One day during lunch a call came over the radio for the bear squad. The bear squad consists of myself the other wildlife biologist, two bear management people whose job is to keep the bears out of the main part of camp, the only place at Brooks Camp where bears do not have the right away, and the bear monitor whose job is to monitor the bears activities on the river, identify which bears come to the river and number the new bears. As the two of wildlife biologist can not just monitor bears all summer at Brooks Camp. We have five million acres of bear territory to monitor and of course all the other creatures that live at Katmai. The call came in from a ranger stationed at the bridge that a courting couple was heading towards camp.
A courting couple is a female bear, or sow, who is in estrus, who is giving off a special scent to tell all the male bears she is ready to have cubs, and of course a male bear or boar. The sow will not mate with a boar until she is ready and the time is right. This could take up to two weeks. Meanwhile the boars will follow her around every where until he can mate with her. Once we got the call the five of us ran out to various places to keep on an eye on the couple. They crossed over the path just before the main part of camp and headed to the beach. From where I was standing 100 yards down the beach at the edge of the woods I saw them coming towards me. Then the female stopped. The boar moved closer to her and rubbed his head along the side of the her body. She than nuzzled the the boar. It was a very tender moment for the two of them but it did not lead to anything.
She continue down the beach towards me. The beach is usually where the float planes drop people off and boats will land and tie up at. But is also the major highway for the bears to get to and from the river. If there are bears on the beach the bear squads job is to get all the humans up into the woods to let the bears have a clear shot down the beach. If humans block the beach the only place for the bears to go is up into camp where we don't want them, so I will be spending a lot of time on the beach directing bear and human traffic.
I watched the couple come closer so I moved back towards camp keeping them in my sights to watch the story play out. Unfortunately, we were called back to class before they got close enough for a good picture and since they were on the beach I did not have to stay and monitor them anymore and had to go back to class. I was totally disappointed.
Three days later our class ( the class was Motorcraft Operation Safety) was outside near the river going over trailering your boat on the road. The class had their backs to the river listening to the instructor with the viewing platform behind us. When out of the brush came the same female, who we determined was Diget and behind her was the boar, number 854. Once the couple had passed the class we all moved safely onto the platform and for the next 30 minutes observed the couple. Diget proceeded to move around the sandbar and in and out of the brush with the 854 following close behind. About 30 yards from the platform she stopped and waited for 854 to catch up. Then the two of the started to nuzzle one another. Their heads rubbed against each others necks. Then Diget got up and moved a few feet away. 854 stood and stared at her then moved back beside her. He pulled her close to him with his huge paws and it looked like he was kissing her. Then in front of the class they mated. The bear squad took notes that the couple had mated so if Diget comes out next year with cubs we know who might be the father. Females will mate with more than one male and it is not uncommon for a group of cubs to have different fathers. The rest of the class made comments, not all that can be repeated. I am thrilled to have been able to witness the scene as in the lower 48 that is not a scene that is seen too often.
When the boar was finished Diget headed down the beach and 854 was following behind. We returned back to class.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Just Follow the River
One evening two young college girls from Canada arrived. At that time I was still staying in the Yurt. The Yurt is a round tent/building that is divided by a seven foot wall in the form of an upside down capital T. When you walk into the the Yurt you will see a frigerator, a stove and a few cuboards and a counter space. Under the counter are six drawers. This is the Yurts kitchen. Men who live in the Yurt go to the right, women to the left. On each side of the Yurt are two sets of bunk beds and one twin size bed. For the first two days I was alone in the Yurt with, a male season intern. On the third day, my boss moved in with us and I had the Canadians move in on my side. They say Aye alot.
Anyways, they wanted to know if I would show them the way to the falls. So off the three of us went. I like an idiot forgot my radio and GPS but I did have my bear spray along with me. In my defense, I was just planning on following the road to the trail and the trail to the falls and back again. So we hiked to the falls and spent about an hour enjoying the beautiful scenery. Then one of the girls got it in her head that we should follow the river to Brooks Lake. I said other people have done it but I never had and I wasn't sure of the way but after a few minutes of discussion we decided that following the river would be easy and Brooks Lake was not that far away so the three of us decided to try it.
We got off the platform and headed to the edge of the river. It was a beautiful sunny evening and the scenery was awesome. We had been hiking for about ten minutes when we came up to a stream that entered the river. All three of us were wearing tennis shoes and not our muck boots (knee boots) and the stream was a little too wide for us to jump so we decided to try and find a way to get across the stream. Following the stream we came across a bunch of fallen down trees blocking our way so we thought no problem just walk around. Once around the trees we could not see the stream or the river anymore but we were standing on a bear trail and decided that it was heading in the right direction so we would follow that. As we were walking we were busy getting to know one another. This of course led to not watching where we were going. I thought I saw the road up ahead but it turned out to be a place in the woods where there were not any trees and the sunlight was decieving us in to thinking there was a road not just a barren piece of tundra. Standing there in this clearing surrounded by a forest of white spruce trees we realized that we were no longer heading in the right direction that we had done a 180 turn in the woods. This made one of my partners very nervous, the other was sure were she was going and took off with the two of us rushing to keep up because it is not wise to be separated in bear country. Bears won't attack a group unless absolutely necessary. So the leader went walking off in quick pace through the thick trees. After another fifteen minutes of endless walking in circles I made everyone stop and just listen for a few moments. I could hear the falls off to the north so I took the lead and headed to the sound. Being you are not suppose to be quiet when hiking I said we needed to keep talking but the Canadians were a little nervous and couldn't think of anything to say. Finally one of them decided to sing a silly bear song she had heard before she left for Alaska and she taught it to us. So there we were three lost girls singing silly bear songs looking for the place we had started. After another ten minutes of wandering we came across the trail safe and sound and without a bear story. We were lucky if we had done that a month later those same woods would have been filled with bears. It was not a bright idea on my part, though I joked that we weren't really lost just temporarily misplaced.
The next night, the same girl talked the male intern into a hike to a lake a mile away. It was 9:30 at night. They asked me if I wanted to go. I said are you crazy. It was too late to start a hike. Needless to say they got lost on the way to the lake. On the way out there they had met a bear and moved into the woods to avoid it, and preceeded to get lost. This time they had got very lost and at 11pm called on the radio, which the intern, at the last minute remembered to bring, that they were lost. The intern had a compass on him and gave the ranger station the heading. Two hours of searching by the law enforcement rangers did not find them. By this time it was getting dark. They called the two lost souls and told him they would resume their search at 5am. The intern told them he had a lighter and had started a fire and had built a lean to for them. He also had a whistle which the Canadian girl was blowing constantly to scare away the bears. By 7:30 the next moring they were found. Needless to say once found they became the butt of many jokes but the lesson learned is not to go wondering off and if you dumb enough to do so take the proper equipment with you.
Anyways, they wanted to know if I would show them the way to the falls. So off the three of us went. I like an idiot forgot my radio and GPS but I did have my bear spray along with me. In my defense, I was just planning on following the road to the trail and the trail to the falls and back again. So we hiked to the falls and spent about an hour enjoying the beautiful scenery. Then one of the girls got it in her head that we should follow the river to Brooks Lake. I said other people have done it but I never had and I wasn't sure of the way but after a few minutes of discussion we decided that following the river would be easy and Brooks Lake was not that far away so the three of us decided to try it.
We got off the platform and headed to the edge of the river. It was a beautiful sunny evening and the scenery was awesome. We had been hiking for about ten minutes when we came up to a stream that entered the river. All three of us were wearing tennis shoes and not our muck boots (knee boots) and the stream was a little too wide for us to jump so we decided to try and find a way to get across the stream. Following the stream we came across a bunch of fallen down trees blocking our way so we thought no problem just walk around. Once around the trees we could not see the stream or the river anymore but we were standing on a bear trail and decided that it was heading in the right direction so we would follow that. As we were walking we were busy getting to know one another. This of course led to not watching where we were going. I thought I saw the road up ahead but it turned out to be a place in the woods where there were not any trees and the sunlight was decieving us in to thinking there was a road not just a barren piece of tundra. Standing there in this clearing surrounded by a forest of white spruce trees we realized that we were no longer heading in the right direction that we had done a 180 turn in the woods. This made one of my partners very nervous, the other was sure were she was going and took off with the two of us rushing to keep up because it is not wise to be separated in bear country. Bears won't attack a group unless absolutely necessary. So the leader went walking off in quick pace through the thick trees. After another fifteen minutes of endless walking in circles I made everyone stop and just listen for a few moments. I could hear the falls off to the north so I took the lead and headed to the sound. Being you are not suppose to be quiet when hiking I said we needed to keep talking but the Canadians were a little nervous and couldn't think of anything to say. Finally one of them decided to sing a silly bear song she had heard before she left for Alaska and she taught it to us. So there we were three lost girls singing silly bear songs looking for the place we had started. After another ten minutes of wandering we came across the trail safe and sound and without a bear story. We were lucky if we had done that a month later those same woods would have been filled with bears. It was not a bright idea on my part, though I joked that we weren't really lost just temporarily misplaced.
The next night, the same girl talked the male intern into a hike to a lake a mile away. It was 9:30 at night. They asked me if I wanted to go. I said are you crazy. It was too late to start a hike. Needless to say they got lost on the way to the lake. On the way out there they had met a bear and moved into the woods to avoid it, and preceeded to get lost. This time they had got very lost and at 11pm called on the radio, which the intern, at the last minute remembered to bring, that they were lost. The intern had a compass on him and gave the ranger station the heading. Two hours of searching by the law enforcement rangers did not find them. By this time it was getting dark. They called the two lost souls and told him they would resume their search at 5am. The intern told them he had a lighter and had started a fire and had built a lean to for them. He also had a whistle which the Canadian girl was blowing constantly to scare away the bears. By 7:30 the next moring they were found. Needless to say once found they became the butt of many jokes but the lesson learned is not to go wondering off and if you dumb enough to do so take the proper equipment with you.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
A Day on the Water
The day before I left Brooks Camp was a day of boating and swimming in Lake Brooks. In the morning we practiced boating and in the afternoon we tested on all the skills and ended the day with a swim test. Let me tell you about this unforgetable day.
I have been on boats most of my life. In the last 20 years my boating experience consists of canoes and kayaks. But when I was a kid my family traveled the length of the Mississippi River numerous times. I have been from the very start of the Mississippi River at Itasca where you walk across it to New Orleans not all on the same boat or same trip but I have been on all of it. Ocassionally my father would let me drive the boat while cruising down the river but for most of my life I have been the passenger, navigator and the person that does all the water testing never the driver. So I was excited to learn.
My first boat was driven with a steering wheel, don't ask me what kind of boat, I don't know, one that works in Alaskan waters. I got on board and was given the keys. No instructions, no helpful hints, just the keys. My first skill was the star pattern. Moving slowly and making no wake you enter five buoys and make a star pattern within them and then progress out of the buoys. The wind that morning was about 15 - 20 mph. I didn't do to bad at making the star pattern but it was done at an entirely too fast of speed. I did it once and turned the boat over to one of the other people on the boat. Not much of a lesson and not very easy.
There were 21 people in the class and three instructors. Three boats were running through the skills and three people were on the boat at one time. So there was a lot of down time. Next up was to run an aluminum skiff with a outboard tiller motor. I had never done one of these. Neither had the other person in the boat who was also a female. The third person who was suppose to go with us had disappeared when the boat arrived so he missed out. It was good for us because we had quite a time.
Both of us told the instructor we were nervous and had never driven this type of boat. So he took us for a ride to show us that we were perfectly safe in the boat. Then he showed us the serpentine course of ten buoys we had to weave in and out of at speed and the best way to handle it. Before turning the boat over to us he said we had to find the twelve year boy in us. We both looked at him like he was nuts so he explained. He said;" If I were to give a twelve year old boy control of the boat he would naturally go as fast as possible and weave around everything. That is because all boys have a little asshole in them." We were told to find that little boy inside of us. So I took control and tried to find the little boy in me. Let's just say he wasn't in the mood to play at first but I got the hang of it. The instructor said I did well enough to pass the test he would sign me off right there. Next up was my partner who like to turn large wide turns. It took her a while to pass the skill. We were out on that boat for 45 minutes.
Other skills we had to show that went quickly were emergency turns and beaching. Then it was time for lunch. The first time out on the water in the afternoon was with my boss. He by the way was dressed in a dry suit. A fact you are going to have to know. On this trip I was with two other females both in their twenties. Another fact to remember. So we get on the boat and we were asked what the type of boat requires before leaving the dock and where are they. So everyone on board needed a life jacket which we were all wearing, we needed a throwable floatation device which we found. The boat we were on was required to have a night and day distress signal, a horn or whistle, a fire extinquisher,and a few other things that weren't required but good to have on hand. Next we were to go out and rescue bob. Bob was a floating single buoy in the water representing a drowning victim. We were to take the boat out so that the person on the bow of the boat could touch bob but the boat did not go past bob or over bob. The name of the test was kiss the buoy. After the three of us passed the test we went for a little ride when all of the sudden my boss falls out of the boat. He is lying face up in the water moaning. We stop the boat. Go through the steps of rescue. First we yelled at him. No answer. Next one of the other passengers tells him she is going to but an oar in his hands to pull him in and proceeds to do so. Only of course he does not grab the oar. So I reach and pull his body closer to the boat. The next step is to make the side of the boat bounce down and as it comes back up use the force to pull the victim into the boat. Now you have to be told that my boss is a rather tall man over six feet. Needless to say we could not get enough momentum build up to pull him into the boat. The next thing to try is using a cargo net or tarp roll the body onto that then roll him up like a burrito and on to the boat. We happened to have a cargo net on board. Working together we got my bosses body onto the cargo net, placed his arm over his nose, this step is important as you don't want to smash their face as you roll them up the sides of the boat. Then together the three of us girls rolled my boss up and over into the boat. We were all excited that we finally got him out of the water we were high fiving each other while we left my boss rolled up in the cargo net yelling hay I am alive.
