A Moose Encounter.

Two days ago, we were driving into Kenai Fjords National Park near Seward, Alaska, and saw a mother moose and her calf right by the side of the road.  I quickly stopped and tried to get a picture of them.  The baby ran off and I barely got the mother, as you can see from this photo:

A BIG Bear Encounter

Sally and I have wanted to see bears in the wild while we were hiking but in a low risk situation. We are not completly foolish.... yet.   One thing that we have learned here in Alaska is that these bears are huge.  Really BIG.  We had two cubs stand up beside the car near our campground in Haines, Alaska, and we could not believe their size.  The cubs were larger than our eastern black bears.
  
We are in the the Kenai Peninsula now on the Cooper River which is next to the Russian River, and we decided to hike along the Russain River to watch the fisherman who are trying to catch the spawning salmon and look for bears who are also trying to catch the same salmon.

In Alaska, it is very different than the lower 48.  People here go into the woods with several different levels of bear protection.
 Here is our interpretation of the categories:

1.   At the bottom is People Noise.  Generally bears do not want to attack humans so if they hear you coming, they will melt into the surroundings. This catagory includes bear bells, but there is an old joke that asks: "How do you tell the difference between Black Bear scat and Grizzly Bear scat? . . . . . . . The Grizzly Bear scat has bear bells in it!!"

2.  Next is Bear Spray.  It is really a giant pepper spray canister.  Sally and I are each armed with it, and we have been Professionally Trained by a National Park Service Ranger during our stay at Yellowstone.  We got to spray it at a tree which I think counts for something.  :-)

Note Sally's bear spray hanging from her belt. 

 I read a scientific study of 94 encounters with bears where bear spray was used. The bear spray performed very well, and very few people injured themselves. This gave me much confidence.

3.  Next is to go in Noisy Large Groups.  Bears hopefully will not approach overwhelming odds.

4.  Last is to go Well Armed, leaving the bear bells and bear spray at home.  We have not seen this in the lower 48 but in Alaska in public areas like the Russain River we have seen many people carrying side arms and shotguns.  We talked to one man who had spent  a lot of times in wilderness areas and carries a rifle whenever he goes into the woods which he does frequently.  While we were riding the ferry with him and his wife, he told us his life story.  He was a Delta pilot living in Atlanta for many years; was captain of a fishing boat tender for 10 years; a game warden in Mozambique for two years; and is now returning to Gustavus, Alaska, where his 3 sons live, for the rest of his life.  He said that if a wild animal gets within 20 feet of him, he kills it.  He said if they get that close, they do not have good intentions.

Note his gun in the holster.  

Well, Sally and I hiked along the Russain River armed with our bear spray.  We saw many fishermen, but they were not catching anything and there were no bears around so we decided to take another trail to the Lower Russian Lake.  When we got to within about 1/2 mile of the lake, we started to see some foliage uprooted and mashed down.  Then we saw bear scat which was slightly smaller than other brown bear scat that we had seen.  We figured it was cub scat -- maybe second year cub scat.  Right after that, we saw more of the large plants along the side of the trail trampled for about 50 yards. Considering that it looked like the work of more than one bear, was very recent, that it was probably the work of a mother and cubs, and that Sally and I were alone, we made the easy decision to turn back.  We did not really want to put our Bear Spray Training to the test! 

When we got back to the lake trailhead, we saw a family of 5 sitting and trying to decide if they should head up to the Lower Russian Lake.  They are from Portland, Oregon and are spending two weeks in Alaska for a family vacation.   After hearing our story about getting spooked by the signs of bear activity on the trail,  they said, "Well, you have made up our minds for us.  We will head back, too."  As we walked back to the trailhead, we thought . . . . . . with seven people and significant noise, there is virtually no chance of suprising a bear or of a mother bear allowing her cubs to get too close to us.  With this revelation we went back to the family and discussed the situation with them.  They were very outdoors-aware, having done a successful thru-hike of the entire Appalachian Trail in their BC (before children) days.  They said, "Let's do it!"

The family was a lot of fun to talk to on our way to the lake.  We passed through the area where we had seen the signs of bear activity (scat and broken, partially eaten branches) and spotted the lake ahead.  Between us and the lake was a meadow going down to the lake and on the back side of the meadow stood woods.  The oldest son in the family kept moving too far ahead of us and had to be slowed down.  As we got closer to the lake, he called out "Bears!"  His young sharp eyes had spotted them on the edge of the woods.  He told us where he saw them, and we could all see several brown spots on the edge of the woods.  After a few minutes they moved out of the woods and started moving in our direction, grazing on the grass in the meadow.  We were on a hill overlooking the meadow. and it was close to being the perfect spot for safely spotting bears in the wilds.   We were all thrilled to see them, and after watching for a few minutes, two men came out of the woods closer to the bears than we were by about fifty feet.  They said, "We aren't bears!  Don't shoot."  We asked if they had seen the bears, and they said no. They looked and were suprised and elated.   

The bears kept moving our way as they were grazing.  They were two large cubs and a very large sow, all a light golden brown.  Very large.  In Alaska, they call them Brown Bears, but they are really Grizzlies!  We could even see the large hump on the back of the mother bear.  These cubs were also larger than a big eastern black bear.  At one point, one of the cubs became startled, jumped and scurried a few feet away.  This made the mother take a quick agressive position, but quickly they all relaxed, and we did too.  At this point, we decided that we had all been very lucky to have such a great sighting, and that it was not a good idea to press our luck so we headed back up the trail.  One of the men we met was carrying a good camera so he sent us some pictures which we are posting here.  It was a great day, and we were very lucky to have met the nice people that we met on the trail AND who were willing to go on a Bear Expedition with us. 

