Moose Calls

I got to talking to my boss about you to moose hunt.  It is early moose season here.  I was interested in how it was done.  It was explained to me that you go to where you think the moose are and then you call them into you and then you shoot.  I asked my boss if he thought I could call a moose in to take a picture and actually see one.  He said sure he guessed but told me that when you call a moose in the moose coming in is ready to fight because he thinks another bull has entered into his territory and he wants it out.  So they are mean and angry and ready to fight.  They aren't like the bears you haze he said.  They are more dangerous.

Well, I want to see a moose and get close enough for a picture.  Not a close up mind you but a decent pidture.  So I went to the Cabelas web site and ordered me a moose call.  It has arrived.  It came with a video explaining how to use it.  Most of the video was pretty boring for us non hunter type people but I listened to the explanations of how to call a moose in.  Craig actually has been practising while I have been at work.  Last night was our night to try out our new skills.

We walked towards the King Salmon Creek where we were told is the best place to see a moose near town.  We stood at the top of a hill overlooking a large flat tundra area.  Craig lifted up the moose call while I held my camera waiting to finally see an elusive moose.  Craig blew.  I have never been up close to a moose and I am not sure what they actually sound like but the noice that Craig made out of the horn was horrible.  He gave it four or five quick blows.  Which is what the video said to do but our sound wasn't exactly like the videos.  

We waited and watched.  Nothing.  Craig blew it again.  This time we heard a rustle in the trees.  We had scared a bunch of magpies. (Black and white birds related to the crow)  Still nothing.  For an hour we tried but nothing came.  I haven't given up.  I am determined to see a moose.

Fall In Alaska

Fall has arrived and about to leave King Salmon.  The trees have all turned gold and yellow hues.  The fireweed had turned into brilliant shades of red and orange but now is dying.  The grasses are all turning brown.  It is beautiful around here.   Everyday walking by eskimo creek the sight almost takes your breath away.

Not only have things changed color but the village has slowed down.  The fishing season is over, just a few arriving to throw one last cast.  The visitors are gone now that Brooks Camp is closed.  The seasonal places are packing up and closing their doors.  There are only a few planes flying in a day now and the float plane traffic has all but died. 

I am told that fall is very short around here.  The temperature is starting to fall and soon frost will be on the ground.  Once we have a few nights of fall the cranberries will be ready to pick and they are all over the place.  Bright red berries on a field of green.  We had snow in the forecast overnight but it  went south of us.  Everyone here talks about winter being their favorite time of year.  I can't wait to see everything coated in white.  But for now I am enjoying the relaxing atmosphere and the sights and smells of fall in Alaska.

Tresspassing Bears

When a bear enters camp we call it tresspassing.  It is part of my job is to move the bears back out of camp.  Sometimes this is easy and others it is a little more tricky.  As it is September and the river has a large number of dying fish more bears are appearing every day.   The number will keep increasing until they start heading into the mountains to den for the winter.

With more bears in the area the more likely they are to tresspass.  Which means the more active I become.  The last morning in Brooks Camp for a week and this morning I am running all over camp on bear calls.  I had just finished making sure two bears fighting over a fish in the woods just outside of camp stayed in the woods when I saw a bear in the middle of camp.  I walked over and started clapping my hand and yelling at the bear.  I moved in behind her so that I could move her towards the beach.  She stood up quickly and moved rather easily down to the beach.  I got on my radio and told my partner that I had hazed another bear down to the beach and while talking to him I turned around and there was 284 sitting besides me.  She was looking at me with that where do you want me to go look.  I couldn't believe it she was sitting about a foot away from me. 

It is amazing how quiet they are.  I never saw her coming or heard her sit down next to me.  She is practically as tall as I am sitting down and I am 5 feet 2 inches.  She is just sitting there looking at me.  Then I yelled get to the beach and she stood up and moved right on down.  I work in an unbelievable place.  Then I got to thinking how easily the first bear had moved.  I bet 284 was behind me the whole time and it wasn't me the first bear was afraid of but 284.  Knowing 284 I bet she was walking on her hind legs making gestures behind my back harassing the first bear.  Then sat down besides me like nothing else had happened.  That would be just like her.  These bears are very smart and she had me wondering the rest of the day.

