We first found this female bear walking her three-year-old cubs along a rocky beach bordering Glacier Bay. We followed their slow progress for at least twenty minutes as they grazed for food along the beach, and I made many routine images of them feeding. Sightings of feeding brown bears are very common in this part of Alaska, and pictures of grazing bears often lack the incongruities that excite the imagination. The cubs are learning how to forage, defend themselves and where to den. Things improved greatly after they finished feeding, and left the beach to climb a steep cliff leading to either home or greener pastures. Although they were a long way from our ship, and very small in scale, the grouping clearly stands out against the gray cliff. Because we don’t often see bears climbing steep cliffs, let alone in family groupings, this image becomes a special document.