents to the bears. Naughty kids may be considered.

https://www.grousemountain.com/products/breakfast-with-the-bears

 

[KingRichard]

Enchanted Taku Glacier Lodge Flight and 5-Glacier Seaplane Discovery (JU48)

Not cheap, but more then just bears to see.

We seen them right on the train. One waived at us.

 

[Jestocost]

We saw bears at Mendenhal Glacier in Juneau in 2014. It was a momma bear and 2 little cubs. They were very cute. Also, on the ship Koda from Brother Bear was posing for photos.

We saw an adolescent male at the Mendenhall Glacier visitors' center. He actually was on one of the wooden walkways outside the center itself until an employee chased him off. He then climbed a tree right next to one of the observation decks and had a snack.

We also zip lined over a mother and her cubs in Ketchikan.

 

[MUN]

We saw an adolescent male at the Mendenhall Glacier visitors' center. He actually was on one of the wooden walkways outside the center itself until an employee chased him off. He then climbed a tree right next to one of the observation decks and had a snack.
.

We were concerned about running into bears on the trail that led to the lake nearer the glacier. The only wildlife we saw on the trail was a large rabbit. That was scary enough.

 

[IWannaBeAMousketeer]

We were planning to do Mendenhall Glacier and walk the trail to the waterfall, so maybe we will see bears there without a separate excursion.

 

[trevorsmom2002]

We were planning to do Mendenhall Glacier and walk the trail to the waterfall, so maybe we will see bears there without a separate excursion.

Heading to Alaska on the July 18th cruise. I can't figure out which excursion (DCL or other) to take to try to see bears. We looked at Bear Country and Wildlife Expedition, but I haven't seen many reviews. Any advice would be appreciated!

We are on the July 18th cruise, too! What plans do you have so far? I have Harv and Marv's booked for Juneau, a private tour booked for Skagway, and nothing yet for Ketchikan. We may just check out the totem poles and tour Creek Street.

 

[disfam3mi]

We did not see bears at Mendenhall Glacier, but did during Bear Country. No guarantees- it's up to the bears!

 

[Pens Fan]

We did Neet's Bay (Ketchikan DCL excursion) 4 years ago and it was the highlight of our cruise. We took a float plane to Neet's Bay and visited a salmon hatchery. Then we took a very short hike through the woods and came out at a viewing area next to a creek. We saw several (black - not Alaska brown) bears fishing for salmon. It was a great excursion. I have also read wonderful things about Anan Creek, but you have to do it outside of Disney. Check out Island Wings. They will fly you there and you spend several hours at the viewing platforms and photo blind. Both of the these are pricey options, but oh wonderful!

 

[Aby]

We also did the Neet's Bay Bear Watch by Floatplane and it was amazing! Yes, the price was high, but for a wildlife lover & photographer like me, it was so worth it!

Aby

 

[xlxo]

We did not see bears at Mendenhall Glacier, but did during Bear Country. No guarantees- it's up to the bears!

Don't be too eager to see bears on your trail. When a bear appeared at Mendenhall's photo point.... rangers shut the trail down for 10 minutes waiting for the bear cub to meander off. While lovely to watch from a secured position..... I would not want to be solo on a trail with a bear... that can likely outrun you for dinner.

 

[pillow]

This past July, we took a private excursion to Anan Creek from Ketchikan. Amazing! We used Carlin Air to transport us, but there are other companies that will take you. Cost is just under $500 per person, so not cheap. There are tons of pictures on TripAdvisor. I also have a few in my trip report here + some commentary (post #87 on page 5) - http://www.disboards.com/threads/pillow-family-alaska-canada-mega-trip.3430739/page-5.

Good luck!

Jodie

 

[Ajojo]

I took an excursion in Skagway where you ride the train up and bike down. Saw bears when on the train, and when we were riding bikes. I have been to Alaska 3 times, and the most bears I saw were in Ketchikan on the Rainforest Hike excursion.

 

[tink too]

We didn't see any bears during our Alaska cruise in July 2013, but our bus driver in Ketchikan said there had been a momma bear & cubs down near the port the day before we arrived. We went to Grouse Mountain the day we disembarked so we could definitely see bears before leaving Vancouver and those guys only made a brief appearance then headed into the trees to nap. I did manage to get some reasonably recognisable close-up photos of a bear paw by zooming all the way in though, so it wasn't a complete waste! I'd also hoped to see the wolves there, too but they were snoozing in the long grass so weren't visible at all.

 

[ludari]

We saw bears at Mendenhal Glacier in Juneau in 2014. It was a momma bear and 2 little cubs. They were very cute. Also, on the ship Koda from Brother Bear was posing for photos.

I too saw many bears at Mendenhall Glacier during a port adventure.

 

[jenf22]

We did Bear Country and Wildlife Expedition in 2012. We saw lots of bears and it was an awesome excursion. We did not see a single bear in any of the other ports, so we're really glad we did this excursion. Feeding the reindeer was awesome too! Here are a couple of pictures. (Sorry if they are too big, I typically don't post pictures so I'm no good at it!)

 

[UK-Simon]

Probably your safest bet!

All jokes aside, I can't help with the cruise portion, but I did work up at Grouse Mountain for a few years and your chances of seeing the orphaned grizzly bears are very good indeed. Spectacular creatures!

 

[LeslieG]

One year we saw bears three different times on our drive from Skagway to Emerald Lake. The next year did the same drive at the same time of year, late May-early June, but no bears. You just never know.

 

[tink too]

We did Bear Country and Wildlife Expedition in 2012. We saw lots of bears and it was an awesome excursion. We did not see a single bear in any of the other ports, so we're really glad we did this excursion. Feeding the reindeer was awesome too! Here are a couple of pictures. (Sorry if they are too big, I typically don't post pictures so I'm no good at it!)

Your photos are great, Jenf22! If/when we return to Alaska, we will definitely do an excursion that increases our chances of seeing bears in the wild.