The mother grizzly looks upriver while her cub continues to stare at the photographers. The curious cub is fascinated by the small group of humans in the river.
Curious Cub
Katmai National Park, Alaska, United States - 24 Jul 2025 See on Google Maps
Very excited to see the little grizzly cub. We spotted the small bears and their mother while hiking toward the river. Once on the river they were no where to be seen. We continued into the river and were shooting other big bears when a guide asked us to turn around. There was the little family moving along the river toward us!! We could not move due to a steep bank so the guide had us bunch up to make a single large group - the hope that we would scare the bear.
We were in the water crouching down to get as low as possible. Just over the water I shot the cute little bears (there were two cubs). They were pretty close so not at full 500mm. I was able to lower the iSO and slow the shutter as the bears were not moving very fast.
Shortly after this they turned around and walked away from us.
Cal Holman Posted on 10 Oct 2026