Tracks on the Beach

I am still looking for my first big sighting of a moose.  I would love to see a big bull moose with a large rack.  I have yet to anything up close.  I keep my eyes peeled everyday at Brooks hoping I will se something.  Most of my detail is spent on the beach when I am out there helping bears get to the river and visitors get on and off the plane safely.  This morning as I am traversing the beach I spot something out of the ordinary. 

Most of the time the only tracks you see are bear and human.  Once in awhile an otter show up.  But today,TODAY there were new tracks.  Tracks of a very large moose.  It had walked down the beach headed to the river.  As I stared at the tracks making sure I was seeing what I saw some visitors joined me all of looking at the ground.  The visitors were from Germany and I explained to them that they were moose tracks.  It was 7:30 in the morning and I had walked the beach at 8:00 last night so the moose had traveled through sometime in between.  Maybe someone got a picture.

I spent the day telling asking everyone on the staff if they had saw the moose.  No one had.  I asked at the visitor center if anyone sighted the moose last night.  No reports.  I swear the moose here are playing with my mind.  But they are in the area.

Ermine

I got a new animal on my list of species at Brooks Camp.  An Ermine, which is a short tailed weasel.  They have appeared out of no where.  I saw one running around the trading post and one was on the lower platform trying to draw attention to itself.  It kept running back and forth across the lower platform.  They were quite cute and not that all afraid of humans.  It was the first time I had seen them so they must be getting ready for hibernation too and trying to find all the prey they can.

Ermines eat mouselike creatures so they will devour our vole population.  Though they are known to eat fish and small birds also.  They have a brown coat in the summer that will turn white for the winter.  When they are born they are blind, deaf, and toothless and cover in white fur.  In three weeks they get there teeth and the eys and ears open in five.  The interesting thing about them is that the males don't become sexually active until 11 months of age, but the females become sexually active at 2 to three weeks and usually have mated before their eyes open and still nursing from mom.  The males have nothing to do with raising of the young.

The females are the better hunters as they are smaller in size and can follow prey deeper into burrows than the larger males.  The Irish believed that these creatures were very family orientated even seeing care was given to the dead.  Today though they are trapped for their white fur which is used for trimming around coats.

Back at Brooks

Ken had spent a fantastic eleven days with us.  He fell in love with Alaska just like us.  But after he left I needed to spend another week at Brooks Camp.  The thing I noticed was all the changes that had been occuring there since I had been away for almost a month.  First of all the water in the river was way up from all the snow melt all summer long.  Half the beach had disappeared and most of the islands in the river were under water.  The grasses were turning brown making the bears so hard to see.  The salmon had changed and were the red and green colors of spawning and they were dying along the shorelines of the river and the lake.  The mountains were turning into gold and yellow colors.  Yep, fall was arriving at Brooks Camp.

The bears were what really shocked me. They were huge.  They had gotten their new fur so they were no longer shaggy like when I first saw them in the spring.  Their tummies were round and their faces fuller.  I thought I had learned to recognize quite a few bears the last time I was here but now I was totally lost to which bear was which.  Not only had the bears changed in appearance but they were every where.  Some of them I learned quickly hadn't changed all that much.  206 was still walking around showing all her attitude and trying to make a nusance out of herself.  402 and the cubs were around camp a lot.  They kept the bridge closed most afternoons as they snoozed in the grass near the bridge.  Beadnose was constantly fishing under the bridge and I really don't know where she put all the fish she caught but she was on quite the feeding frenzy.They will need all that wieght as they loose 4000 calories a day in hibernation.