As we were heading back into shore our boat broke down. Now we had to show we knew how to do minor repairs and trouble shooting. Our boats gas hose had come unhooked. Once fixed three psyched girls beached the boat and got out. Only to find out that it was time for the swim test.
The swim test is done for two reasons. One you have to show you can save yourself and get back into the boat. Second to show you just how cold the water is. You had to have a PFD on, which kind was your decision, and swim 50 yards. But to get to water you could actually swim in you had to walk 25 yards in the cold water than swim. I decided that I wanted to go first so I could just get it over with. I was wearing a class five PFD which is a specialized coat like the coast guard wears, t-shirt, jeans, and wool socks. (we were told to wear the kind of thing you would wear while out in the boat and up there no one wears swim suits on board). I was given the okay to head to the boat. I could not believe how cold the water was. By the time I reached the first 25 yards I could not feel my feet. Then I fell into the water and rolled over on my back to back stroke to the boat. I was totally in shock by how fast I started shivering. My boss was walking between me and the other person to make sure we were all right. I was shaking a lot so he told me to stand and walk a little ways. By this time I could not move my fingers and I swore I had cement blocks for legs. My legs were so cold that I just wanted to get off of them so I started to back stroke again and it felt good to me to get off my legs. I did not realize that I had started to hyperventilate. My boss kept trying to get me to stand up but I fought and kept swimming till he lifted me out of the water. Just a fact you should know that you will lose body heat 25 times faster in the water so it is best to keep as much of your body above the water to save body heat. Which is what my boss was trying to help me with though I was not being cooperative. Finally I made it to the boat and like a fish a flopped into the boat. I was shaking from head to toe and had never been so cold in my life. The boat took the two of us back to shore. I was helped out of the boat and given a towel. Luckily, I had moved to the cabin that day and had a short walk to my room to get out of my wet clothes. I put on just about everything I owned. It took an hour for me to stop shivering. I think it took longer for my feet to unfreeze. Brooks Lake had ice on it just the week before. I was told that the temperature of the water was 35 degrees. I will not do anything that will cause me to fall into that cold water again. I never want to be that cold ever. Lesson learned.
I have been on boats most of my life. In the last 20 years my boating experience consists of canoes and kayaks. But when I was a kid my family traveled the length of the Mississippi River numerous times. I have been from the very start of the Mississippi River at Itasca where you walk across it to New Orleans not all on the same boat or same trip but I have been on all of it. Ocassionally my father would let me drive the boat while cruising down the river but for most of my life I have been the passenger, navigator and the person that does all the water testing never the driver. So I was excited to learn.
My first boat was driven with a steering wheel, don't ask me what kind of boat, I don't know, one that works in Alaskan waters. I got on board and was given the keys. No instructions, no helpful hints, just the keys. My first skill was the star pattern. Moving slowly and making no wake you enter five buoys and make a star pattern within them and then progress out of the buoys. The wind that morning was about 15 - 20 mph. I didn't do to bad at making the star pattern but it was done at an entirely too fast of speed. I did it once and turned the boat over to one of the other people on the boat. Not much of a lesson and not very easy.
There were 21 people in the class and three instructors. Three boats were running through the skills and three people were on the boat at one time. So there was a lot of down time. Next up was to run an aluminum skiff with a outboard tiller motor. I had never done one of these. Neither had the other person in the boat who was also a female. The third person who was suppose to go with us had disappeared when the boat arrived so he missed out. It was good for us because we had quite a time.
Both of us told the instructor we were nervous and had never driven this type of boat. So he took us for a ride to show us that we were perfectly safe in the boat. Then he showed us the serpentine course of ten buoys we had to weave in and out of at speed and the best way to handle it. Before turning the boat over to us he said we had to find the twelve year boy in us. We both looked at him like he was nuts so he explained. He said;" If I were to give a twelve year old boy control of the boat he would naturally go as fast as possible and weave around everything. That is because all boys have a little asshole in them." We were told to find that little boy inside of us. So I took control and tried to find the little boy in me. Let's just say he wasn't in the mood to play at first but I got the hang of it. The instructor said I did well enough to pass the test he would sign me off right there. Next up was my partner who like to turn large wide turns. It took her a while to pass the skill. We were out on that boat for 45 minutes.
Other skills we had to show that went quickly were emergency turns and beaching. Then it was time for lunch. The first time out on the water in the afternoon was with my boss. He by the way was dressed in a dry suit. A fact you are going to have to know. On this trip I was with two other females both in their twenties. Another fact to remember. So we get on the boat and we were asked what the type of boat requires before leaving the dock and where are they. So everyone on board needed a life jacket which we were all wearing, we needed a throwable floatation device which we found. The boat we were on was required to have a night and day distress signal, a horn or whistle, a fire extinquisher,and a few other things that weren't required but good to have on hand. Next we were to go out and rescue bob. Bob was a floating single buoy in the water representing a drowning victim. We were to take the boat out so that the person on the bow of the boat could touch bob but the boat did not go past bob or over bob. The name of the test was kiss the buoy. After the three of us passed the test we went for a little ride when all of the sudden my boss falls out of the boat. He is lying face up in the water moaning. We stop the boat. Go through the steps of rescue. First we yelled at him. No answer. Next one of the other passengers tells him she is going to but an oar in his hands to pull him in and proceeds to do so. Only of course he does not grab the oar. So I reach and pull his body closer to the boat. The next step is to make the side of the boat bounce down and as it comes back up use the force to pull the victim into the boat. Now you have to be told that my boss is a rather tall man over six feet. Needless to say we could not get enough momentum build up to pull him into the boat. The next thing to try is using a cargo net or tarp roll the body onto that then roll him up like a burrito and on to the boat. We happened to have a cargo net on board. Working together we got my bosses body onto the cargo net, placed his arm over his nose, this step is important as you don't want to smash their face as you roll them up the sides of the boat. Then together the three of us girls rolled my boss up and over into the boat. We were all excited that we finally got him out of the water we were high fiving each other while we left my boss rolled up in the cargo net yelling hay I am alive.
As we were heading back into shore our boat broke down. Now we had to show we knew how to do minor repairs and trouble shooting. Our boats gas hose had come unhooked. Once fixed three psyched girls beached the boat and got out. Only to find out that it was time for the swim test.
The swim test is done for two reasons. One you have to show you can save yourself and get back into the boat. Second to show you just how cold the water is. You had to have a PFD on, which kind was your decision, and swim 50 yards. But to get to water you could actually swim in you had to walk 25 yards in the cold water than swim. I decided that I wanted to go first so I could just get it over with. I was wearing a class five PFD which is a specialized coat like the coast guard wears, t-shirt, jeans, and wool socks. (we were told to wear the kind of thing you would wear while out in the boat and up there no one wears swim suits on board). I was given the okay to head to the boat. I could not believe how cold the water was. By the time I reached the first 25 yards I could not feel my feet. Then I fell into the water and rolled over on my back to back stroke to the boat. I was totally in shock by how fast I started shivering. My boss was walking between me and the other person to make sure we were all right. I was shaking a lot so he told me to stand and walk a little ways. By this time I could not move my fingers and I swore I had cement blocks for legs. My legs were so cold that I just wanted to get off of them so I started to back stroke again and it felt good to me to get off my legs. I did not realize that I had started to hyperventilate. My boss kept trying to get me to stand up but I fought and kept swimming till he lifted me out of the water. Just a fact you should know that you will lose body heat 25 times faster in the water so it is best to keep as much of your body above the water to save body heat. Which is what my boss was trying to help me with though I was not being cooperative. Finally I made it to the boat and like a fish a flopped into the boat. I was shaking from head to toe and had never been so cold in my life. The boat took the two of us back to shore. I was helped out of the boat and given a towel. Luckily, I had moved to the cabin that day and had a short walk to my room to get out of my wet clothes. I put on just about everything I owned. It took an hour for me to stop shivering. I think it took longer for my feet to unfreeze. Brooks Lake had ice on it just the week before. I was told that the temperature of the water was 35 degrees. I will not do anything that will cause me to fall into that cold water again. I never want to be that cold ever. Lesson learned.
Introducing Tundra
I am frustrated because last night I worked for hours trying to upload pictures for yesterdays post on the tour of Brooks Camp. As you could see I was unsuccessful. So again I am forced to send a disc to my husband to upload for me. Rumor has it that DSL may be coming to King Salmon but until then we are stuck with dial up internet.
On the first night at Brooks Camp while getting the tour I saw my first brown bear. She was on the other side of the river from me grazing on the new grass growing along the banks. She is a regular at Brooks Camp. She first appeared as a COY, which stands for current offspring year. That summer she got too close to a large male bear that gave her a deep cut above the left eye. Deep enough that the staff didn't think she had a chance to live. Today she is 4 1/2 years old and still bares the scare above her left eye. She probably weighs about 275 pounds. She hasn't been out of hibernation long and she needs to add fat to her body. By the middle of summer she should be around 400 pounds or more. She was named Tundra by the biologist at the time and given the number 130. All of the unknown bears and new cubs are given a ID number some of them are given names, usually after some feature or activity that they do. For instance, there is a bear named popeye because the massive width of his legs. There is a bear named milkshake that got her name because every time she finished nursing she would shake her whole body. Tundra had a sibling which was very light colored who was given the name arctic, they were trying to think of a name to go with arctic for the second cub and someone mentioned Tundra and it stuck.
She has a light tan color to her fur on most of her body but the back of her legs have a deeper brown color. She looked all soft and furry that first night like a stuffed bear in a store that you just want to hug. We watched her walk down the shoreline away from us just enjoying the evening sunlight while she ate. The next morning I was out for a walk and I saw her again on a sandbar at the mouth of the river. She was digging in the sand in search for what none of us have figured out. I sat about 75 yards away from her and watched until it was time to go to work. It was so much fun to watch as she dug with her huge paws and sharp claws. Every once in a while she would pounce on the hole as if there was a live creature there for her to attack. Then finally she laid down and her muzzle would dissappear down the hole, after a few seconds she would raise her head and you could see her eating something. It was an amzing time.
The next morning I saw her again down at the sandbar again digging for food. This time a couple of magpies and a group of gulls wanted to share in the feast. Tundra was not in the mood to share so when the birds got to close she would swipe at them with her claws. She almost got a magpie who I am assuming would be an added course to her breakfast. Lucky for the magpie it was faster than the claw. That day a cold wind was blowing off the lake inwards. As I stood shivering watching her eat, the cold wind did not seem to bother her at all.
I did not see Tundra the next day or most of the day after. When I finally saw her again she surprised me. I was walking with two cabin mates to take a trip to the falls when one of the others said look a bear. It was Tundra grazing on shrubs about 15 yards away. The rule being you have to be 50 yards from a bear and being that close to a brown bear we slowly moveded back to the designated 50 yards talking to her in calm voices. I apoligized for interrupting her dinner. We watched look at us for a few minutes then she just tore a bunch of grass and slowly trudged on through the brush. We did not effect her by being there.
The next morning she made it hard for the people on the Lake Brooks side of the river to get accross the bridge. If a bear is with in 50 yards of the bridge you may not cross the bridge. She decided that breakfast that morning was to take place by the main gate. She kept ten people waiting twenty minutes while she lumbered here and there before moving far enough away for them to proceed. At Brooks Camp bears not people have the right of way. You are not allowed to shout or move a bear out of your way, you move out of theirs. When July hits it is not uncommon for the bridge to be closed for 30 minutes or longer because of bear traffic. There are Park Rangers situated in various spots that control traffic across the bridge when the tourist arrive which is after June 1st.
Seeing Tundra most days was the highlight of the day. Being she is the first brown to be seen I have fallen in love with her. I hope that I will be there to see her give birth to her first litter. She will be sexually mature next year and may have cubs the year after. If my contract is extended I may be here to see that happen.
On the first night at Brooks Camp while getting the tour I saw my first brown bear. She was on the other side of the river from me grazing on the new grass growing along the banks. She is a regular at Brooks Camp. She first appeared as a COY, which stands for current offspring year. That summer she got too close to a large male bear that gave her a deep cut above the left eye. Deep enough that the staff didn't think she had a chance to live. Today she is 4 1/2 years old and still bares the scare above her left eye. She probably weighs about 275 pounds. She hasn't been out of hibernation long and she needs to add fat to her body. By the middle of summer she should be around 400 pounds or more. She was named Tundra by the biologist at the time and given the number 130. All of the unknown bears and new cubs are given a ID number some of them are given names, usually after some feature or activity that they do. For instance, there is a bear named popeye because the massive width of his legs. There is a bear named milkshake that got her name because every time she finished nursing she would shake her whole body. Tundra had a sibling which was very light colored who was given the name arctic, they were trying to think of a name to go with arctic for the second cub and someone mentioned Tundra and it stuck.
