Alaska News

Bears in Alaska's largest city still not ready to hibernate for winter

Editor's note: This story was first published Nov. 15 and updated on Nov. 26, 2011.

The much-touted Big Wild Life of Alaska's largest city is proving a bit too wild for Anchorage cross-country skiers looking to embrace the plentiful early-winter snow.

It's bad enough to worry about grizzly bears all summer while mountain biking and running Hillside Park trails in Alaska's largest city, they say; having to worry about them in winter, when they should be sleeping, is a bit much.

"I can't imagine carrying bear spray on the ski trails," said long-time Anchorage resident Chip Treinen earlier this month, but after a running across way-too-fresh bear tracks on the Spencer Loop he was wishing he was packing some. "We were kind of spooked."

According to the Anchorage Daily News, the bears continue to roam Anchorage's Hillside after Alaska Dispatch first reported the sightings Nov. 14:

'Every single morning there are tracks,' says John Hemmeter of the Nordic Skiing Association.

The bear walked onto the popular Hillside Loop near a connecting trail known as Coach's Cut-off on Thursday night, he said.

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Patrice Weinmeister said that from her driveway she saw a brown bear heading into Ruth Arcand Park on Monday. The park has an equestrian center and horse trails, and Weinmeister said she skipped going for a ride after she saw the bear.

The Cross Country Alaska trail report is thick with skiers reporting bear sign at Hillside, one of Anchorage's most popular Nordic ski destinations. The bear (or bears) appears to have managed to stay largely out of sight, but their tracks, digging and beds have shocked several people.

"They had bedded down in the middle of the trail, and dug things up regularly all the way to, yeah, the 'Bear Cut-off,'" Treinen told Alaska Dispatch earlier this month. "It was quite a distance, and it was quite a big bear.''

A Bristol Bay commercial fishermen familiar with big coastal brown bears, Treinen said he didn't stop to investigate if this one was alone or traveling with a cub. There have been reports of both a single bear, and a bear with a cub roaming the Hillside. Sows with cubs are usually secure in their dens by now in Southcentral Alaska, and boars are rarely out this late, either. But bears have been known to linger into November before going off to sleep for the winter, especially if food is readily available.

Treinen wondered whether the bear (or bears) had made a moose kill in the area and was hanging around to finish dining. He didn't, however, take time to check.

"We were not wanting to stop for long," he said. "We did the loop in the moonlight a couple nights ago, and I was thinking about that. That would have been bad" to meet a bear in the dark. Like many Alaskans experienced with grizzly bears, Teinen knows the animals can be dangerous, particularly if surprised. But he didn't expect the animal to be stalking any skiers.

"You'd think that skiers wouldn't be that good of a meal," he said. "The bears would be better off hanging out in a Wal-Mart parking lot."

The Anchorage Daily News on Saturday quoted Service High ski coach Jan Buron as saying that people he coaches are skiing in bigger groups than usual, and avoiding parts of the trails without lights.

"I don't think it's super-safe," he told the Daily News.

Contact Craig Medred at craig(at)alaskadispatch.com

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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