Katmai National Park (Bearfest)

For several years, we had been talking about going to Katmai National Park, home of a large population of brown bears and to the Valley of 10,000 Smokes. The park is only reachable by float plane or private boat from the small town of King Salmon, Alaska (normally, a pretty pricey option) but we have an ice friend who works for Katmai Air, the flight service that handles the float plane traffic. Tom was wonderful in providing us with good advice on when to come, where to hike, how to prepare and we were treated as VIPs by the staff of Katmailand who referred to us as “Friends of Tom”.

My 40^th birthday was as good an excuse as any to make the trip – as well as the accumulation of Alaska Airlines frequent flier miles, which made the flight from Anchorage to King Salmon free of charge. The additional fact that the bear population is at its highest in September during the week between my birthday and Michiel’s clinched the deal.

We arranged to spend a week at the park with 3 days camping within the electric fence at Brooks Camp and 4 days backpacking out in the Valley of 10,000 Smokes, the site of the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history (1912). Landing on Naknek Lake by float plane was smoother than expected and we floated toward shore, watching the bears roam the rocky beachfront, completely unperturbed by the plane or human traffic.

After attending the mandatory bear protocol lecture and video presented by the National Park Service we got settled in the campground. The area protected by an electric fence is a fairly natural (ungroomed) wooded area with one structure for food and aromatics storage (garbage, toiletries) and another for gear. Three lean-to structures sheltered picnic tables for cooking and food prep, which was a blessing not only because of the rain, but, more importantly, because of the incredible winds that gusted to over 50 miles per hour and created white caps on the lake. The winds were so strong on the first day that we almost didn’t notice the biting flies that are the bane of one’s existence on the Alaskan peninsula. (Once the winds died down, however, the flies were back in full force, and we were extremely grateful for the head nets that we borrowed!)

Within moments of arriving at the campground, a large boar (male) bear sauntered along the beach, just a few feet from the electric fence and we got our first (of many) up close views of these incredible creatures.

During the day, we spent our time at the camp at one of the raised viewing platforms or walking between them. The pathways are the scariest part of being at Brooks Camp as the bears roam freely. The Park Rangers do a good job of monitoring the camp and try to stop traffic when bears are present but occasionally we would stumble upon a sleeping bear or, in a couple of instances, a pair of male bears sparring. Michiel had a harrowing moment when a huffing bear backed onto the trail just feet away. He quickly realized that the bear wasn’t huffing at him but at another bear. Yikes! He backed away stealthily, heart pounding. But really, the bears weren’t at all interested in humans, they were solidly focused on eating salmon, sleeping and establishing or reinforcing the hierarchy of the social structure through sparring.

At one of the platforms at the Brooks River floating bridge, a park ranger gave commentary and status updates on which bear was where and a bit of background on the gender, age and history of each bear. There was almost always a park biologist present, as well, who was focused on recording the activities of each bear. The bears were given code numbers in order to attempt to avoid anthropomorphizing of the bears’ behavior, but nicknames were almost always used by the rangers and photographers. “Oh, there’s Sadie with her two cubs, Tundra and Maggie. Tundra has made an incredible recovery from the deep wound she had around her eye earlier this summer,” was something we overheard one of the photographers uttering to anyone who would listen. We quickly discovered that the only negative to being at Katmai (we could withstand the wind, the rain, the bugs and the cold) was the obnoxious photographers with their tripods and massive lenses. They would set up on the platforms in the morning and camp there for the entire day, leaving only for meals at the lodge. While viewing, several photographers asked, “Are you shooting?” as if to say “if you aren’t taking photos, get out of the way so I can!” Of course, this just made me want to take up more space on the platform by wearing my backpack and spreading out my elbows.

Escaping the Mega-Lenses

We did manage to escape the photographers by heading out into the back country of the Valley of 10,000 Smokes. Access to the valley is by bus tour (23 miles) and we arranged to take a bus out on one day and return with a different tour on the way back. The day we arrived in the valley was misty and rainy and we were in no big hurry to get out into the rain so we took our time eating lunch in the small visitor’s center. The center sits on a hill overlooking a deserted and desolate valley of pumice, ash and deeply carved river gorges. We couldn’t see much of the valley on that first day, but as soon as the rain eased, we descended through autumn-colored woods to the valley floor.