She has a light tan color to her fur on most of her body but the back of her legs have a deeper brown color. She looked all soft and furry that first night like a stuffed bear in a store that you just want to hug. We watched her walk down the shoreline away from us just enjoying the evening sunlight while she ate. The next morning I was out for a walk and I saw her again on a sandbar at the mouth of the river. She was digging in the sand in search for what none of us have figured out. I sat about 75 yards away from her and watched until it was time to go to work. It was so much fun to watch as she dug with her huge paws and sharp claws. Every once in a while she would pounce on the hole as if there was a live creature there for her to attack. Then finally she laid down and her muzzle would dissappear down the hole, after a few seconds she would raise her head and you could see her eating something. It was an amzing time.
The next morning I saw her again down at the sandbar again digging for food. This time a couple of magpies and a group of gulls wanted to share in the feast. Tundra was not in the mood to share so when the birds got to close she would swipe at them with her claws. She almost got a magpie who I am assuming would be an added course to her breakfast. Lucky for the magpie it was faster than the claw. That day a cold wind was blowing off the lake inwards. As I stood shivering watching her eat, the cold wind did not seem to bother her at all.
I did not see Tundra the next day or most of the day after. When I finally saw her again she surprised me. I was walking with two cabin mates to take a trip to the falls when one of the others said look a bear. It was Tundra grazing on shrubs about 15 yards away. The rule being you have to be 50 yards from a bear and being that close to a brown bear we slowly moveded back to the designated 50 yards talking to her in calm voices. I apoligized for interrupting her dinner. We watched look at us for a few minutes then she just tore a bunch of grass and slowly trudged on through the brush. We did not effect her by being there.
The next morning she made it hard for the people on the Lake Brooks side of the river to get accross the bridge. If a bear is with in 50 yards of the bridge you may not cross the bridge. She decided that breakfast that morning was to take place by the main gate. She kept ten people waiting twenty minutes while she lumbered here and there before moving far enough away for them to proceed. At Brooks Camp bears not people have the right of way. You are not allowed to shout or move a bear out of your way, you move out of theirs. When July hits it is not uncommon for the bridge to be closed for 30 minutes or longer because of bear traffic. There are Park Rangers situated in various spots that control traffic across the bridge when the tourist arrive which is after June 1st.
Seeing Tundra most days was the highlight of the day. Being she is the first brown to be seen I have fallen in love with her. I hope that I will be there to see her give birth to her first litter. She will be sexually mature next year and may have cubs the year after. If my contract is extended I may be here to see that happen.
The Tour
After getting off the plane and getting settled I got a tour of Brooks Camp. There are beautiful views every where you look. Brooks Camp includes the Interpretation staff housing, the ranger station, the visitor center, and the lodge and their staff housing. Each of the areas have names, the park staff housing is found down park avenue, the lodge staff live in tuckerville. From Brooks camp you go the the Brooks River. In a month 80 different brown bears will gather for the annual salmon run to get fat on fish. At the river there is a long floating bridge that crosses the river. On the other side is a platform to safely stand and watch the bears. Once across the river you follow a dirt road about a half a mile
where you come to a trail that will lead you to the falls platform. The falls is a six foot high falls that the salmon have to jump over to go upstream to spawn. This will be the place all the bears will gather in July. Brown bears are lazy creatures by habit and if the fish will jump into their mouths instead of them hunting for them so much the better. Once back on the main road if you head away from the river you come to a Y in the road. A left will take you to the valley of ten thousand smokes a right Lake Brooks camp. This is where I will be living when I am out there the rest of the summer. I am lucky enough to be able to stay in a real log cabin house. It is the oldest building in the park with a beautiful veiw of Lake Brooks of which I hear the sunsets over the mountains are spectacular. I did not get to see one though while I was there. There are also cabins down the road from us that the maitenance people stay in. the log cabin contains a huge fireplace in the center of the cabin. It is very comfortable and cozy.
where you come to a trail that will lead you to the falls platform. The falls is a six foot high falls that the salmon have to jump over to go upstream to spawn. This will be the place all the bears will gather in July. Brown bears are lazy creatures by habit and if the fish will jump into their mouths instead of them hunting for them so much the better. Once back on the main road if you head away from the river you come to a Y in the road. A left will take you to the valley of ten thousand smokes a right Lake Brooks camp. This is where I will be living when I am out there the rest of the summer. I am lucky enough to be able to stay in a real log cabin house. It is the oldest building in the park with a beautiful veiw of Lake Brooks of which I hear the sunsets over the mountains are spectacular. I did not get to see one though while I was there. There are also cabins down the road from us that the maitenance people stay in. the log cabin contains a huge fireplace in the center of the cabin. It is very comfortable and cozy.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Home from Brooks Camp
Hello! I have made it back from eight days at Brooks Camp. Brooks Camp is a small camping area in Katmai National Park. Katmai was named a National Monument in 1918 six years after Novrupta Volcano erupted. At that time the park only included the valley of ten thousand smokes. In 1931 The park was expanded to include Brooks Camp which was a small village. Today it is the most popular place in the park. There you will find the parks visitor center. Next to the visitor center is Brooks lodge which is a series of cabins, restaraunt, bar and giftshop. The area is not very big but 10,000 people will fly in, mostly in July and September when the Brook River becomes the ideal sockeye salmon spawing area. With the fish come the brown bears. 80 different bears will feed next to one another to catch Salmon swimming up river to spawn.
This was my first time to visit this absolutely beautiful area. If you were to close your eyes and dream of the perfect place in Alaska, and I say in Alaska because I know if I say the perfect place some of you would be dreaming of a warm and tropical place. But if you were to close your eyes and dream of the perfect Alaska hideaway Katmai park would be it. I got off the float plane, which is the major way people can get into the park. There are only four ways in, fly, boat, hike, or on snowmachine. Anyways I got off the plane, which by the way I made the flight without getting sick. Thank You Dramamine. Back to the story, I stood on the beach and in every directions I saw snow covered mountains. Absolutely, beautiful. It took your breath away, it was that beautiful. After a short hike up the sandy beach and through the white spruce trees, we entered into the visitor center. Once your off the plane you must immediately take a bear training. Which includes a 10 minute video on the bears and protecting yourself and the bears. Then a Ranger speaks for about another ten minutes explaining what goes on at Brooks Camp and go over the important parts of the movie. Which is no food is allowed to be eaten or cooked outside any where in the Brooks camp area. You must stay 50 yards from a single bear and 100 yards from a mother and cubs. You are told not to run and what to do if you should come across a bear. When all is said and done, you recieve a Katmai annual pin which you must wear at all times to show you have been through the bear orientation. And yes, even I wildlife biologist had to take the training. From there it was on to housing and a tour of the park. The whole time I was thinking I am going to summer camp and getting paid for it. I would tell you more but I just got home a few hours ago and I am beat but I will have lots of stories to tell so stay tuned.
This was my first time to visit this absolutely beautiful area. If you were to close your eyes and dream of the perfect place in Alaska, and I say in Alaska because I know if I say the perfect place some of you would be dreaming of a warm and tropical place. But if you were to close your eyes and dream of the perfect Alaska hideaway Katmai park would be it. I got off the float plane, which is the major way people can get into the park. There are only four ways in, fly, boat, hike, or on snowmachine. Anyways I got off the plane, which by the way I made the flight without getting sick. Thank You Dramamine. Back to the story, I stood on the beach and in every directions I saw snow covered mountains. Absolutely, beautiful. It took your breath away, it was that beautiful. After a short hike up the sandy beach and through the white spruce trees, we entered into the visitor center. Once your off the plane you must immediately take a bear training. Which includes a 10 minute video on the bears and protecting yourself and the bears. Then a Ranger speaks for about another ten minutes explaining what goes on at Brooks Camp and go over the important parts of the movie. Which is no food is allowed to be eaten or cooked outside any where in the Brooks camp area. You must stay 50 yards from a single bear and 100 yards from a mother and cubs. You are told not to run and what to do if you should come across a bear. When all is said and done, you recieve a Katmai annual pin which you must wear at all times to show you have been through the bear orientation. And yes, even I wildlife biologist had to take the training. From there it was on to housing and a tour of the park. The whole time I was thinking I am going to summer camp and getting paid for it. I would tell you more but I just got home a few hours ago and I am beat but I will have lots of stories to tell so stay tuned.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Unbelievable Excitement and Valuable Information Learned
Hi, today has been a great day in Alaska. First off, I did some research about airsickness after yesterdays mess. I went to an Aviation site to get facts from the experts. And who better to get advice from then Buzz Aldren, Astronaut. He said many people get airsick and the best remedy is to take ginger candy. He said that it works best for the nausea and vomiting. He said to keep your eyes outside so that your eyes and ears both send signals to your brain that your moving. It is good to keep the windows open. That you should be sure your hydrated, and that you have a light meal in your stomach preferably fruit and carbs. He also said that you need a good nights sleep and the more you fly the less it will bother you.
I was totally embarrassed yesterday at my lack of strength but I found out that there are a lot of people in the office that get airsick and found out that my partner wears a patch containing scopolamine to get through the air surveys. I immediately called my husband and sent him to the clinic to get our doctor to prescribe this patch. Tomorrow though since I have no ginger candy I am going with Dramamine as I don't want a repeat of yesterday. But I will do all the other things. By the way, Buzz and Chuck Yaeger suffered from airsickness. I no longer feel so stupid.
The best thing about today happened in the neighborhood. This is such a great place to live. We had a order of food arrive at the air freight office and our neighbor was there to pick up her order and saw our stuff and decided to bring it to us since we don't have a car. I didn't even know our stuff had arrived. It was a nice surprise, Isn't that great. Then while we were talking we heard a commotion outside and went to investigate. The neighbor behind us has five chickens and 1 rooster. They decided to fly their coop and investigate the neighborhood. So we had chickens in the backyard. The owners were out of town for the day so the neighborhood was trying to gather up the escapees. Talk about funny. The neighbor to the right of us has a compost pile and the chickens were trying to get to all the goodies. Eventually though they were all caught and back in their pen but it made for outstanding entertainment. Not the kind of wildlife I assumed I going to have in my backyard.
Tomorrow I leave for Brooks Camp. Brooks Camp is the official park office. I will be there until the 27th weather dependent. They have no phones except a satellite phone for emergency purposes. They do have internet but that is kind of iffy. So after this post you won't be hearing from me till I get back. I hope to have great stories to tell you and none of the embarrassing kind. I have sent my husband a disc of pics and have asked him to download them on here when he gets them. I hope he can handle that and I hope you enjoy them. They are of the town of King Salmon and the area by our house. I hope to see lots of great things at Brooks Camp and can't wait to share them with all of you.
I was totally embarrassed yesterday at my lack of strength but I found out that there are a lot of people in the office that get airsick and found out that my partner wears a patch containing scopolamine to get through the air surveys. I immediately called my husband and sent him to the clinic to get our doctor to prescribe this patch. Tomorrow though since I have no ginger candy I am going with Dramamine as I don't want a repeat of yesterday. But I will do all the other things. By the way, Buzz and Chuck Yaeger suffered from airsickness. I no longer feel so stupid.
The best thing about today happened in the neighborhood. This is such a great place to live. We had a order of food arrive at the air freight office and our neighbor was there to pick up her order and saw our stuff and decided to bring it to us since we don't have a car. I didn't even know our stuff had arrived. It was a nice surprise, Isn't that great. Then while we were talking we heard a commotion outside and went to investigate. The neighbor behind us has five chickens and 1 rooster. They decided to fly their coop and investigate the neighborhood. So we had chickens in the backyard. The owners were out of town for the day so the neighborhood was trying to gather up the escapees. Talk about funny. The neighbor to the right of us has a compost pile and the chickens were trying to get to all the goodies. Eventually though they were all caught and back in their pen but it made for outstanding entertainment. Not the kind of wildlife I assumed I going to have in my backyard.
Tomorrow I leave for Brooks Camp. Brooks Camp is the official park office. I will be there until the 27th weather dependent. They have no phones except a satellite phone for emergency purposes. They do have internet but that is kind of iffy. So after this post you won't be hearing from me till I get back. I hope to have great stories to tell you and none of the embarrassing kind. I have sent my husband a disc of pics and have asked him to download them on here when he gets them. I hope he can handle that and I hope you enjoy them. They are of the town of King Salmon and the area by our house. I hope to see lots of great things at Brooks Camp and can't wait to share them with all of you.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
First Adventure Not Good
I was sitting in my office today when our pilot showed up. It was too windy for a low level flight but he wanted to take me up, along with two other rookies for a observational flight of the park. Be at the dock by 10. It was 9. I was excited and nervous as I have never been in a small aircraft or a float plane. I won the choice of copilot in a numbers draw. Lucky me. We had our preflight safety brief and some training on things we could help the pilot with before flight. I put on my gear. Climbed in. Plugged in my headset, buckle my seat belt and prepared myself for the ride. I am claustrophobic so I have always been nervous about being in something with so little space. I was worried that I would panic. But so far so good.
We took off down the Naknek river and were soon airborne. I watched a flock of swans fly under the plane. It was like being in a BBC earth episode. It was beautiful too watch. 20 minutes into the flight and I was feeling great. I was ready to tell my husband to get his pilots license updated so we could fly together. The pilot was giving us a great tour then we went over the mountains. Coming down on the other side we hit turbulence. I began to feel a little queasy. Our fist stop was brooks camp with the days mail. Brooks camp is so different from King Salmon. King Salmon has some trees but is mostly Tundra. Brooks camp had lots of trees. It was beautiful. After a 10 minute stop I was feeling better. I had the choice of getting out but I decided to tough it out as this was a part of my job. The take off was great and the scenery was beautiful. We saw a brown bear on the point. I got to see the board walks along the river for people to watch the bears from. We started up the Valley of Ten Thousands Smokes but the winds became too strong and we started to rock and roll but I was feeling fine. The pilot though turned us around because it was not a good situation. We continued to fly over the park around four of the states biggest lakes. Then it was time to head back and as we turned the plane really started to bounce around and I was not feeling very good. I bet I was turning green.