Looking for Moose

We are in the plane flying home from Brooks Camp.  I told the guys we need to watch for moose.  Craig and I watched out the window for the big, lanky animals in every pond we flew over.  Flying over the tundra there are ponds everywhere.  Fall is the time for the animals to get ready for the rutting season.  Their hormones start running amuck and they come out of hiding.  So we watch for moose.

Half way back and no sign of the moose.  I saw a pair of swans swimming in one of the ponds but too far to tell if they were Tundra or Trumpeters.  Otherwise we weren't seeing very much.  I looked at the guys and both of them were staring out the windows.  Ken was behind me and Craig across from me.  Then all of the sudden Ken tapped me on the shoulders.  I was so excited that I was going to see a moose and seeing moose around here is rare right now.  I looked out the window and I saw nothing.  I looked at Ken and asked him where he saw it and see right there.  I turned and looked out the window and what I saw was another float plane flying beside us.  I told you yesterday my husband has a thing for planes.  So our flight home was not too exciting for me or Craig but my husband had a wonderful flight home.

Bear Chase

I could not wait to take my husband to Brooks Camp.  We didn't want to spend the night but just a day enjoying the bears.  We were on the first flight to to the park.  His first flight on a float plane and he was a little disappointed that we took the otter and not a beaver.  My husband is a big plane fan.  The otter is a larger plane.  The beaver is the kind of plane the park owns, and is smaller.  Other than that I have no idea what the difference is but he does.

We saw bears in the river as we landed.  Ken went to do his bear orientation and Craig and I talked with the staff.  Then we were off to the river to watch bears.  We did not have to wait very long.  We crossed the river and bears were every where.  Ken loves to take pictures and he isn't too bad unlike me who justs gets lucky once in awhile and gets a good shot.  We had a big bear next to the platform chewing on the fish.  There were five more swimming in the near vicinity.  All day we wandered the park.  I showed Ken the cabin, the falls and the views from the beach.

We went to go check in with the lodge for our flight back to King Salmon.  While we waited to board the plane we heard that a bear was coming down the beach.  I told Ken he would get a great shot if we stood on the hill and watch it pass by an opening in the trees.  All three of us waited and waited and no bear. I didn't take my work radio as I didn't want to get called to do work, so I didn't know what the bear situation was.  So I told the two of them to wait while I slowly made my way to the beach.  I took about three steps and saw two bear chasing each other.  The first bear ran through the opening followed the second bear.  I turned to yell at my guys but they had seen the bears too running straight for them.  Craig bolted one way then slowed down and jumped behind a tree.  Ken did this funky half climb, half fall into a clumb of trees.  Me, I stood laughing.  The first bear ran past Ken and the second bear seeing them stopped and turned around and went back to the beach.  Craig said that he started running then remembered that you never run from a bear so he stopped and then thought he should put something between him and the bear, he chose a tree.  It was a dead tree but at least he was thinking.  When they had both caught their breath I asked Ken if he got the shot.

First Guest.

It has been a few weeks since his visit but my husband finally arrived to take a look at Alaska and see what he thinks.  I have been so busy in the field I have hardly been in computer contact to write blogs so my stories are a little behind.  Anyways, we gave him a taste of our life here in the bush right away before he got here.  We asked him to bring us food.  Things we can't get here or when we can cost a fortune. Things like orange juice and yogurt.  He had three boxes of stuff besides his suitcase when he left for Alaska.

He had to drive to Billings Montana to catch the first plane, fly to Seattle for the second flight, then to Anchorage to catch the final plane to King Salmon.  Everything was good when he left Billings but by the time he got to Seattle his flight to Anchorage was cancelled as there were only eight people on the flight.  He had to wait for another flight which left an hour later.  Unfortunately when he got to Anchorage he missed the plane to King Salmon.  He had to wait two hours before another flight left.  He is lucky because now there are just two flights a day that fly from Anchorage to King Salmon.  One in the morning and one in the evening. 