Aside from the beautiful fall colored fireweed, which begged for taking more pictures at every other step, our first obstacle was an extremely cold river crossing (aren’t all Alaskan river crossings cold??). We had gotten a good briefing from the ranger on where to cross but the river looked pretty high and fast so we spent a while scouting for a better crossing location. We ended up crossing at the recommended spot where, at least, the river bottom was level. The screaming didn’t last long….in just a few minutes after we reached the other side of the river, our feet were no longer stinging and we changed our socks and shoes to continue into the lunar landscape. We both concluded that heavy cursing really helped deal with the stinging cold of the water.

We spent the next couple of days marveling at the colors of the pumice – lavender, orange, brick red, sulfurous yellow – it was beautiful but also haunting. It was almost as if we had discovered the remains of a Roman mosaic. The sky above us changed so quickly that at one minute the clouds filled our vision and in the next, the strong wind parted them to give us glorious views of the snow-covered peaks bordering the valley.

On our second night, we stayed in an old US Geologic Survey hut on a windswept hill. The outhouse was an old A-frame structure. The constant winds had long before taken the door off which was okay with me. The views of the mountains across the valley made for an outstanding excuse to leave the protection of the hut for a bathroom break.

Fortunately, the day we were planning on viewing the site of the 1912 eruption was bright and sunny, with large patches of blue skies. We made the short hike to the saddle overlooking Novarupta and were treated to unbelievable colors, geologic patterns and a smoking plug of lava. Hard to believe that that little plug produced such a massive amount of smoke, ash and pumice (estimated to add up to 6 cubic miles). The wind nearly knocked us off our feet, but we stayed long enough for some photos and to take in the views.

On the way back to our first tent site, we were surprised to see a brown bear on the hillside not too far off the valley floor. He was about one mile from our camp site and his presence reminded us that we weren’t on the moon. We had been using a bear-proof canister for our food and aromatics and we’d been practicing good camp craft by cooking far from our tent, but his presence and the lack of an electric fence, made me a bit uneasy that night. The wind direction was in our favor and the bear was traveling in the opposite direction, so we, gratefully, have no further excitement to report.

After our backpacking trip, we returned to Brooks Camp for another couple of days of bear-viewing before returning to Anchorage, then Hope.

We were going to upload some bear movies, but are currently unable to do so because of the limited bandwidth. Maybe we will succeed in doing so a little bit later.

More wildlife encounters

On the evening we returned to Hope from the Pet Emergency clinic in Anchorage, we had another visit (nearly nightly) from our local black bear. The bear seems to be a pre-teen (based on its size) and is still quite wary of dogs and humans (which is a good thing). He is busy eating as many berries as he can stuff himself with before winter comes and seems particularly fond of the devil's club berries that surround our landlady's property. Now that we are also house-sitting (thus, actually living in the big house and using the outdoor hot tub (woo hoo!)), we can get very good views of the wild area that she calls "backyard" and the critters that wander through.

This time, however, he preferred the front of the house and sniffing around the driveway. He allowed us to watch him for a very long time.


A few days later, Michiel and I were going to do a hike in the Anchorage area, but were running short on time. We opted to drive towards home, stopping at a hike along the Turnagain Arm. I mentioned to Michiel that we hadn't seen any bull moose this year.

The McHugh Creek hike is a pretty steep climb into the forests overlooking the Arm of the Cook Inlet below. We climbed in a steady rain up to a common stopping place at Table Rock for a sweeping vista. As we decended off the plateau to continue onto the trail that would take us higher into the Chugach Mountains, we nearly ran smack into not one but TWO bull moose eating and occasionally butting their huge racks against each other.
We quickly snapped a few photos after getting to a safer location and left them to their business. Since the trail onwards was blocked, we decided to turn back towards the parking area, but first had to make it past the cow moose, who had snorted to make her presence known.

A few days later, we were treated to a sighting of the beluga whales that travel up Turnagain Arm at the beginning and end of the summer. The group of 20 or more white (adults) and gray whales glided gracefully through the water while groups of tourists and locals pulled their cars over on the highway to catch a glimpse.

Beginning of July update (beary scary)

We're still having a great time and things remain fun and exciting.

SHERI'S TOURS
Sheri's first tour was a great success with 9 nice and (more importantly) non-complaining travelers. Actually, they had nothing to complain about as they saw lots of wildlife (moose, caribou crossing the road, eagles, Dall sheep, orcas, Humpback whales, porpoises, etc.) and had wonderful food (lots of fresh Copper River red salmon and local halibut) and excellent weather. She will be working nearly non-stop from 19 July until the end of August doing mostly camping and hiking-based tours.