While I was trying my best to hold down my stomach the plane dropped, rocked and bounced all over the place. The pilot tried to fly higher, we had been flying at 800 feet, to get out of the turbulence but nothing seemed to help. While I was getting sicker he was eating a sandwich. Then in front of everyone I lost my lunch, over and over and over and over until I had nothing left in it. But yet I dry heaved for another five minutes till we landed. Not a good first flight and not a good impression. A lot of my work is done in the plane. I was planning to take Dramamine on my first flight but I wasn't prepared for today's surprise. I sure hope it helps because not only do I have to fly from place to place, I have to gps eagle nests and moose sightings from the plane on my computer.
I did however, learn a few things. Brown bears will stand on beaver dams and jump on them until they break to try to get to the beavers inside. Though once the bear breaks through the beavers swim out and watch the activities from a safe distance. I learned that the Naknek river tomorrow will actually flow backwards because high tide tomorrow is at 31 feet. When that much water is forced up the river the flow reverses. The tide is suppose to come in at 7am so I might go watch before work. I learned that the rivers are too low for the big boats until the mountain snow starts to melt. We flew for 2 1/2 hours and only saw a quarter of the park. At altitudes higher than 3000 feet the lakes are still frozen and there is snow on the ground. We actually flew through a upper level snow storm. The last thing I learned is that leaf out on the trees doesn't happen until the first week of June. I probably could have learned more if my stomach would have cooperated.
I still felt drained by the time I came home but seven packages arrived for us today. It was like Christmas. One of them was the box of pictures of my family. It was great to come home to them.
We took off down the Naknek river and were soon airborne. I watched a flock of swans fly under the plane. It was like being in a BBC earth episode. It was beautiful too watch. 20 minutes into the flight and I was feeling great. I was ready to tell my husband to get his pilots license updated so we could fly together. The pilot was giving us a great tour then we went over the mountains. Coming down on the other side we hit turbulence. I began to feel a little queasy. Our fist stop was brooks camp with the days mail. Brooks camp is so different from King Salmon. King Salmon has some trees but is mostly Tundra. Brooks camp had lots of trees. It was beautiful. After a 10 minute stop I was feeling better. I had the choice of getting out but I decided to tough it out as this was a part of my job. The take off was great and the scenery was beautiful. We saw a brown bear on the point. I got to see the board walks along the river for people to watch the bears from. We started up the Valley of Ten Thousands Smokes but the winds became too strong and we started to rock and roll but I was feeling fine. The pilot though turned us around because it was not a good situation. We continued to fly over the park around four of the states biggest lakes. Then it was time to head back and as we turned the plane really started to bounce around and I was not feeling very good. I bet I was turning green.
While I was trying my best to hold down my stomach the plane dropped, rocked and bounced all over the place. The pilot tried to fly higher, we had been flying at 800 feet, to get out of the turbulence but nothing seemed to help. While I was getting sicker he was eating a sandwich. Then in front of everyone I lost my lunch, over and over and over and over until I had nothing left in it. But yet I dry heaved for another five minutes till we landed. Not a good first flight and not a good impression. A lot of my work is done in the plane. I was planning to take Dramamine on my first flight but I wasn't prepared for today's surprise. I sure hope it helps because not only do I have to fly from place to place, I have to gps eagle nests and moose sightings from the plane on my computer.
I did however, learn a few things. Brown bears will stand on beaver dams and jump on them until they break to try to get to the beavers inside. Though once the bear breaks through the beavers swim out and watch the activities from a safe distance. I learned that the Naknek river tomorrow will actually flow backwards because high tide tomorrow is at 31 feet. When that much water is forced up the river the flow reverses. The tide is suppose to come in at 7am so I might go watch before work. I learned that the rivers are too low for the big boats until the mountain snow starts to melt. We flew for 2 1/2 hours and only saw a quarter of the park. At altitudes higher than 3000 feet the lakes are still frozen and there is snow on the ground. We actually flew through a upper level snow storm. The last thing I learned is that leaf out on the trees doesn't happen until the first week of June. I probably could have learned more if my stomach would have cooperated.
I still felt drained by the time I came home but seven packages arrived for us today. It was like Christmas. One of them was the box of pictures of my family. It was great to come home to them.
Monday, May 16, 2011
And The East Winds Blew In
I was all excited to have my first real adventure in Alaska today. I walked to work keeping my eyes peeled for anything. I saw a pair of hares. I saw wolf tracks and thought this was a sign of good day. I got to work and collected my helmet and flight suit for the flight to survey bald eagles, which was scheduled for 10 am. Then I went to work. I was shopping for my personal field gear on the web for things that I would need in the bush. Then I had a meeting to attend on construction work being done at the park. Some time during that meeting the East winds began to blow.
The bald eagle surveys are done in a low flying aircraft, flying 150 - 300 feet above the ground. There are two people in the plane that are observers and the pilot. As the pilot flys over the coastlines of lakes the two observers look for eagles nest. When you spot one you are to be quiet until the pilot flys over it. Then we say saw a nest and hopefully the other observer saw it too. Then the pilot turns the plane around and flies in circles around the nest while information is taken. Is the nest occupied? Are there eggs? How many? Are the adults nearby and what are they doing? You take gps coordinates and then take pictures. Then you go back to flying the coastlines until another nest is sighted. Having a wind speed of 10 mph is okay. 15 mph is pushing it but the East winds today were blowing over twenty miles an hour.
Needless to say I was disappointed. But I learned all the storms that hit King Salmon come from the East. In the office East winds are called your screwed days. These winds can bring five foot waves on the various lakes so that you can not go out in low flying planes or boats. If your in the office like I was today you get to work on data and paperwork. But if your waiting to be picked up from a remote sight your screwed. So I was warned to bring a book with me at all times. When I go to the Katmai coast at the end of the month I have been told that I need to pack food for the four days I will be out there and an extra seven days in case the East winds keeps us stranded.
It doesn't look like the weather patterns are going to change before I have to leave for Brooks Camp on Thursday morning. That flight has all ready had the take off spot changed and the drop off spot changed so I will have to portage my gear. I watched the float plane come in this afternoon and the wind was really pushing it around. I have never flown in a small aircraft and I am not sure I want to have my first flight be in these East winds so I am praying they leave town by Thursday.
The day was not all bad. I went to the range and passed my gun certification. Nine shots made it into the heart and lungs of the paper grizzly. I kept the target paper as my trophy and the bruise on my shoulder has grown in size.
The bald eagle surveys are done in a low flying aircraft, flying 150 - 300 feet above the ground. There are two people in the plane that are observers and the pilot. As the pilot flys over the coastlines of lakes the two observers look for eagles nest. When you spot one you are to be quiet until the pilot flys over it. Then we say saw a nest and hopefully the other observer saw it too. Then the pilot turns the plane around and flies in circles around the nest while information is taken. Is the nest occupied? Are there eggs? How many? Are the adults nearby and what are they doing? You take gps coordinates and then take pictures. Then you go back to flying the coastlines until another nest is sighted. Having a wind speed of 10 mph is okay. 15 mph is pushing it but the East winds today were blowing over twenty miles an hour.
Needless to say I was disappointed. But I learned all the storms that hit King Salmon come from the East. In the office East winds are called your screwed days. These winds can bring five foot waves on the various lakes so that you can not go out in low flying planes or boats. If your in the office like I was today you get to work on data and paperwork. But if your waiting to be picked up from a remote sight your screwed. So I was warned to bring a book with me at all times. When I go to the Katmai coast at the end of the month I have been told that I need to pack food for the four days I will be out there and an extra seven days in case the East winds keeps us stranded.
It doesn't look like the weather patterns are going to change before I have to leave for Brooks Camp on Thursday morning. That flight has all ready had the take off spot changed and the drop off spot changed so I will have to portage my gear. I watched the float plane come in this afternoon and the wind was really pushing it around. I have never flown in a small aircraft and I am not sure I want to have my first flight be in these East winds so I am praying they leave town by Thursday.
The day was not all bad. I went to the range and passed my gun certification. Nine shots made it into the heart and lungs of the paper grizzly. I kept the target paper as my trophy and the bruise on my shoulder has grown in size.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Lost Languages
Tomorrow I get to fly around for four hours searching for bald eagle nests on the lake shores and coastlines of Katmai National Park. Needless to say I am excited. I was studying the map of the park today and there are a lot of locations that are hard to pronounce. I get frustrated with the names of things around here so I thought if I look up the meaning of the words maybe that would get rid of some of the frustration. I, like most people, depend on Google to answer all of my questions. Not today, the language of the Eskimo tribes are disappearing and it is very sad because the villages are in Eskimo names. It is unfortunate that the Native American languages are being forgotten, not just in Alaska but all over our country, when they represent the words of great and honorable people. Out of 17 names I tried to look up, I could only find the meaning of six and one kind of weird answer. No matter what I typed into Google: this word means?, where is the word from?, and the word itself, I could not find an answer. I was however lead to buy an Eskimo dictionary, though the pages I looked at only said that certain names were definitely Eskimo but it did not have their meanings. I am going to see if our resource center has any thing about the language to get more information.
I thought I would share what I did discover. Alaska came from the Aluet word Ayeska, meaning the great land. That fits Alaska very well as it is three times the size of Texas. I could not find out what Katmai meant. All the searches led me to the national park site. Naknek, the town 15 miles from here was originally a Yupik village. The Yupik tribes were found all over the area. They called the village Naugeik. It was changed by the Russian navy to the name of Naknek. The large volcano in Katmai that erupted in 1912 and was the biggest eruption in the twentieth century is called Novarupta which fittingly means new eruption. Today in the area there is nothing but ash.
I will also being doing work on the Alagnak Wild River National Park. Alagnak means making mistakes. It sort of fits what I here about this river as there are very rough white water spots to transverse through and each year rescues are performed on the river. The third park I will be working on is called Aniakchak. It is a park that is hardly ever visited by tourist. I am told that there is a ten day float for wildlife monitoring that goes on in this park and my boss calls it the ankle breaker. Not sure yet if I will be the one going on the float. Stay tuned. I could not find the meaning of Aniakchak.
Igiugig is an area near Katmai that's watershed flows through the park. The name means like a throat that swallows water. I am not sure if the name fits the area but it is not the romantic name I thought it might be. Another place that I will visit is called Chignik Lagoon. There are also the Chignik mountains. Chignik means big winds. Why do I get the feeling that air travel in this area might be iffy. One of the bays I will be searching for nests in is called Swikshak. This is the one that I got funny information for. I read that it is an Eskimo term but that the word might actually have come from a Mexican tribe. I haven't quite figured this one out. Other places I will visit are Kukaklek Lake, Nonvianuk lake, Kahivik Bay, Amalik bay, Takli Island, Ninagiak Island, Kamishak river, and Illlilama Watershed. None of these names could be found on any Google search. Though my main interest is in the wildlife that call this area home, I am interested in the people that lived for thousands of years here. I hate to see their history vanish.
Speaking of wild animals, though we haven't seen any large mammals yet, while hiking today we did see moose tracks. We also found the remains of a bird that had been eaten by something. Still keeping our eyes peeled for the first sighting.
This week schedule is: Monday- bald eagle nest survey and try to pass the shotgun certification. Tuesday and Wednesday is map making of the nests we found and comparisons to past records. Hopefully, another day of flying. Thursday- it is off to Brooks Camp for eight days of boat training, more bear training and to get familiar with the area where a large number of brown bears will exist once the salmon run starts, which is July. This week also is the towns start of tourist season. The grocery store is staying open later, Eddies hours are changing, King Ko's (a restaurant, bar and lodge) will open. Today I noticed a lot more smaller planes were landing at the airport. Soon I am told the river will become a float plane highway. Wonder what that will do to the hundreds of swans on the river right now.
I thought I would share what I did discover. Alaska came from the Aluet word Ayeska, meaning the great land. That fits Alaska very well as it is three times the size of Texas. I could not find out what Katmai meant. All the searches led me to the national park site. Naknek, the town 15 miles from here was originally a Yupik village. The Yupik tribes were found all over the area. They called the village Naugeik. It was changed by the Russian navy to the name of Naknek. The large volcano in Katmai that erupted in 1912 and was the biggest eruption in the twentieth century is called Novarupta which fittingly means new eruption. Today in the area there is nothing but ash.
I will also being doing work on the Alagnak Wild River National Park. Alagnak means making mistakes. It sort of fits what I here about this river as there are very rough white water spots to transverse through and each year rescues are performed on the river. The third park I will be working on is called Aniakchak. It is a park that is hardly ever visited by tourist. I am told that there is a ten day float for wildlife monitoring that goes on in this park and my boss calls it the ankle breaker. Not sure yet if I will be the one going on the float. Stay tuned. I could not find the meaning of Aniakchak.
Igiugig is an area near Katmai that's watershed flows through the park. The name means like a throat that swallows water. I am not sure if the name fits the area but it is not the romantic name I thought it might be. Another place that I will visit is called Chignik Lagoon. There are also the Chignik mountains. Chignik means big winds. Why do I get the feeling that air travel in this area might be iffy. One of the bays I will be searching for nests in is called Swikshak. This is the one that I got funny information for. I read that it is an Eskimo term but that the word might actually have come from a Mexican tribe. I haven't quite figured this one out. Other places I will visit are Kukaklek Lake, Nonvianuk lake, Kahivik Bay, Amalik bay, Takli Island, Ninagiak Island, Kamishak river, and Illlilama Watershed. None of these names could be found on any Google search. Though my main interest is in the wildlife that call this area home, I am interested in the people that lived for thousands of years here. I hate to see their history vanish.