He called to tell me that he was going to be late and the he should arrive at 1:50.  So at about 1:25 we left the house to walk to the airport to meet him.  We wer about half way there when his plane flwe over us and landed.  He was actually 20 minutes early.  So by the time we got to the airport he was off the plane and had his luggage.    Then it was a matter of packing up all he brought to carry home.  I had brought my field pack and started emptying boxes into the field pack.  Craig was carrying a large dry bag with straps to fill also.  We had both things filled to the brim and then we left the airport.  We gave him the royal tour as we walked by the whole village.  Here is the grocery store, the restaraunt, my office, the gift shop, the lodge and if you walk down this road for a mile you will find the post office.

The trail we walk on was pretty muddy as it had rained for the last four days.  Criag and I thought nothing of it but Ken wasn't too thrilled to walk around puddles carrying his suitcase.  But the fireweed was still blooming its last hurrah so he did like the scenery.  we had to manuever around some big puddles which meant walking in the tundra for a few steps which made him a little uneasy.  But we made it home safe and sound and quickly unpacked to see what wonderful things he brought.  You would be surprised how much joy a package of hotdogs can bring when you hadn't had any for a long time.  Byt the end of his visit the hike to the village was just as routine as it is for Craig and I.

Mountain House Food

When I am working in the bush I need to pack light so we take Mountain House Dehydrated food packets.  They come in a plastic pouch which you pour boiling water into and wait a certain amount of time and then eat right out of the bag.  You don't have any dishes but the pan you heated water in and your spoon.  No mess and virtually no clean up.  They are light weight and come in a variety of flavors.  They have breakfast and dinner meals, along with desserts.

The meals ar high in protein which while your burning calories in all the hiking is great.  Speaking of calories they have very little.  Each pouch serves two people but you hardly ever share with anyone.  Still the most calories per pouch is about 700.  It makes it easy to loss weight on the bush outings.  I have lost 40 pounds so far. The problem is that they contain a huge amount of sodium.  Each pouch will have over 1200mg of sodium and recommended amounts for a day are 2400mg. 

Like I said they have a variety of flavors.  The three cheese lasagna is pretty good and the pasta primavera is also tasty but they have mexican flavors and some chinese flavors also.  The blueberry cheesecake is delicious but the neopolitan ice cream is horrible.  I reccommend not eating that unless you like eating chalk then bon appetite.  You can order these meals from amazon and from just about any sporting goods site on web.  They run around $7 a meal.  If you wanted to stock up for nuclear distruction you can buy a years supply.  But there is one last thing you should know about Mountain House foods.  After 12 days of them you really crave real food.  Especially juicy cheesburgers with everything on them and milkshakes.  At least the is my experience after 12 days of eating them in Aniakchak.

Fishing with the River Otters

Every morning I get up early.  Not too many people are early risers but that is my favorite time of day.  I love watching the world wake up.  So on a beautiful sunny morning I had the beach all to myself.  While I was walking along the beach I noticed several heads bobbing up and down in the water.  They weren't sea otters and seals don't usually swim in groups.  So I pulled out my binnoculars and peered at the curious creatures.

In the water were seven river otters.  Unlike sea otters, these guys were quite active.  They were out fishing for their breakfast.  I watched as they dived down to catch a fish.  I am not sure what they were catching but the fish were pretty good size.  Speaking of good size, these river otters were bigger than any other otters I had ever seen.  Every once in awhile I would see one try to play with another. One would dive over the top of another only to be chased by that otter.  It was great entertainment.  When they had their full of fish then the show really started.  They spun, chased and dived, chasing each other in the water.  Then they made their way to shore. 

One at a time the came scurring out of the water.  Their sleek bodies shimmering in the morning sunlight.  One, two, three, four, five, six wet otters running across the beach into the tall grass.  But where did number seven go.  I watched the water and out popped a head.  As the last otter got out of the river he had a very large fish in its mouth.  The fish was flopping and trying very hard to escape.  It was a very large fish for the otter to carry and it was quite a site to see the otter waddled across the beach with its mouth full of fish.  Just another great morning in Alaska.

