We were heading back to camp one evening about 9PM on Kodiak Island after an unsuccessful foray to find Mama Kodiak Brown Bear and her three cubs along the Uganik River. I was in the lead boat with Eric, Javier, and Hiram our guide. We had our cameras in our laps when Hiram said, “We’ll see a bear around the next bend.” And, we did. Right there as we rounded the bend. I put my eye to the viewfinder and got a few shots as it clamored up the bank to the top of the berm and stopped to look back at us. Then we were past it. Suddenly another bear came crashing through the brush behind this bear and leaped into the river just as the second boat approached. This bear followed the first bear across the river and both disappeared into the thick brush on the other bank. The entire encounter from when we first saw this bear on the bank to watching him disappear across the river took under a minute and a half.