Speaking of wild animals, though we haven't seen any large mammals yet, while hiking today we did see moose tracks. We also found the remains of a bird that had been eaten by something. Still keeping our eyes peeled for the first sighting.
This week schedule is: Monday- bald eagle nest survey and try to pass the shotgun certification. Tuesday and Wednesday is map making of the nests we found and comparisons to past records. Hopefully, another day of flying. Thursday- it is off to Brooks Camp for eight days of boat training, more bear training and to get familiar with the area where a large number of brown bears will exist once the salmon run starts, which is July. This week also is the towns start of tourist season. The grocery store is staying open later, Eddies hours are changing, King Ko's (a restaurant, bar and lodge) will open. Today I noticed a lot more smaller planes were landing at the airport. Soon I am told the river will become a float plane highway. Wonder what that will do to the hundreds of swans on the river right now.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Daylight Energy
When I first got here I was told that having 20 hours of sunlight was hard to get use to. It would keep you up at night and you wouldn't even realize that it was late as it was still bright outside. I thought every one was crazy, being a bakers daughter sleeping during the day is a piece of cake and how could 20 hours of sunlight cause that much of a change. But I think they are right. Not about the sleeping part because if I am tired I can go sleep no problem. What is right is that I don't feel like going to sleep. The sun is setting around 11 pm right now and the days will keep getting longer until the summer soltice which is in June. I come home from work and take a walk with the dog, do some other things and when I look out the window it seems like it is in the middle of the afternoon. You feel like your wasting the day by going to bed when the world is still so bright. Even when the sun sets it doesn't really get dark. Friday night the planet was to go through the meteor belt which means lots of falling stars. I love those nights but I couldn't stay awake until it actually got dark here. It was close to 1 am and you could still see everything yet. Twilight goes on for hours so you have about one hour of total darkness right now. I am sure when June hits there will be no darkness. I can't imagine what it will be like in the winter when you are only suppose to get four hours of actual daylight. During the trainings this past week we were told that by the middle of June everyone will be sleep deprived because of the long hours of daylight. We were also told that going 16 hours without sleep is like having a drug alcohol level of 0.08. You can still function but your fine moter skills will decrease and so will your reaction time which they warned would slow down your reaction if you should encounter a bear. Wonderful thought.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Bear Safety Training
Hi, sorry I haven't been able to write but the system has been down for two days. So while you have been waiting for me to write I have been going through bear training. I started the whole training giving a bear biology lesson to all the new summer staff. I think I did all right and I got no negative feedback from the boss so I guess that was good.
Next up was bear behaviors. We spent two hours learning about the expressions, sounds and moves a bear makes and what causes them. I thought I would share some cool facts and some facts that may help keep you alive. Cool facts first: #1 cubs when they are nursing actually purr like a cat only very loudly. It was pretty cool to listen to and I hope I get to hear it in person but not too close. Second cool fact, bears are attracted to anything made of plastic, rubber or foam, especially the sub adults which are bears that are separated from thier mothers but haven't reached sexual maturity yet. Females reach maturity at 5 years of age and males at 6. It is common for the sub adults to chew on the tires of the float planes. Which I think is kind of funny but it is not funny to the pilots as tires cost $3,500 a piece. Male bears have a certain walk called a cowboy walk, think of John Wayne, which they use to impress females and other males.
If a bear yawns it doesn't necessarily mean it's tired, bears will yawn if they are under stress. It is the first sign you need to watch for. If you see that happening you need to move away. Bears level of agression has stages. First will be yawning, then they make a houghing sound, next they will do a hop charge, which is a small hop on their front legs, then there is the bluff charge, which is,a bear will actually run towards you but stop just short of you. His ears will be layed back and he will show his canines. These are all the moves a bear will use to protect himself or protect cubs. Of course if you surprise a bear he may skip a few steps and just charge you. If you run from a bear run around a tree of larger size. He can not turn corners as fast as a human but make sure it is wide enough because bears have been know to knock over small trees. If you meet a bear and he keeps coming towards you and you try to evade him but he keeps following you, take this as an aggressive move and know that he thinks your on the menu.
We watched two movies on bear behavoir then we watched a 20 minute video of BB, who is a dominant male bear, take down a less dominant male. It was quite vicious. It was of course what happens in real life but it was kind of hard to watch. BB actually was eating the other bear while he was still alive and fighting for his life. I could not believe how long the other bear fought before he finally lost the battle. We watched the movie to remind all of us that bears are dangerous and not to get complacent around them. Next of course was lunch. Well planned don't you think.
After lunch we talked about the steps to protect yourself from a bear. What to do if you see a bear but he doesn't see you and what to do if he sees you first. I have all ready talked about these so I will just go on.
From protection we talked about how to camp in the backcountry and keep save from the bears. For most of the park it is highly suggested, and my boss said he would not go without, electric fencing. They make it now to carry with you in your pack and it runs on D batteries. I am not sure how many but I will find out when I go into the back country at the end of the month. (The only part of the park you don't need electric fencing is in the valley of ten thousand smokes because there is no vegetation or bears there) You use the electric fence around your tents. You are to keep the tents in a straight line. The reason you do not put your tents in a circle is in case a bear gets in the middle, it won't have a safe exit out. If the tents are in a line he has two sides to escape from. When your out camping it is a good idea to use the triangle method to set up your tent. The tents and fencing is one point of the triangle, 100 feet away you set up your cooking stage, which should be down wind of the tents. The third point of the triangle should be your food storage. In Katmai, all food must be stored in bear proof containers. You can't hang them up as the trees are not big enough to get them high enough away from the bears. This should also be down wind of the tents. So ended day one.
Day two started with questions and answers and war stories. Just to let you know Katmai has had only four fatalities from bear attacks since it opened in 1918. The last one being Timothy Treadwell in 2005. Timothy Treadwell had spent 12 summers along Katmai bears. He wrote a book called "Among the Grizzlys". It is a good book to read. He knew the bears, which ones were habituated and which ones were dangerous. In 2005 he was attacked and died along with his girlfriend. That was the last fatal bear attack.
On to pepper spray training. We talked about the making of pepper spray which uses the chemicals found in very hot peppers. We were taught the proper way to use it and what happens after the spray has been released. By the way, after a bear has been sprayed and deterred, the area where the spray was used will attract other bears as it will smell like food in the area for a few hours. Then of course we learned about the paperwork involved if you use your bear spray. Even if it acciddently goes off. Last but not least, we had to holster a can of inert spray and go through the scenario of being attacted and using the spray to deter the bear.
In the aftenoon it was gun safety. We will be using Remington 870 12 gauge shotguns. We went through the classroom work then out to the range. I haven't shot a shotgun in 5 years. We had to shoot ten rounds in 50 seconds. When a bear is charging you need to hit it in the center of his mass or his chest area, hopefully his lungs or heart. A bullet to the head will probably not kill him just piss him off more. You had to get seven hits in that area to certify. I had six shots on target and one that just missed. I get to try again on Monday. I did however get a nice bruise from the experience.
So that's whats been going on. By the way food has been arriving every day and we are eating normally again. We still haven't seen anything bigger than the red fox. It is fun seeing the snowshoe hares as they are changing from winter white to summer brown. They have a mixutre of both right now and it makes for strange looking hares.
Next up was bear behaviors. We spent two hours learning about the expressions, sounds and moves a bear makes and what causes them. I thought I would share some cool facts and some facts that may help keep you alive. Cool facts first: #1 cubs when they are nursing actually purr like a cat only very loudly. It was pretty cool to listen to and I hope I get to hear it in person but not too close. Second cool fact, bears are attracted to anything made of plastic, rubber or foam, especially the sub adults which are bears that are separated from thier mothers but haven't reached sexual maturity yet. Females reach maturity at 5 years of age and males at 6. It is common for the sub adults to chew on the tires of the float planes. Which I think is kind of funny but it is not funny to the pilots as tires cost $3,500 a piece. Male bears have a certain walk called a cowboy walk, think of John Wayne, which they use to impress females and other males.
If a bear yawns it doesn't necessarily mean it's tired, bears will yawn if they are under stress. It is the first sign you need to watch for. If you see that happening you need to move away. Bears level of agression has stages. First will be yawning, then they make a houghing sound, next they will do a hop charge, which is a small hop on their front legs, then there is the bluff charge, which is,a bear will actually run towards you but stop just short of you. His ears will be layed back and he will show his canines. These are all the moves a bear will use to protect himself or protect cubs. Of course if you surprise a bear he may skip a few steps and just charge you. If you run from a bear run around a tree of larger size. He can not turn corners as fast as a human but make sure it is wide enough because bears have been know to knock over small trees. If you meet a bear and he keeps coming towards you and you try to evade him but he keeps following you, take this as an aggressive move and know that he thinks your on the menu.
We watched two movies on bear behavoir then we watched a 20 minute video of BB, who is a dominant male bear, take down a less dominant male. It was quite vicious. It was of course what happens in real life but it was kind of hard to watch. BB actually was eating the other bear while he was still alive and fighting for his life. I could not believe how long the other bear fought before he finally lost the battle. We watched the movie to remind all of us that bears are dangerous and not to get complacent around them. Next of course was lunch. Well planned don't you think.
After lunch we talked about the steps to protect yourself from a bear. What to do if you see a bear but he doesn't see you and what to do if he sees you first. I have all ready talked about these so I will just go on.
From protection we talked about how to camp in the backcountry and keep save from the bears. For most of the park it is highly suggested, and my boss said he would not go without, electric fencing. They make it now to carry with you in your pack and it runs on D batteries. I am not sure how many but I will find out when I go into the back country at the end of the month. (The only part of the park you don't need electric fencing is in the valley of ten thousand smokes because there is no vegetation or bears there) You use the electric fence around your tents. You are to keep the tents in a straight line. The reason you do not put your tents in a circle is in case a bear gets in the middle, it won't have a safe exit out. If the tents are in a line he has two sides to escape from. When your out camping it is a good idea to use the triangle method to set up your tent. The tents and fencing is one point of the triangle, 100 feet away you set up your cooking stage, which should be down wind of the tents. The third point of the triangle should be your food storage. In Katmai, all food must be stored in bear proof containers. You can't hang them up as the trees are not big enough to get them high enough away from the bears. This should also be down wind of the tents. So ended day one.
Day two started with questions and answers and war stories. Just to let you know Katmai has had only four fatalities from bear attacks since it opened in 1918. The last one being Timothy Treadwell in 2005. Timothy Treadwell had spent 12 summers along Katmai bears. He wrote a book called "Among the Grizzlys". It is a good book to read. He knew the bears, which ones were habituated and which ones were dangerous. In 2005 he was attacked and died along with his girlfriend. That was the last fatal bear attack.
On to pepper spray training. We talked about the making of pepper spray which uses the chemicals found in very hot peppers. We were taught the proper way to use it and what happens after the spray has been released. By the way, after a bear has been sprayed and deterred, the area where the spray was used will attract other bears as it will smell like food in the area for a few hours. Then of course we learned about the paperwork involved if you use your bear spray. Even if it acciddently goes off. Last but not least, we had to holster a can of inert spray and go through the scenario of being attacted and using the spray to deter the bear.
In the aftenoon it was gun safety. We will be using Remington 870 12 gauge shotguns. We went through the classroom work then out to the range. I haven't shot a shotgun in 5 years. We had to shoot ten rounds in 50 seconds. When a bear is charging you need to hit it in the center of his mass or his chest area, hopefully his lungs or heart. A bullet to the head will probably not kill him just piss him off more. You had to get seven hits in that area to certify. I had six shots on target and one that just missed. I get to try again on Monday. I did however get a nice bruise from the experience.
So that's whats been going on. By the way food has been arriving every day and we are eating normally again. We still haven't seen anything bigger than the red fox. It is fun seeing the snowshoe hares as they are changing from winter white to summer brown. They have a mixutre of both right now and it makes for strange looking hares.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Alaska Is The Nice State
Since we have moved here people have bent over backwards for us. It was quite a welcome. Today though I wish I could get a little break. We live 1 1/4 miles from the office. I got up this morning and it was an absolutely gorgeous morning. The birds were singing. The sun was just rising over the tree tops. The mountains were lit up and there were no clouds blocking the view. I thought it would be a great morning to walk to work. But every time I try to walk to town someone stops and asks if I would like a ride. The same thing happens when I try to walk home. At first I felt guilty for turning them down so I would get in the car to drive less than a mile to the office or the store. I even had a guy on a 4 wheeler offer to take me home. Most of the people that stop are co workers as everyone lives in one of two areas. Only a couple of staff members own there own house the rest of us are in government housing. But I have had people that work for other agencies stop and ask me if I want a lift, people I met at the phone company, even the stocker at the grocery store. Tonight after work I was walking home and practising a speech I have to give tomorrow. The first one in front of the new boss. I promised an old boss not to make him look like a lier and I am trying to keep that promise. Anyways, one car stopped and I said no thanks I would like to walk. The next car stopped and I again said no thanks. When the third car stopped I gave up and got in the car. I am not sure what is wrong with walking a mile here but it seems a concept that is hard for them to comprehend. I don't want to upset anyone and I really appreciate the fact that they want to help so I hate saying no and I am probably going to want help in January with -20 below temps. I just wish that on beautiful days like today I could enjoy the walk home.