Puffins

I love to bird watch.  Doesn't really matter what kind of bird.  I just like watching them.  They have a soothing effect on me while I watch.  But no bird that I have ever seen has given me as much enjoyment as the group of puffins I saw at Aniakchak.

Puffins are very cool looking birds just in themselves.  They have a black and white body and a black and white head.  They have a bright orange beak and the species I saw, the tufted puffin, has a yellow tuft of feathers falling loosely of its hed.  They do not make much noice.  I was not close enough to hear them but supposedly they mak a low rumbling sort of noice.  What made watching them so fun was their flying.

While watching the seals and the sea otters  in the bay you would notice the gulls going into a fish frenzy.  They would gather in a group and dive for fish swimming in a specific area.  Once the gulls started they were joined by other seabirds, including puffins.  That is when the fun started.  Puffins were obviously not know for the aeronautics.  The would fly over the area then just sort of drop out of the air.  It was like they were never taught to land.  Takeoffs weren't very pretty either.  but you couldn't help but laugh when they would fly in the plop into the water.  Once in the water they became graceful divers and all most always came up with a fish.  But the landinds......  They were comical.  Their landings almost made you believe that their clown like appearance was created after someone saw them land.

Tidal Pools

The tide around this place is amazing.  When it is low tide the water drops anywhere from eighteen to thirty feet.  Once the water has dropped it is a great time to go down to the beach and see what you can see.  While we were in Aniakchak we found sand dollars in the pools.  They were this aqua green color.  All my life I wanted to find a sand dollar on the beach.  They aren't too common in the midwest.  The closet I had ever come was finding broken pieces on the beach in Penisacola Florida.  But in Aniakchak I found one, held it in my hands then placed it back into the water.  It  was amazing.

We also found a very small sea urchin.  It was a light purple one and I could not get over how small it was.  Next we found sea urchins.  When the tide would go out they would bury themselves in the mud.  It was facinating to watch these creatures with no arms or legs, just using the hole in the center of them to suck themselves into the muck.  We did find one that was in a tidal pool slowing moving to the rhythm of the water.  We found algae on the beach that was huge.  Kelp would lay in bunches along the beach.

We found some very interesting human things that washed up.  For instance, we found Japanese drink boxes.  The only way we knew that they were Japanese drink boxes is because the had the ingredient panel on them.  I could not tell what kind though.  I could however make out the Japanese milk carton because it had a cow on it.  Their milk cartons do not have missing kid pictures on them.  It is said that sometime next year stuff from the Japanese Tsunami will wash up on our beaches.  In a way that is interesting, in a way it is very sad.  Sad because the people over they suffered so much but also that such a beautiful beach will be covered in junk.

Lastly we found arctic cold water coral.  It was beautiful.  It lies flatter than coral you might see in the atlantic but it is bright pink and shines in the water.  Low tide was my favorite time of day as there is always something new to discover.

Trying to Stay Afloat in Swirling Waters

Day 2 of the rafting and we were all set to go.  I was in the lead raft in the front with my paddle ready for whatever we were to face.  There are four commands that a rafter must know.  1.Front, which of course means paddle front.  2. Back, paddle backwards.  3.  Hold, which means don't paddle and 4. High side which means move to the side of the raft that is highest.  Then the day starts.

The morning started out with no surprises but that didn't last long.  We had fall drops and lots of rocks to watch for.  One rafting move that we used a lot  was the bump and spin.  Sometimes it is safer for the raft to bump off a rock and spin in the rapids than it is to maneuver out of the way.  What was hard is that this was a new river since the flood.  Aniakchak has no dams or buildings or water structures of any kind.  It is a true wild river.
We were doing a pretty good job of making down the rapids.  Then we noticed a fall coming up and we were in position for it  but as we started to drip we noticed a rock that we had not seen.  We tried to manuever around it but we did not have enough time.  Our raft bounced on the rock and stayed there.  Both of us moved to the high side.  No movement.  We started to rock the raft trying to get the high side to fall over the rock.  The trick was to move the raft off the rock without flipping the raft.  Together the two of us rocked the raft.  Then finally it slipped back into the fast moving water.