MICHIEL'S ODD JOBS
Michiel has been cleaning cabins and babysitting, as well as, making planter boxes for the garden, sanding our landlady's canoe, and doing other odd jobs. We are particularly excited to watch how fast all of the vegetables grow with all this sunlight. It seems that the bean plants grow an inch or two each day!

WILDLIFE REPORT
While watering the hanging fuschia plant, Michiel discovered a nest with 4 eggs. The nest is well guarded by a little junko bird, who hops up each log on the end of our log cabin to reach the nest.

We also have two bald eagles hanging around our property and often see them flying low over the driveway with something in their talons.

The moose are still around but the dog has managed to not pester them too much so the mom and her calf enjoy munching greenery in our landlady's backyard while we watch from a safe distance away.

Most excitingly, however, was the appearance of a juvenile brown bear on the propoerty yesterday evening while we were enjoying cocktails with Sheri's bosses. The bear was curious and quiet enough to get within 40 feet of us until Barb noticed him and scared him a bit further away. He hung around, though, oblivious to the rocks Todd was throwing at him.

Interestingly, Michiel didn't sleep well the night before because he thought he heard something strange walking around the cabin. He didn't think it was a moose and the strange bite marks on the bags of fertilizer and steer manure for the garden were troubling.

We were pretty nervous after the bear left the first time and brought the dog inside for the evening. After dinner, Michiel heard some noises outside. The bear had returned and was playing with the dog's water bowl and a large plastic container. When Michiel opened the door, the bear moved under the back deck and flipped over our landlady's canoe. We couldn't see the bear but knew it was underneath us as we stepped out onto the deck. The dog was going bananas - pacing, sniffing, growling and whining, so we knew that the bear was close. We starting yelling and the bear rushed out from under the deck...amazing close to us...and we pelted it with firewood and more shouting. It ran quickly into the woods and we haven't seen a trace of it since.

In case you're starting to worry about our safety, please be assured that we did exactly what the Department of Fish and Game advises - make noise and discourage the bear from being around your stuff. We pulled the BBQ and anything else that might have a scent inside the house and we are very cautious when walking between our cabin and the landlady's house. We now sing and make noise when walking over to go to the bathroom. Good thing for that midnight sun - it makes it much less likely to surprise any hiding critters (or vice versa)!

ANTARCTICA
We are still both considered alternate candidates but have to go through all of the medical and dental exams required of regular candidates. We have lots of appointments this week for full dental x-rays and an exam, medical screenings, including full blood, HIV and drug testing, an EKG, and mammogram (for Sheri, only - obviously). At least if we don't go to Antarctica, we will both know for sure that we are 100% healthy at no cost to ourselves.

HIKING and FUN
We have been doing lots of hikes around Hope and Seward and have taken more photos than we can post on the photos site, but we have or will post the best of them. We also helped out the runners in the Mt. Marathon 4th of July Mountain Race by providing water and gatorade to the women racing up and down the 3,022 foot (approximately 1,000 meter) high mountain. We stood a little more than halfway up the peak to give some liquids and encouragement to a few of our friends and lots of others.

We hope everyone is having a great summer and we'll update again soon.

The Excitement Never Ends...

We went for a jog a couple of days ago and chose a long, gravel road paralleling the mountains. It was all going fairly well, especialy since I (Sheri) am only a reluctant runner. I was getting ready to turn back but Michiel suggested we go a little further, just to see what was beyond the bend in the road. Curiosity works well in motivating me, so I agreed. We saw a black "critter" ahead on the side of the road. It's long ears made me think it was a dog, butI didn't discount the other voice in my head and Michiel's, which said, "I think that's a bear."

We jogged a little further, the sweat blurring my vision of the furry thing about 3 bus lengths ahead. Surprisingly, the dog we were jogging with made no sign of realizing that there was something there and he normally barks at everything. As we watched the way the furry thing moved, we both (Michiel and I) knew that that it wasn't a dog. It was slowly walking towards us but hadn't caught our scent, yet (they don't have good vision - but DO have excellent smell). Suddenly, it stood on it's hind legs as if it heard us. It stopped, raised its ears and looked around, but then continued foraging in the brush along the road and continued walking towards us.

At that point, we started walking slowly backwards - keeping an eye on the black bear. When we were sure that it was busy in the brush, we headed home - occasionally turning back to make sure we weren't being followed.