By the way, food boxes arrived today. Four of them to be exact. Our cubboards have been semi stocked. It feels great. Tomorrow meat and eggs and butter are to arrive and on Thursday fruit and vegies. Another example of Alaska nice, Craig walked up to the post office and when they heard he was walking one of the employees drove him and the boxes to our house. Now that's pretty cool.
By the way, food boxes arrived today. Four of them to be exact. Our cubboards have been semi stocked. It feels great. Tomorrow meat and eggs and butter are to arrive and on Thursday fruit and vegies. Another example of Alaska nice, Craig walked up to the post office and when they heard he was walking one of the employees drove him and the boxes to our house. Now that's pretty cool.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Even in Alaska
One of the things I like about Alaska is how simple everything is. Granted it is hard to feed yourself here but all the hassle of city life is long gone. You don't have to spend wasted minutes trying to decide where to eat. You only have one year round option. You don't have to argue with spouses over what your going to do on a Friday night, the list here is pretty limited. There are no movie theatres, concert halls or nightclubs. You can however attend a lecture on climate change and walruses on Friday afternoon. You can choose to go for a long walk and listen to the tundra swans and eagles sing. You can sit by the river and watch the whales. You can go fishing or take the four wheeler out for a ride. Which I saw a mom and young daughter do today and the little girl was laughing as they hit every bump.
You do however have to deal with slow, problematic computer problems. I spent most of my day trying to fix a problem with my work computer. The IT person in our office could not fix the problem so I was given the number of the regional office IT tech. I spent at least four hours with the phone reciever at my ear waiting for my computer to do what the regional office said it should do. When I left my computer was still downloading information from the regional office, which by the way is in Anchorage, and we are going to try to finish the program in the morning.
The computer problems don't end at the office. I found out this morning that my next door neighbor's phone isn't working when I am on the internet, neither does her cable TV. Hopefully she doesn't need to use the phone these next couple of minutes. Tomorrow the two of us are going to confront the telephone people and try to figure out that mess. How can a small thin box cause so much trouble?
You do however have to deal with slow, problematic computer problems. I spent most of my day trying to fix a problem with my work computer. The IT person in our office could not fix the problem so I was given the number of the regional office IT tech. I spent at least four hours with the phone reciever at my ear waiting for my computer to do what the regional office said it should do. When I left my computer was still downloading information from the regional office, which by the way is in Anchorage, and we are going to try to finish the program in the morning.
The computer problems don't end at the office. I found out this morning that my next door neighbor's phone isn't working when I am on the internet, neither does her cable TV. Hopefully she doesn't need to use the phone these next couple of minutes. Tomorrow the two of us are going to confront the telephone people and try to figure out that mess. How can a small thin box cause so much trouble?
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Uneventful Day in Alaska
Today was a total veg day. I took a couple of walks with the dog around the housing area but for the most I stayed inside. It rained on and off all day. I did however see the rabbit in the backyard but have since found out that there are no rabbits in this part of Alaska just hares. I think the one I am seeing is a snowshoe hare that is still changing into its summer colors. I also saw my first Alaskan squirrel. It was pretty small. Then in the trees around the house I saw a Gray Jay and a Redpoll. Like I said pretty uneventful.
This week I am to give a talk to the summer help about bear biology. Go through bear training, supervisor training and finish the week going through gun safety and certification. I am also hoping to recieve a ton of parcel post packages, my first Span Alaska order and my first Fullcircle order. Ahhhhh food. That will be terrific.
This week I am to give a talk to the summer help about bear biology. Go through bear training, supervisor training and finish the week going through gun safety and certification. I am also hoping to recieve a ton of parcel post packages, my first Span Alaska order and my first Fullcircle order. Ahhhhh food. That will be terrific.
Animal Encounters and Lessons Learned
Today has been an interesting day. I have learned that I have been too spoiled in the lower 48. I have taken for granted things that I no longer have. For example, the first thing I wanted to do today was to go to the ATM and withdraw a little cash as I was down to my last $20. Craig and I had the company truck for the day so we drove up to the Wells Fargo Bank where we knew there was an ATM. The machine is in the entryway. We went to open the door and found it locked. We had no access to the ATM, you can only have access during business hours, Mon - Fri 10:00 - 5:00. I am confused. Weren't ATM's created so that when the bank was closed you could still get money from your account? I was a little frustrated as this has never been a problem before. We did find out that the AC (the name of the grocery store), had a ATM also though it was out of order. I had never thought this would be a problem.
After the disappointment at the bank we decided to check out the two garage sales in town. We were on a mission, we had three things we were looking for: a microwave, a toaster and some shower curtains has our house has none of these items. At the first sale we were on a roll found a small microwave for $20. We snatched it up but could not find the other items. Moving on to the next garage sale, we took a drive through a part of town neither of us had been before. This sale was really a moving sale. Craig picked up a group of hangers, and we were surprised to find food for sale. We picked up 3 jars of turkey gravy, a box of instant mashed potatoes, and a box of macaroni. There were other items like butter but 18 pounds of it is arriving on Wed. and there was some weird cans of beans and some fancy cooking oils we passed on but we were excited because at home we had instant potatoes but nothing to go on them. Now we have gravy. We had 2 jars of alfrado sauce at home but now we have noodles to go with them. We were pumped.
Next stop our daily trip to the post office. We were hoping for the two big boxes I had sent 18 days ago that had a mixture of products to get us through the first two weeks. We got one smaller box. Bright side: it was the first package I had sent up. It contained my identification books, a small picture of all five of my kids taken when they were little, a nice mothers day present, but it also contained spices. We now have cinnamon, garlic, chili powder, and italian seasonings. I know your probably not excited but to Craig and I, it was like Christmas because now we can flavor what little we have. Another lesson learned today: appreciate all the small things they make life better.
After the post office we went home and stored our new treasures. After that we took off for some sight seeing. First stop, to see the beluga whales. As we were driving down the dirt road to the spot by the river to watch for whales I saw a whale come to the surface. I asked Craig if he saw it. He said how could I miss it, it is right in front of us. Realizing we were not talking about the same thing as I was not in the water, I saw what Craig was looking at. A red fox was on the road just in front of the truck. We slowed down and took a few pictures. The fox ran into the brush on the side of the road. We pulled the truck into the parking area and went to watch the whales. After a few minutes I heard something behind me and turned around. The fox was standing behind me about 20 feet away. We both turned to get its picture. It stood so still while our cameras clicked away. Then when one of us moved the fox ran down the road. I watched it go then turned my attention back to the whales. A few minutes later I heard another sound and turned and there was the fox again only this time it was 5 feet away from me but it ran when I talked to it. I think it was looking for a handout. But it was pretty cool to be so close to one. Lesson learned nature is awesome.
From there we traveled to a few birding spots. Not much was out today but we did see our first raven since we arrived. Ravens are important birds to the Alaskan Natives. We saw the state bird the ptarmigan. We saw a pair of them on the side of the road. They are beautiful birds. From there we took a walk along the beach of Bristal Bay. We saw some large ships in the distance and a bunch of shorebirds on the tidal flats. We also saw a bald eagle nesting on a hillside off of the beach.
Our last stop was the town of Naknek. It was not much bigger than King Salmon but it has a very nice school for the kids. Just a note here. The town of South Naknek is across the Naknek River on the other side of the river is North Naknek. The kids of South Naknek fly over to North Naknek to go to school. They are one of two schools that the kids travel by plane to get to and from the school.
We were told that Naknek grocery store was better than the one in King Salmon and there was a a general store. That is what we wanted to check out. After surveying all the shelves and freezers we really didn't buy much. A few apples, some over priced luch meat because we were both getting sick of peanut butter for lunch, some bacon, and a few other very expensive items that would be cheap in the lower 48. We decided that we liked our little store in King Salmon better. When we say little by the way we mean little. Back in the lower 48 I have seen gas stations have larger selections. Another lesson learned, to appreciate what you have because it may not be there some day. I will never complain about Walmart again only to say that I wish that you could order more food to be delivered. The general store had a large seletion of stuff but was again very expensive compared to what we were used to. We will be doing most of clothes shopping on line. I never thought I would do that. Another lesson learned: Never say never.
I would have liked to put pictures in this piece as I really would like to share them but right now trying to up load them on dial up is almost impossible. Don't worry I will keep trying.
After the disappointment at the bank we decided to check out the two garage sales in town. We were on a mission, we had three things we were looking for: a microwave, a toaster and some shower curtains has our house has none of these items. At the first sale we were on a roll found a small microwave for $20. We snatched it up but could not find the other items. Moving on to the next garage sale, we took a drive through a part of town neither of us had been before. This sale was really a moving sale. Craig picked up a group of hangers, and we were surprised to find food for sale. We picked up 3 jars of turkey gravy, a box of instant mashed potatoes, and a box of macaroni. There were other items like butter but 18 pounds of it is arriving on Wed. and there was some weird cans of beans and some fancy cooking oils we passed on but we were excited because at home we had instant potatoes but nothing to go on them. Now we have gravy. We had 2 jars of alfrado sauce at home but now we have noodles to go with them. We were pumped.
Next stop our daily trip to the post office. We were hoping for the two big boxes I had sent 18 days ago that had a mixture of products to get us through the first two weeks. We got one smaller box. Bright side: it was the first package I had sent up. It contained my identification books, a small picture of all five of my kids taken when they were little, a nice mothers day present, but it also contained spices. We now have cinnamon, garlic, chili powder, and italian seasonings. I know your probably not excited but to Craig and I, it was like Christmas because now we can flavor what little we have. Another lesson learned today: appreciate all the small things they make life better.
After the post office we went home and stored our new treasures. After that we took off for some sight seeing. First stop, to see the beluga whales. As we were driving down the dirt road to the spot by the river to watch for whales I saw a whale come to the surface. I asked Craig if he saw it. He said how could I miss it, it is right in front of us. Realizing we were not talking about the same thing as I was not in the water, I saw what Craig was looking at. A red fox was on the road just in front of the truck. We slowed down and took a few pictures. The fox ran into the brush on the side of the road. We pulled the truck into the parking area and went to watch the whales. After a few minutes I heard something behind me and turned around. The fox was standing behind me about 20 feet away. We both turned to get its picture. It stood so still while our cameras clicked away. Then when one of us moved the fox ran down the road. I watched it go then turned my attention back to the whales. A few minutes later I heard another sound and turned and there was the fox again only this time it was 5 feet away from me but it ran when I talked to it. I think it was looking for a handout. But it was pretty cool to be so close to one. Lesson learned nature is awesome.
From there we traveled to a few birding spots. Not much was out today but we did see our first raven since we arrived. Ravens are important birds to the Alaskan Natives. We saw the state bird the ptarmigan. We saw a pair of them on the side of the road. They are beautiful birds. From there we took a walk along the beach of Bristal Bay. We saw some large ships in the distance and a bunch of shorebirds on the tidal flats. We also saw a bald eagle nesting on a hillside off of the beach.
Our last stop was the town of Naknek. It was not much bigger than King Salmon but it has a very nice school for the kids. Just a note here. The town of South Naknek is across the Naknek River on the other side of the river is North Naknek. The kids of South Naknek fly over to North Naknek to go to school. They are one of two schools that the kids travel by plane to get to and from the school.
We were told that Naknek grocery store was better than the one in King Salmon and there was a a general store. That is what we wanted to check out. After surveying all the shelves and freezers we really didn't buy much. A few apples, some over priced luch meat because we were both getting sick of peanut butter for lunch, some bacon, and a few other very expensive items that would be cheap in the lower 48. We decided that we liked our little store in King Salmon better. When we say little by the way we mean little. Back in the lower 48 I have seen gas stations have larger selections. Another lesson learned, to appreciate what you have because it may not be there some day. I will never complain about Walmart again only to say that I wish that you could order more food to be delivered. The general store had a large seletion of stuff but was again very expensive compared to what we were used to. We will be doing most of clothes shopping on line. I never thought I would do that. Another lesson learned: Never say never.
I would have liked to put pictures in this piece as I really would like to share them but right now trying to up load them on dial up is almost impossible. Don't worry I will keep trying.
Friday, May 6, 2011
What I Did Not Know and What I Saw
Today was a very easy day compared to yesterday. This morning I got to listen to two people who were talking to the interpretive staff. The first person was from the Alaska Game and Fish Department and he is the head of the commercial salmon fishing in the Naknek district. I was shocked at the number of fish is caught in the area. The season starts June 1 and runs to the middle of July. When the sockeye salmon start thier run the Game and Fish department make sure that a million plus fish make it into the Naknek River. They actually hire people to spend the day counting fish from a tower as they enter the river. The rest of the salmon are available for the fisherman to catch. If there aren't enough fish moving up the river then they stop the fishing and give the salmon a chance to move up river. They don't want too many more salmon to enter the river as then the river gets overcrowded and the fish use up all the oxygen in the river and then there are big fish kills. How many fish does that leave for fisherman? Well, local people will take about 60,000 sockeye salmon from the river to live on. Sports fisherman will take another 20,000 sockeyes. The commerical fishermen can take on the average 20 million fish. The record take happened two years ago with a 50 million fish taken. Are you surprised? I was. That is a lot of fish and it is only one species, sockeyes.
He also told us that to get a commercial license it cost $160,000 per boat. When the fish start running you will see the boats fighting for the best spots. It can get pretty violent and Coast Guard may have to come in to help control boaters. He said it is dog eat dog when the fish run and you will see brothers try to kill each other for the best spot. The town of Naknek is only 500 people normally but by June first 20,000 people will be in the area for the salmon run.