I turned to see if the second raft had made it over the rock.  It was a ways behind us but they had seen us stuck and had planned a different manuever over the falls and made it safe and sound.  Agin we paddle, twisted and turned our way down the river.  We saw a falls up ahead where the water went down and then turned to the right.  We got into position but again there was a rock that we had not seen on the fall down.  Agian our raft got on the rock.  High side didn't release the raft.  We rocked the raft.  Nothing.  My boss got up and stood on the high side an jumped up and down.  Still Nothing.  Then he saw the other raft just about to go over the falls.  Hang on he said.

Over came the second raft.  The leader in the second raft braced his oar into the water so that his boat would bump our raft and hopefully spin him around and over the rest of the falls while giving our raft a push off the rock.  His raft bumped but as the second raft bounced off our boat the oar released and slammed into my back.  I had just enough time to yell ow when our raft released from the rock.  No time to consider the pain in my back I had to keep paddling. 

Then the second raft which was now in the lead got stuck.  We were coming up on it fast and then we rammed into it so that it would release itself from its position.  It worked.   Everyone was tired and needed a break.  We found a sandbar and pulled off for lunch.  What a morning.

First Bear Sighted

We had just started back down the river after our lunch when we saw a bear on the beach heading our direction.  We were floating in a large blue and yellow raft.  Wildlife here aren't used to humans as so few of us visit Aniakchak.  When it first saw us it wasn't sure what we were then it charged down the beach at us.  It was huffing and growling.  We watched with amusement as we were in the river and it was on the beach.  When we didn't run with fear from the bear it stood up on its hind legs and looked at us.  Movies make this move look dangerous but in real life this stance helps a bear get a betterview and smell of the things, us in for instance.  Agian the bear charged towards the water as we were even with it in the river.  when we didn't run it decided that maybe it should run.  It ran inland about 25 steps and turned to look at us.  Of course we were still there which totally confused the bear.  With one more huff it ran off into the brush.  We all had a good laugh at its antics.

The afternoon passed slowly without much danger but whole lot of fun.  It was also nice and sunny so we all got our Alaska tans.  You have heard of farmer tans?  Well in Alaska, your tanned if your hands and face turn brown.  Since we were all in dry suits, that is the only thing that got tan on all of us.  By evening everyone was ready  to turn in.  We unloaded the boats and set up camp.  I can tell you that unloading and loading the rafts is a pain.  Each time we did it we took less and less gear off the rafts.  One more day until we reach the coast. 

Slow Moving Till The End

We have now been in Aniakchak for 7 days.  We are on the last leg of the rafting trip.  by tonight we will be on the Pacific Coast and we will be staying in the adminstration shack until we get picked up the next day. We only have eight nautical miles left to run.  It may not sound like much but since we are now past the running water the current has just about died and it is time to learn how to properly row a raft. 

It was finally my training day.  I was to be in control of the first raft in the morning.  My first two hours were spent more or less bumping and spinning off the banks of shore as I tried to learn how to control the craft.  I also had to learn how to choose where the in the river the main current was.  As there were many ways you could float but not all of them were floatable.  I finally gave up trying to tell how to guess at water depths and followed the experts.  That being a mother Harlequin and her chicks.  They seemed to know where the current and the deeper water was.  So when all else fails, follow the ducks.

We encounter our second bear.  We were downriver from him and parked on a sandbar having lunch.  He paid no attention to us as he was deeply engaged in catching fish from the river.  He never even noticed us as he scoured the river looking for an easy catch.  That is until he was down river from us, then he looked up and became quite frightened and ran full speed in the opposite direction.  Bears are so amusing.

