This is Bearsun, an Instagram teddy bear walking 400 miles for charity
And for the Instagram likes, of course.
It's occasionally been a bear of a time, but Bearsun's Los Angeles-San Francisco trek is just about done.
There's a man in a bear costume slowly walking across California. He started in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo neighborhood on April 12 and has spent nearly two weeks slowly jogging north while sharing his journey on Instagram. Sometimes, it's been nearly unbearable. Bearsun has faced road closures and mountain trails steeper than expected, but he keeps going -- and he won't stop until he reaches San Francisco. At the time of this writing, he's on the last leg of his journey and should arrive Saturday.
Jessy Larios, the man wearing the cute bear mascot costume, doesn't have a specific reason for the trek. He first created the Bearsun suit with a friend in 2016 and eventually started running marathons in it -- for fun. "This is what I want to do. I just want to run marathons in my bear suit," he told CNN. "It makes other people happy too, and I'm all about laughter and smiles."
Bearsun's Instagram is filled with photos from the journey, fun interactions with locals he's met along the way, as well as artwork and the occasional Bearsun merchandise for sale on the character's website.
It's a fun adventure, but not a pointless one: Larios has raised over $12,000 on GoFundMe, which he says will eventually be donated to a charity chosen by his followers. According to CNN, Larios was originally going to use the funds to build a new Bearsun costume but has since decided to give it to a nonprofit.
You can follow Larios journey on his Instagram account, @iambearsun.