The next person to talk was from the Fish and Wildlife Service. He talked about moose, wolves and caribou. He answered a few of the questions I had been wondering about. For instance, there are no deer in the area, only caribou and moose. Craig thinks he saw on of the two run cross the trail he was walking but it moved to fast for him to get a good look at it. The man was 6 foot 2 inches and he said that he was shoulder height for a moose. He also said that he would rather come up on a brown bear than a mother moose and calf. He said a mother moose wants to tramble you down for coming near her calf. He said if you see a moose and its ears lie back you better be running. If you are chased by a moose the best thing to do is to run as fast as you can and put as many obsticles between you and the moose. One of the staff who has grown up in Alaska said you should run in circles because even though they are mad, if you run in circles eventually the moose will forget why its chasing you and give up. He said the moose population for the area was low but very healthy. However, listen up hunters, in the Fairbanks region, they are begging hunters to come moose hunting. They are overpopulated with moose, especially females which make the best eating. (So if any of you want to help at the Fairbanks area decrease the population let me know maybe we can deal on meat as we are still waiting for food boxes.) He said that during the rutting season, the males will get in such battles for the female harems that they will take down spruce trees during the battle. I hope I get a chance to see one. It sounds amazing.
Most of the wolves in the area are the gray colored wolves. The black ones you see in pictures are found mainly in Canada. He said that average litters are 6 pups. In the summer you will see more lone wolves as there is so much prey to eat they do not have to hunt in packs but in the winter when the small prey is gone then they gather together as it is easier to bring down a moose as a pack.
The caribou are in very low numbers in this area. No one has been allowed to hunt them here since 1990. But I learned that the herd is just south of town so tomorrow Craig and I are going to see if we can find them.
Then it was off to do some sightseeing and bird watching. We stopped in one area on the Naknek River where we got to watch Beluga whales. I found out that belugas shed their skin and come into the river to rub their bodies on the rocky shoelines to help get rid of the dead skin. We saw about 15 of them. They are hard to see until you hear them come up for air. They are white and do not do all the moves that say a humpback whale does. But we watched them turn circles in the water and rub back and forth on the rocky shores. It was quite a sight. Then it was off to the beach where we saw more whales and hundres of birds of the tidal flats. When Bristal Bay is in low tide there are long flat areas of mud. Very squishy, suck you under mud. When the tide comes in the water rises 23 feet and the flats disappear. We were at the beach during low tide with the tidal flats out. Shorebirds were everywhere.
After the beach we went to a lake shore near King Salmon. Again we saw hundreds of birds. We saw tundra swans, widgeons, green wing teal, shovelers, mallards, common merganzers, gadwalls, dulins, greater and lesser yellowlegs, whimbrels, golden plovers, semi-palmated plovers. Though seeing all these birds was amazing they have all these birds in North Dakota. I did however cross of the Hudsonian Godwit off my list. I also saw to Northern Harriers do their mating thing in the air which is a sight you don't get to see every day. Overall a good day in Alsaka.
He also told us that to get a commercial license it cost $160,000 per boat. When the fish start running you will see the boats fighting for the best spots. It can get pretty violent and Coast Guard may have to come in to help control boaters. He said it is dog eat dog when the fish run and you will see brothers try to kill each other for the best spot. The town of Naknek is only 500 people normally but by June first 20,000 people will be in the area for the salmon run.
The next person to talk was from the Fish and Wildlife Service. He talked about moose, wolves and caribou. He answered a few of the questions I had been wondering about. For instance, there are no deer in the area, only caribou and moose. Craig thinks he saw on of the two run cross the trail he was walking but it moved to fast for him to get a good look at it. The man was 6 foot 2 inches and he said that he was shoulder height for a moose. He also said that he would rather come up on a brown bear than a mother moose and calf. He said a mother moose wants to tramble you down for coming near her calf. He said if you see a moose and its ears lie back you better be running. If you are chased by a moose the best thing to do is to run as fast as you can and put as many obsticles between you and the moose. One of the staff who has grown up in Alaska said you should run in circles because even though they are mad, if you run in circles eventually the moose will forget why its chasing you and give up. He said the moose population for the area was low but very healthy. However, listen up hunters, in the Fairbanks region, they are begging hunters to come moose hunting. They are overpopulated with moose, especially females which make the best eating. (So if any of you want to help at the Fairbanks area decrease the population let me know maybe we can deal on meat as we are still waiting for food boxes.) He said that during the rutting season, the males will get in such battles for the female harems that they will take down spruce trees during the battle. I hope I get a chance to see one. It sounds amazing.
Most of the wolves in the area are the gray colored wolves. The black ones you see in pictures are found mainly in Canada. He said that average litters are 6 pups. In the summer you will see more lone wolves as there is so much prey to eat they do not have to hunt in packs but in the winter when the small prey is gone then they gather together as it is easier to bring down a moose as a pack.
The caribou are in very low numbers in this area. No one has been allowed to hunt them here since 1990. But I learned that the herd is just south of town so tomorrow Craig and I are going to see if we can find them.
Then it was off to do some sightseeing and bird watching. We stopped in one area on the Naknek River where we got to watch Beluga whales. I found out that belugas shed their skin and come into the river to rub their bodies on the rocky shoelines to help get rid of the dead skin. We saw about 15 of them. They are hard to see until you hear them come up for air. They are white and do not do all the moves that say a humpback whale does. But we watched them turn circles in the water and rub back and forth on the rocky shores. It was quite a sight. Then it was off to the beach where we saw more whales and hundres of birds of the tidal flats. When Bristal Bay is in low tide there are long flat areas of mud. Very squishy, suck you under mud. When the tide comes in the water rises 23 feet and the flats disappear. We were at the beach during low tide with the tidal flats out. Shorebirds were everywhere.
After the beach we went to a lake shore near King Salmon. Again we saw hundreds of birds. We saw tundra swans, widgeons, green wing teal, shovelers, mallards, common merganzers, gadwalls, dulins, greater and lesser yellowlegs, whimbrels, golden plovers, semi-palmated plovers. Though seeing all these birds was amazing they have all these birds in North Dakota. I did however cross of the Hudsonian Godwit off my list. I also saw to Northern Harriers do their mating thing in the air which is a sight you don't get to see every day. Overall a good day in Alsaka.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
The Dunker Test
I passed the Dunker test today. Since I've been talking about it and all my nervousness and panic is gone I thought I would talk you through the training. The Dunker training is designed to teach how to survive if you your plane crashes into the water. We were taught seven basic steps that will save your life if this should happen.
Step 1: Say I am a survivor. This step is first because we were told that in any emergency having your mind be in control is the first step to surviving.
Step 2: Unplug your radio. When flying in a helicopter or a one engine plane you may be required to wear a helmet. In the helmet is a radio to talk to the rest of the crew. There is a cord in the back of the helmet that is hooked into the plane. You need to unhook this before you hit the water.
Step 3: Open the door, lock the door, close the door and brace for impact. When you are about the crash you want to make sure that the lock on the door does not jam so you can't get out of the plane. So you open the door. We were told this is possible, then you set the locking mechanism so that the door can not completely shut. Another example of this principle is if your in a hotel room and you want to keep the door open when your in the hall you use the secruity lock to block the door from being able to lock shut. Same type of thing.
Step 4: Count 1 one thousand, 2 one thousand, 3 one thousand, 4 one thousand.. There are two reasons for this, by the time you get to 4 one thousand the plane should have stopped moving violently. You do not want to try to excape until all violet movement has stopped. Second reason is that it helps you to remain calm.
Step 5: Find your exit and clear away any debre then grab your reference point. A reference point is a fixed item on the plane close to the exit that won't move when you release your seat belt. My reference point was the bottom side of the seat. Never let go of your reference point unless you have exited the plane or moved to the next reference point.
Step 6: Release your seat belt, duck down and follow your reference point out of the plane. The reason you duck down is because your helmet is filled with foam and will cause you to rise, if you don't duck down you will hit your head on the frame of the door while trying to get out.
Step 7: Hand ( raise your hand up as you rise to protect yourself from any obsticles that might be in the way.),head,(let your head follow your hand),investigate, (look around to make sure that your in a safe spot, there are no fires, and to see where the rest of your team is. Inflat your vest. You don't want to inflate your vest inside the plane as it will rise quickly and you might float to back of the plane where you can't get out. Second a lifevest will inflate fast and rise quickly so you can not protect yourself from any obsticles. Once you reach the top you may want to try to get the survival bag out of the plane. You can't do that if your vest is inflated.
Now that you know the seven steps here is what a dunker test involves. First we had to wear normal clothes. I had wool socks, a pair of jean and a turtle neck on, and undergarments. We then had to get in the pool. Next step we had to prove that we could hold our breath for at least 15 seconds. That is supposedly the amount of time you will need to get out of the plane. Next test was to swim the length of the pool. This was harder in clothes than I thought and I was tired by the time I got to the end. Next part, we had to put on a life jacket while treading water. This was also challenging for me as the life jacket thrown at me was too small and I had a hard time loosening it up when I could not see the straps. The next part involves what do to when your in the water to keep warm and make yourself visible to search parties. I won't go into details about that. Now it is time for the final part the dunker itself. It doesn't look like much it is mainly PVC pipe in a square with seats and areas that are made to be the door, windshield, etc... There are 2 seats in the dunker which is called the pig. I am not sure why. You are in your flight vest, but you never actually inflate it. And you have your helmet on. You get into the pig fasten your selt belt and you go through steps 1-3 When you are braced for impact the dunker is tossed into the pool. You must do this four times with each time being a different scenario. The first scenario is that you fall lightly face first into the water and the pig is righted so you are in a normal sitting position just at the bottom of the pool. My second scenario was that we ended up upside down at the bottom of the pool. My third scenario was the the plane rolled 2 1/2 times on the bottom of the pool. The last scenario was that you crashed going in backwards and rolled. (In case your wondering if a plane can go backwards into water it can be rolled back on occassions and a helicoptor definately can hit the water backwards.) If you or your partner failed to follow the seven steps you were required to do another scenario. I am very pleased to say that my partner and I went through our four scenarios successfully.
I am very glad I went through the training. I am very glad I passed. I will never ignore a preflight safety briefing ever again. Especially if I am flying over the ocean.
Step 1: Say I am a survivor. This step is first because we were told that in any emergency having your mind be in control is the first step to surviving.
Step 2: Unplug your radio. When flying in a helicopter or a one engine plane you may be required to wear a helmet. In the helmet is a radio to talk to the rest of the crew. There is a cord in the back of the helmet that is hooked into the plane. You need to unhook this before you hit the water.
Step 3: Open the door, lock the door, close the door and brace for impact. When you are about the crash you want to make sure that the lock on the door does not jam so you can't get out of the plane. So you open the door. We were told this is possible, then you set the locking mechanism so that the door can not completely shut. Another example of this principle is if your in a hotel room and you want to keep the door open when your in the hall you use the secruity lock to block the door from being able to lock shut. Same type of thing.
Step 4: Count 1 one thousand, 2 one thousand, 3 one thousand, 4 one thousand.. There are two reasons for this, by the time you get to 4 one thousand the plane should have stopped moving violently. You do not want to try to excape until all violet movement has stopped. Second reason is that it helps you to remain calm.
Step 5: Find your exit and clear away any debre then grab your reference point. A reference point is a fixed item on the plane close to the exit that won't move when you release your seat belt. My reference point was the bottom side of the seat. Never let go of your reference point unless you have exited the plane or moved to the next reference point.
Step 6: Release your seat belt, duck down and follow your reference point out of the plane. The reason you duck down is because your helmet is filled with foam and will cause you to rise, if you don't duck down you will hit your head on the frame of the door while trying to get out.
Step 7: Hand ( raise your hand up as you rise to protect yourself from any obsticles that might be in the way.),head,(let your head follow your hand),investigate, (look around to make sure that your in a safe spot, there are no fires, and to see where the rest of your team is. Inflat your vest. You don't want to inflate your vest inside the plane as it will rise quickly and you might float to back of the plane where you can't get out. Second a lifevest will inflate fast and rise quickly so you can not protect yourself from any obsticles. Once you reach the top you may want to try to get the survival bag out of the plane. You can't do that if your vest is inflated.
Now that you know the seven steps here is what a dunker test involves. First we had to wear normal clothes. I had wool socks, a pair of jean and a turtle neck on, and undergarments. We then had to get in the pool. Next step we had to prove that we could hold our breath for at least 15 seconds. That is supposedly the amount of time you will need to get out of the plane. Next test was to swim the length of the pool. This was harder in clothes than I thought and I was tired by the time I got to the end. Next part, we had to put on a life jacket while treading water. This was also challenging for me as the life jacket thrown at me was too small and I had a hard time loosening it up when I could not see the straps. The next part involves what do to when your in the water to keep warm and make yourself visible to search parties. I won't go into details about that. Now it is time for the final part the dunker itself. It doesn't look like much it is mainly PVC pipe in a square with seats and areas that are made to be the door, windshield, etc... There are 2 seats in the dunker which is called the pig. I am not sure why. You are in your flight vest, but you never actually inflate it. And you have your helmet on. You get into the pig fasten your selt belt and you go through steps 1-3 When you are braced for impact the dunker is tossed into the pool. You must do this four times with each time being a different scenario. The first scenario is that you fall lightly face first into the water and the pig is righted so you are in a normal sitting position just at the bottom of the pool. My second scenario was that we ended up upside down at the bottom of the pool. My third scenario was the the plane rolled 2 1/2 times on the bottom of the pool. The last scenario was that you crashed going in backwards and rolled. (In case your wondering if a plane can go backwards into water it can be rolled back on occassions and a helicoptor definately can hit the water backwards.) If you or your partner failed to follow the seven steps you were required to do another scenario. I am very pleased to say that my partner and I went through our four scenarios successfully.
