My husband Tim and I sat on a log watching this curious teen of a bear. The bear was munching on distant sedges for a long while. Then he edged closer and disappeared behind a wall of green, that is until his giant head appeared in my telephoto lens. 

We were among a small guided group in Lake Clark National Park, Alaska. A park ranger came to chat with our guide about fresh wolf tracks near camp. When this bear's head consumed my entire field of view through my telephoto lens, my husband and I shot each other looks of concern. We were not well versed in bear behavior at this stage. While entire generations of bears had come of age learning the limits to which humans would go in this magical place, teens were more unpredictable than their elders.  As this bear edged closer still, the ranger and guide remained nonplussed. We took it on good authority that we were safe, but my heart raced anyway.

There truly was nothing to fear. This was just a sleepy teen, with a full belly, looking for a nice place to nap. And where would that be? Walking within 10 feet of my husband, and around the back side of our group, he curled casually into a comfy spot -- in the middle of our only trail to camp. Needless to say, when heading back, we broke new trail a good distance from this sleeping beauty and had much to talk about over dinner. 

This first close encounter with a brown bear sparked a huge love for all bears that carried me through future training and guiding in Alaska.