Date: 04/01/25
Bear Sighting!
The first reported spring bear sighting goes to John and Cathy Cianci, of Placerville, California. After their mesmerizing journey through a snow-sculpted Thompson Pass, they pulled into the parking lot of the U.S. Forest Service’s not-yet-open Crooked Creek Information Site, where an observant Valdezean already there pointed out the black bear some short distance away. From the description, the bear was still in intermediate cub stage, small and uninterested in the onlookers.
Visitors may need a reminder that bears fresh out of the den are usually hungry and perhaps a bit peevish because of food scarcity. The bruins should therefore generally be given plenty of room.
A bear was not the only sighting for the fortunate Ciancis. The adventurous couple, tooling around Alaska long before the vanishing of winter snow, seemed often to be at the right place and time. While photographing a spectacular auroral display outside Fairbanks, Mrs. Cianci’s cell camera captured a distant, shiny streak in the background of night sky. When the image was magnified, it proved to be the International Space Station.
Shiny Streak Photo Coming