This past Saturday I woke at 3 in the morning and drove the three and a half hours from Raleigh to the coast to arrive at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge (aka ARNWR) at sunrise. When I planned this trip about two weeks ago I did not know that there was an asteroid shower peaking this weekend. Nor did I anticipate there being a dusting of snow and a very hard frost Friday night.

What that created though was a glorious sunrise over a frost laden Refuge. I had incredible luck and came across a female with two yearling cubs coming towards the forest after spending the early morning in the fields foraging. For awhile, I was almost completely alone with this bear family and watched as they made their cautious way to up the field towards the canal, road, and then the forest. Unfortunately, we did get some company in the way of very loud teenagers in their big loud trucks coming back in from hunting. The bear family watched concernedly as they approached. The kids stopped farther past me and watched the bears, but other than talking loudly didn't otherwise disturb them. The family moved along the field and canal, eventually crossing the canal and onto the road in front of me. For a few seconds they walked the road, dripping wet, and after a quick shake off, disappeared into the woods. I took soooo many pictures of them, but that beautiful soft light was difficult for me to shoot in and I struggled to keep them in focus. So I ended up with a half a dozen shots that I love but perhaps are not as crisp as I would like. I hope with time and practice and perhaps learning from others, I can advance my skills to better capture these moments even (or perhaps, especially) in such conditions.

Three more times over the weekend I had amazing encounters. First with a pair of otters in one of the canals along the road. A really nice gentleman had stopped and showed me how to identify the bubbles they make in the still water as they swim unseen beneath the surface. We watched the otters from the road for about 20 minutes capturing the times they surfaced and played with each other.

Then on Sunday morning, again just after sunrise, I got to see a big male bear. I scanned the fields for bears and spotted one of the famously huge males slowly coming down the field heading towards the forest (and thus would have to cross the canal and road). I was on a road where you are allowed to stop and photograph so I decided to just turn off the car and wait. Slowly he came. He knew I was there and just kept an eye on me. Eventually he got to the canal, found a good crossing spot, swam across and came out on the road 30-40 feet behind my car. He ambled across, swam the other canal, and like a ghost disappeared into the woods.

Almost as soon as the sun rose, the clouds started to roll in. I spent another two hours in the Refuge driving and scanning and saw several other bears from a distance. I talked to several people that had seen red wolves that morning but I was not so lucky until just as I was about to leave. I came across several cars stopped between the entrance and the main wildlife drive. They all had binoculars and spotting scopes out and trained on the distant field. When I stopped, they quickly pointed out not one, but two red wolves at the far end of the field. It was a distant but glorious view. How cool! One of the most endangered species in the world and I had the privilege of seeing one in the wild. I was able to get an identifiable picture that you can see on my Instagram account. I hope to return and see them again!