I am very glad I went through the training. I am very glad I passed. I will never ignore a preflight safety briefing ever again. Especially if I am flying over the ocean.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Nervous, Nervous, Nervous
Tomorrow is the big day. The day of the dunker test. I was nervous enough but after the classroom training today I am now not quite terrified. We had to watch movies on plane crashes and hear acciddent stories. I wish that they would give you the test and after you had passed then they say now your ready for this and then show the films. Not only that but i found out that the test is four parts with each part getting tougher and if you screw up on one part you have to start over. We take the test tomorrow afternoon and then all of the trainees are going out for pizza afterword to celebrate all of us passing. I hope I don't screw that up.
One trip to the post office revealed that no food arrived again today. One of these days we are going to be inundated with boxes. Until then we are rationing what we got and on Saturday I think we will go to Naknek to see how their grocery store is.
Not much happened today as the training took all day. I am sure that tomorrow will make up for today's nonadventures.
One trip to the post office revealed that no food arrived again today. One of these days we are going to be inundated with boxes. Until then we are rationing what we got and on Saturday I think we will go to Naknek to see how their grocery store is.
Not much happened today as the training took all day. I am sure that tomorrow will make up for today's nonadventures.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Bear Identification
Today I spent the morning studying pictures of the bears found at Brooks Camp. We have a Identification book that contains pictures and descriptions of the bears that have been seen. Each bear is given an identification number but some of them are familar enough to be given a nickname. There are about 100 plus bears in the identification book from last year. So I was studying the pictures so that maybe when I get up there I might recognize one or two. My favorite bear is Milkshake. I don't know how she got her name but
she gave birth to four very cute cubs. At the end of the season though she lost one. The bear monitor said she knew that she was a goner because she was always way behind the rest of the group. It will be interesting to see if all three of the remaining cubs and her show up this spring. Cub mortality is high the first years. I also learned about Lurch. He is the dominant adult male. One bear you don't want to mess with. He is a very large bear that I hope I only study from a distance. Supposedly next week at bear training we will see a video of him attacking the last dominant male.
Made the daily trip to the post office and still have not recieved the big food boxes sent in the middle of April. I was told that parcel post from the states could take up to 12 weeks to arrive here. Isn't that crazy?
I also found out that I will be going to Katmai Bay on the 31st and will return the third of June. Katmai Bay is on the eastern coast. I will be out of contact with civilization completely those days. I am hoping to see lots of marine life on that trip.
Tomorrow is B3 training in the morning and Dunker classroom training in the afternoon. I am scheduled to test out in the pool Thursday afternoon. Can you say nervous!
she gave birth to four very cute cubs. At the end of the season though she lost one. The bear monitor said she knew that she was a goner because she was always way behind the rest of the group. It will be interesting to see if all three of the remaining cubs and her show up this spring. Cub mortality is high the first years. I also learned about Lurch. He is the dominant adult male. One bear you don't want to mess with. He is a very large bear that I hope I only study from a distance. Supposedly next week at bear training we will see a video of him attacking the last dominant male.
Made the daily trip to the post office and still have not recieved the big food boxes sent in the middle of April. I was told that parcel post from the states could take up to 12 weeks to arrive here. Isn't that crazy?
I also found out that I will be going to Katmai Bay on the 31st and will return the third of June. Katmai Bay is on the eastern coast. I will be out of contact with civilization completely those days. I am hoping to see lots of marine life on that trip.
Tomorrow is B3 training in the morning and Dunker classroom training in the afternoon. I am scheduled to test out in the pool Thursday afternoon. Can you say nervous!
Monday, May 2, 2011
First Day of Work
My first day was not full of adventure but I enjoyed it all the same. I had filled out most of my paperwork before I got here so I had some computer training to do then I studied the bear management plan. I have been assigned the Bald Eagle study which means I get to do nest checks and count eggs and then go back and check fledglings. I am pretty excited about it. I am also in charge of the moose studies but that the work won't start until October or November. Plus I will be working on the brown bear/human reaction study. I can't believe how much fun I am going to have and another plus another biologist was assigned the bat project. YEAH! My fisrt assignment is to book the flight schedule for the eagle surveys. I have been scheduled to go to brooks camp on the 19th - 27th. I can't wait to see it.
We saw our first mammal. It was brown and white and had the prettiest ears. They were brown with white spots. Guessed what it is yet? It was a rabbit eating in our front yard. Nothing big yet but it shouldn't be too long.
The first of the food boxes arrived today. So we had a real homecooked meal for supper. I ordered a produce box from a place called fullcircle.com. They box up produce and deliver it to a location in town. You order it by the size of box, regular or family size. They pack it with different produce each delivery but you can tell them items that you do not want ever in your box. I get my first one on the 12th. I also ordered my first delivery from Span Alaska. I ordered 15 dozen eggs, 18 pounds of oranges, 20 pounds of hamburger, 5 pounds of onions and 18 pounds of butter. Total cost $217. Then I had to add $10 for insurance so that in case the plane crashes I still get my food. Then after I sumitted my order I found out there will be a hidden charge because I ordered frozen food. I will find that amount out when they ship it.
Overall I am enjoying being here very much. The people are wonderful and go out of their way to help you out.
We saw our first mammal. It was brown and white and had the prettiest ears. They were brown with white spots. Guessed what it is yet? It was a rabbit eating in our front yard. Nothing big yet but it shouldn't be too long.
The first of the food boxes arrived today. So we had a real homecooked meal for supper. I ordered a produce box from a place called fullcircle.com. They box up produce and deliver it to a location in town. You order it by the size of box, regular or family size. They pack it with different produce each delivery but you can tell them items that you do not want ever in your box. I get my first one on the 12th. I also ordered my first delivery from Span Alaska. I ordered 15 dozen eggs, 18 pounds of oranges, 20 pounds of hamburger, 5 pounds of onions and 18 pounds of butter. Total cost $217. Then I had to add $10 for insurance so that in case the plane crashes I still get my food. Then after I sumitted my order I found out there will be a hidden charge because I ordered frozen food. I will find that amount out when they ship it.
Overall I am enjoying being here very much. The people are wonderful and go out of their way to help you out.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Starting Life in King Salmon
Yesterday was our second day in King Salmon. I would like to tell you that the wildlife is
is all over the place but we have yet to see any mammals running around the area. We have
however seen quite a few birds.
After breakfast yesterday we walked the mile an a quarter to town. We went down to the river first
as we heard you can see beluga whales when the tide was coming in. Unfortunately, it must have
been low tide as we did not see any. We did see a large flock of tundra swans, a large flock of
pintail ducks and a few gulls I have yet to identify.
We then visited the visitor center, which was pretty interesting. We were given an information
packet, a local calendar, and were invited to use their research library anytime we wanted.
We then went for breakfast at Eddies. That is the only place to get internet right now. We only had a
short time for breakfast as we needed to get to the post office which is a half a mile on the other
side of our house and is only open a hour and a half on Saturdays. This walking to everywhere is going
to take getting use to because it takes longer to get anywhere. So if yesterdays blog looked bad I'm
sorry as I was writing and eating at the same time.
We were expecting lots of packages to be waiting for us at the post office but we could have saved
ourselves a trip as there was not a single thing for us. We did however have a nice talk with the people
there. We heard that we live in an area that will see bear activity soon, as we are close to the creek.
I was taking Camille on walks with us but she may stay home. With no packages being delivered for us that also means that no food has arrived. We are down to just a few items and I don't want to spend a fortune on groceries at least until I get my first paycheck. However, I do not want everything to show up at once and the two of us have to figure out how to carry hundreds of pounds of food the half mile home.
While walking around the yard yesterday I found what I think is the lower part of a walrus skull. You could see where the tusks would have gone and there were teeth in the jaw bone. It has quite heavy. It now sits on our back deck. We went down to the creek last night and on the walk over I noticed the ground was covered with low bush cranberries. I think that we will be doing quite a bit of berry picking when they get ripe. One item of food we can collect without paying for.
The morning was beautiful here but the afternoon was showers and by supper it was cold enough to be a mixture of precip. I am up here in the bush and my poor husband is in ND after a blizzard living with no power, water, heat or phone and internet connections. He should have came with us.
This morning I took Camille for a walk around the housing complex. We were walking on a road with the houses on the left of us and trees and shrubs on the right side of us. While we were walking we heard a crash. Both of us stopped and looked around but we could not see anything. We started walking and we heard the same noise. Now usually I would have gone to investigated but I stopped myself just in case there was a bear in one of the local dumpsters. Here they do not have house to house garbage removal. There are local dumpsters placed around the area. It gets emptied once a week. You are not suppose to take your garbage to the dumpster until the morning of pick up as the dumpsters are not bear proof. To me that doesn't make much sense when you live in bear country.
The sounds here are quite different from anywhere else I have ever lived. It is absolutely quiet with the
exception of an eagle cry once in awhile it was so still. I really liked it. Then I heard a turkey gobble.
Not a bird I was expecting to hear up here but it was cool.
Today's plan is to read "Building in an Ashen Land: a Historic Resource Study of Katmai National Park and Preserve". It was a book given to me when we got here. Inside was the temporary monthly schedule. This week the main activity takes place on Wednesday and Thursday. We have B3 and Dunker training. B3 is the park planethat takes the staff to Brooks Camp. Dunker training is where you are strapped into a seat and dropped into the water which simulates the plane crashing into the ocean. You have to get yourself released from the seat and return to the surface before you die. Can't wait.
Needless to say I am going to try to calm myself down. I am nervous about the first day of work, the fact that food is low and I am depending on the postal service to rescue us, and the fact that I have dunker training on Wednesday and Thursday. Take a deep breath.
is all over the place but we have yet to see any mammals running around the area. We have
however seen quite a few birds.
After breakfast yesterday we walked the mile an a quarter to town. We went down to the river first
as we heard you can see beluga whales when the tide was coming in. Unfortunately, it must have
been low tide as we did not see any. We did see a large flock of tundra swans, a large flock of
pintail ducks and a few gulls I have yet to identify.
We then visited the visitor center, which was pretty interesting. We were given an information
packet, a local calendar, and were invited to use their research library anytime we wanted.
We then went for breakfast at Eddies. That is the only place to get internet right now. We only had a
short time for breakfast as we needed to get to the post office which is a half a mile on the other
side of our house and is only open a hour and a half on Saturdays. This walking to everywhere is going
to take getting use to because it takes longer to get anywhere. So if yesterdays blog looked bad I'm
sorry as I was writing and eating at the same time.
We were expecting lots of packages to be waiting for us at the post office but we could have saved
ourselves a trip as there was not a single thing for us. We did however have a nice talk with the people
there. We heard that we live in an area that will see bear activity soon, as we are close to the creek.
I was taking Camille on walks with us but she may stay home. With no packages being delivered for us that also means that no food has arrived. We are down to just a few items and I don't want to spend a fortune on groceries at least until I get my first paycheck. However, I do not want everything to show up at once and the two of us have to figure out how to carry hundreds of pounds of food the half mile home.
While walking around the yard yesterday I found what I think is the lower part of a walrus skull. You could see where the tusks would have gone and there were teeth in the jaw bone. It has quite heavy. It now sits on our back deck. We went down to the creek last night and on the walk over I noticed the ground was covered with low bush cranberries. I think that we will be doing quite a bit of berry picking when they get ripe. One item of food we can collect without paying for.
The morning was beautiful here but the afternoon was showers and by supper it was cold enough to be a mixture of precip. I am up here in the bush and my poor husband is in ND after a blizzard living with no power, water, heat or phone and internet connections. He should have came with us.
This morning I took Camille for a walk around the housing complex. We were walking on a road with the houses on the left of us and trees and shrubs on the right side of us. While we were walking we heard a crash. Both of us stopped and looked around but we could not see anything. We started walking and we heard the same noise. Now usually I would have gone to investigated but I stopped myself just in case there was a bear in one of the local dumpsters. Here they do not have house to house garbage removal. There are local dumpsters placed around the area. It gets emptied once a week. You are not suppose to take your garbage to the dumpster until the morning of pick up as the dumpsters are not bear proof. To me that doesn't make much sense when you live in bear country.
The sounds here are quite different from anywhere else I have ever lived. It is absolutely quiet with the
exception of an eagle cry once in awhile it was so still. I really liked it. Then I heard a turkey gobble.
Not a bird I was expecting to hear up here but it was cool.
Today's plan is to read "Building in an Ashen Land: a Historic Resource Study of Katmai National Park and Preserve". It was a book given to me when we got here. Inside was the temporary monthly schedule. This week the main activity takes place on Wednesday and Thursday. We have B3 and Dunker training. B3 is the park planethat takes the staff to Brooks Camp. Dunker training is where you are strapped into a seat and dropped into the water which simulates the plane crashing into the ocean. You have to get yourself released from the seat and return to the surface before you die. Can't wait.
Needless to say I am going to try to calm myself down. I am nervous about the first day of work, the fact that food is low and I am depending on the postal service to rescue us, and the fact that I have dunker training on Wednesday and Thursday. Take a deep breath.
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