In All Her Glory

This is bear 402 from Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park and Preserve. From the area being heavily studied and documented, they know she was a coy or "cub of the year" in the summer of 1998. She came to Brooks River every summer since. She had 8 litters of cubs, including 2 sets of quadruplets. She's the first sow I ever saw in the wild with cubs. Every year, I admired her. She pushed around even some of the most dominant male bears. She caught salmon midair on the lip and would stash her cubs in a small tree beside the falls. She was drowned by another bear in the fall of 2024. This was my last image I took of her. The sun was setting, but still highlighting her gorgeous face. I stood on the platform after the rest of my party left. I watched her teeth snap into her catches. Sometimes, eggs would fly out with the intensity of her grabs. She was a matriarch and a special focal point to many of my trips to this area in the last twelve years.