well it is an epic year up here in AK for Wildlife. On the Bus ride in to go try this new climb I saw Moose, Wolves-that actually were walking on the road ahead of the bus, Dahl sheep, a ptarmigan, 2 Grizzlies, a heard of Caribou, and lots of birds. When I was hiking out I split things down into two loads, as I couldn't see a reason to kill myself as I'd already carried the 125 pounds in with one massive carry. So, I had hiked all the way back to the road with the first pack and then turned and went to bring out the second pack and had seen one big Dark colored Grizzly on the McKinley Sand Bar earlier in the morning, but was pretty sure that it had passed. And I didn't end up seeing that one again, but as I was hiking in with my head down just motoring, I came around this bend in the trail, and you have to envision that the Alder Brush that surrounds the trails is HEAVY. Then there is all the Spruce and such that fills in the rest. So, I came around the corner and caught something out of the corener of my eye-which happened to be a Giant lighter colored Grizzly. It had its head down as well just cruising along the trail. It was all of about 60 feet or so up the trail. He or she must have gotten tired of plodding through the brush as well. I froze for a second, then said "HEY!" Then I told the bear that I was going to go back around the corner and I backed around the corner, and did precisely what they tell you NOT to do, and sprinted probably a half mile to the closest opening in the Brush. I'm not sure why I thought that was a good idea, but I figured that at least I could get up wind if I needed to use the Bear Spray. I could hear the bear kind of crashing through the underbrush and I got already and started yelling at the big thing and really contemplating just dashing all the way back to the main road and leaving the other pack of gear. I knew that I needed to go in though, and thought about waiting until more people came hiking along as it is a pretty popular trail that I was on. After like 20 minutes I just decided to go for it and yelled in and told the bear that I was coming through and asked if that was OK with him-or her I guess. Right before I went in, I realized that I could really smell chocolate, and realized that a big piece or Lindt Chocolate that I had in my pocket had gotten smashed up on the GPS, so then I took that out of my pocket and set it on the side of the trail so as not to make myself more appetizing. So, then I just went for it and I found some Big Tracks that came almost all the way to the clearing that I was waiting in. I got some pics of my hand next to the tracks and they were BIG. When it was walking on all fours its shoulders were up to about my chest. I think that I hiked that section soooo fast, and I was all kinds of jumpy. I was singing out some weird song that I made up that was like HEY Bear, Heeeeeeeeeeeeey Bear Ohhh ohhh ohh ohhh ohh hey bear! That and clanking my trekking poles together periodically to make as much noise as possible. I got to my pack on the Sand Bar where I left it, and got one of my ice axes off the pack and carried it with me in one hand just in case. I was hiking back out to the main road and singing and such and I caught something out of the corner of my eye up ahead and I got ready to rumble-or maybe run the other way again, when I realized that it was just other hikers coming through. I apologized if I ruined their Wilderness experience with my loud and obnoxious singing, but they said that they'd seen the big tracks so they were just fine with it!!!