Grizzly Bear Spotted Relaxing Near Stratovolcano Summit In Alaska

Alaska is home to a robust population of grizzly bears, with around 30,000 living throughout the state. They’re found just about everywhere except on islands south of Frederick Sound in southeast Alaska, west of Unimak in the Aleutian Chain, and Bering Sea islands.

While grizzly bears are typically found in mid-elevation herbaceous habitats, low elevation river bottoms and fluvial benches for early berries, and high elevation burns and openings for berries during the summer, they generally stick to hibernation dens in alpine and sub-alpine areas in the winter.

You don’t usually expect to find grizzlies hanging out high among the alpine snow, but helicopter pilot Russ Robinson spotted this one hanging out near the summit of Alaska’s Pavlof Sister stratovolcano, a mountain that reaches up to 7,027 feet.

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Pavlof Sister is a satellite peak of Pavlof Volcano, a mostly snow-covered, cone-shaped mountain with a high ridge extending to the southwest. The mountain is located far out on the Alaska Peninsula, with the closest town being Belkofski which sits around 23 miles to the southwest. It last erupted in 2021.

• Categories:  
• Alaska
• MountainWildlife