An Irresponsible Couple -- 6/19/12

Sally and I took a kayak trip out of Valdez to the Shoupe glacier. We were taken with a Scottish couple about 20 miles north of Valdez to the glacier area where we had to paddle through a large lower bay, through a connecting channel and into the upper bay where the glacier was. On the lower bay was one park service cabin and on the upper two cabins. These may be rented by anyone and normally a boat is chartered to take you and your gear into them.

The tidal swing was about 14 feet and the upper bay gets so much snow and glacier melt that its water level is higher than the lower bay at all times except high tide. Our trip was timed to paddle in at high tide and out at 6 pm at low tide. When we went out, there was a good current and we cruised rapidly out of the upper bay with the ice and snow melt water and through the channel through which was a class one rapids. We bounced off of a few rocks and the rudder kicked up but we made it through with a nice ride and no problems. There was actually a big island between the two bays and there was a channel on both sides. The water temperature was about 34 degrees because of the ice melt. We could not have paddled up to the upper bay after high tide. There was too much of a current and water level drop. The rocks were also quite large in the water and covered with a very slippery sea weed. I do not think a canoe could be lined up (pulled up) to the upper bay when we went out other than by a real expert and it would be very trecherous. Lining allows either one person in the water to bring the canoe upstream or two people from shore with ropes to pull it up. We finally paddled to the spot where our boat was going to pick us up. It arrived, we loaded, and we headed back to Valdez.

After about a minute we noticed a canoe with two people in it. Our captain said he needed to talk to them. He had dropped them off the day before. They were staying in one of the two cabins in the upper bay. It was 6:45pm. Low tide was at 8 pm and he said they had a BABY in the canoe. We pulled up and sure enough there was a 5 or 6 months old baby sleeping in a little carrier on the floor of the canoe. The man said they were planning on paddling into the upper bay at 8pm, low tide. Our captain explained to them about the water flow and said they would not be able to and that they would be waiting until the next day. They had no extra gear with them for an overnight out, just a fish pole and tackle. Once the guy realized he had a bad plan he did not say anything, and the woman just smiled. The captain said that they should be able to leave their canoe and hike around, though thinking about it now, there were plenty of places on the shore you could not walk because it was cliff to the water. The captain warned them to leave the canoe well up on the shore as the tide would take it away otherwise. We motored off and they paddled off. What is the rest of the story???

Bill

P.S. from Sally: We didn't read about any disasters in the news up here so we assume they made it out okay.

Glacier Hike at Wrangell-St. Elias Nat. Park - 6/23/12

We are at the small mining town of McCarthy in the middle of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska. It took us 60 miles of dirt road with many many potholes and fording of two streams to get here. Took us 5 1/2 hours to go 60 miles. With all the bouncing, Rita lost screws from a window, cabinet door and the air conditioner but we found them on the floor and put them all back.... We hope.

I took Sally on a self guided tour of the Root Glacier yesterday.

 Free vs $150 dollars. They had ice axes and crampons vs our trekking poles.   As we climbed into the glacier area, we were met by the cold air that flows out of the mountain down the glacier and into the valley. We doned our jackets and vests and trekked up onto the glacier.

 It was quite slippery getting to the more level areas, but once we got there the going was easy. Sally was worried about falling in a crevass but we could not find any, and I think she felt safer after awhile under my expert guidance. After about 15 minutes we saw a group of young men come trotting down the glacier..... No shirts on... So much for the cold wind.

  We hiked another 15 minutes and a young man and woman came running up to us all excited. They said there was a lake in the glacier a little ways up and that the guy had been swimming in it. We said we did not believe it and they showed us the pictures. When we got to the lake neither of us were tempted. People are crazy.

There was also a wedding scheduled for 3:00 pm yesterday at the Kennicott Lodge and it was 2:00 pm. when we were on the glacier. For us we were about an hour from the hotel. Three young women came running down the glacier toward us and asked where the trail was to the lodge. We pointed them in the correct direction and they ran off. All of the guests were very athletic as they were trail running and going on long hikes. The women looked very fit. Later we learned they were Olympic skiers and friends for the bride.
When we got back down from the glacier and hiked into the town, the wedding was going on. We did not quite expect to have so much activity in the middle of nowhere. We heard later that the bride and groom got engaged here and wanted to have their wedding here. We also heard that the parents were Not pleased about having a destination wedding in such a remote place. Many of the guests flew in from Anchorage in small prop planes and the rest had to drive this incredibly bad road.

Speaking of the bad road . . . We are driving out tomorrow morning. It has rained a little today. Hope the streams we have to ford are not any deeper.

LIfe on the Road by Bill

We were out hiking and stopped for lunch. Sally had packed us a lunch and I noticed that my sandwich had been recycled from the day before. I noticed because it was a little unusual. It was a folded piece of bread with jam and peanut butter stuck in between. I had not eaten it the first time it was presented.

While we were having lunch, I asked what was for dinner. Sally said chighetti. I asked, "What is chighetti?" Sally said we had a little spaghetti and a little chili left over which she had frozen. I said I could not remember having any chili and Sally said "Yah, I think we did." (a long time ago??)
Bill

P.S. From Sally: Bill neglected to mention the gourmet dinner I cooked him the night before: Copper River Red Salmon (the best and rarest), corn on the cob, a big salad and chocolate chip cookies (baked in the grill). And, of course, wine in our favorite box!!

Summer 2012 Trip

We left home on May 1st with the goals of seeing David and Kaitlyn in Seattle, exploring Alaska, and most importantly celebrating the marriage of Sara and Mike in Manhattan.

Rita is dreaming about her adventures.