One thing you generally do not want to do when hiking is to come face-to-face with a huge Alaskan bear. If they want to send you to the afterlife, they can and will do so extremely quickly.
For a trio hiking a narrow trail at the Anan Creek Wildlife Observatory in southeast Alaska on July 12, that’s exactly what happened, however. They rounded a corner, and boom, there was “Scuba Sue” coming back from hunting salmon in the river.
Luckily, they didn’t get mauled or eaten, but they were plenty scared. The three said that a quick briefing from a ranger before they set out may have saved them:
"We’d actually been watching bears, hoping that there were salmon coming up the river. We saw about four or five bears earlier. Those were black bears. And then coming back on the trail, we had an unexpected encounter," Dr. Michelle Lynn Thaller said. "Right around the corner came this grizzly bear."
Video shows the bear getting up close and personal with the hikers. The group was forced to talk to the bear, while slowly backing away to allow room for it to pass on the path.
"Oh, [I] was definitely terrified. And then we remembered what the rangers told us, which was what you said, to be big, talk to the bear, keep it calm and get out of its way," hiker Tanya Thompson said.
Watch:
AN UN-BEAR-ABLY CLOSE CALL: These hikers came face-to-face with a grizzly on an Alaskan trail—and lived to tell the “tail”! 🐻@CharlesHurt gets the scoop on what was running through their minds during the heart-pounding encounter caught on camera. pic.twitter.com/07O7BUrXO1
— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) July 18, 2026
Thaller noted they were especially concerned because the salmon run had gotten to a late start this year, and Scuba Sue could have decided to have something besides fish for dinner that day. "And, so, in years past, we had seen salmon,” she said. “They were eating salmon. The salmon were a bit later this year. And, so, these bears, they're hungry. They're waiting for the salmon to come."
The ranger gave them the correct advice: do not turn your back, and whatever you do, don’t run. The bear might consider you prey at that point and will quickly overtake you. Pro tip: You're not as fast as you think you are.
Instead, try to make yourself look bigger and make loud human noises.
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Now let’s get to the burning question that I’m sure many inquiring minds want to know: why would a bear be called “Scuba Sue?” I’m glad you asked, because the answer is actually quite spectacular:
If you like Otis, you're going to adore Scuba Sue. pic.twitter.com/GAt6HXanSU
— Tongass Nat'l Forest (@TongassNF) July 24, 2024
The Otis referred to above is a celebrity brown bear from Katmai National Park's Brooks River cams. Note: The National Park Service officially designates Scuba Sue as a brown bear as well, but the distinction isn’t always black and white, and many fans and news outlets refer to her as a grizzly.
Either way, you don’t want to come across her if she’s in a bad mood.
Want to watch some bears without chancing a rendezvous with a massive Ursus arctos? I’ve got you covered:
Surprise! We have a new live cam. Watch wild black bears, brown bears, and more as they enjoy the pink salmon run at @TongassNF: https://t.co/xkPqSJKjXP pic.twitter.com/ZZZshrouT8
— explore.org (@exploreorg) July 24, 2024
Stay safe out there, folks.
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