It took pretty much all day to reach the ocean.  We had a cloudy day all day so you could not see very far.  Rowing became harder as the tide was coming in.  We had to exit the river and row up the coast to the beach where the shack was.  Luckily being it was high tide we didn't have as hard of time landing and unloading gear.  If we had arrived at low tide there would have been about 20 feet of beach to hike up to get the gear to safety.  None of us wanted that.  By the time gear was unloaded and we had moved what was need to the shack and supper ate it was quite late.  The rest of the crew went off for a hike that would take them to a dinosaur footprint preserved in the rock that my boss knew about.  It would be about a four mile hike on rocky terrain.  I decided to stay back as my ribs were quite sore from the hit I took the day before.  We had figured that I had probably cracked a rib as it hurt to take deep breaths.  So I rested and they went to explore.  Not a very exciting day but the scenery was awesome.

Seals and Sea Otters

We did not get picked up like the plan called for.  King Salmons weather is too bad for flying but Aniakchak's weather is perfect for beach walking.  Walking on the beach and looking across the bay on a beautiful clear sky morning.  The bay is surrounded by mountains that were not visible the day before because of all the cloud cover.  It is a breath taking view.  There are islands out in the water.  None of them have names but in the clear sky you can see them.  A lot of things in Alaska were named by the Russians when they came over and started fur trading posts through out the area.  Since the islands had no names we decided that the islands should have Russian sounding names.  So we named one after each of us.  Now there is an island named Andersonoff.

Walking on the beach I saw quite a few harbor seals.  I thought they were cute.  They would swim about 50 yards from shore and pop up and look at you.  As you walked down the beach they sort of followed then popped up to look at you again.  The are gray with black spots and have big black eyes.  None of the other members thought they were cute.  One thought that they were creepy and most of them were afraid of them.  Then I found out why.  These cute creatures that you see in shows and in the circus are meat eating.  The are know to follow swimmers and if they bite, you could die.  Not from the bite itself but from all the bacteria that is found in their mouth.  The bacteria that is passed on to you when bit.  People have been known to die from a seal bite.  Not such cute creatures anymore.  Who knew?  But I still thought it was fun to see them all the same.

Not only were there seals to watch but a nice population of sea otters lived in the bay.  You would see them dive down into the water and come up with a nice size clam.  Then they would float on their back, crack open the clam and start sucking out the meat.  You would see their feet kind of paddling around while the front paws held the clam up to their face.  Then they would drop the shell and head down for another one.  They were very cute and I did not hear any horror stories about them at all.  I was hoping one would come ashore but they basically stayed out in the water just far enough for me to see with binnoculars but not close enough for a decent picture with my camera.

Forgot about the Fish

Before I tell you any more about the rapids and the rest of the river trip, I forgot to tell you about the fish we found.  The day we walked through the caldera during the strong wind and the blowing ash,  in the middle of the caldera, where all you could see was dirt, no plants, no bushes and no flowers were around, the producer and I found a fish.  It wasn't very big, about five inches long.  It was dead of course but in perfect shape.  It was bright blue with a tan underbelly.  We called for my boss who is a fish expert.

He thought we were playing some kind of prank on him but it was truely a fish.  When he saw it he got very excited.  This man is 6 feet 5 inches tall and he was jumping around like a little school boy.  The fish we had found in the middle of the caldera had not been documented in the river or the lake.  It is however, found in the bay at the rivers end at the Pacific Ocean.  It is highly unlikely that the fish was carried by a bird from the ocean 23 miles away to the middle of the caldera.  so we theorized that it must now be in the lake.  This means that our fish biologist would be returning to do new surveys of Surprise Lake.

The day we hiked to the top of the mountain the rest of team started up a large grassy path but it looked kind of steep to me and I decided that I wanted to follow the stream we had seen the night before.  Eventually everyone followed me.  As we climbed we found the brook that rolled down the mountain.  The camera man and the director were so excited that they immediately stopped to film.  While they were setting up the shots my boss walked over a small hill to where another stream was flowing down the mountainside.  In a small pool he found another fish surprise.

In the small pool he found a Dolly Varden.  The only way it could get up the stream as high as it was was to swim.  To manage that it had to jump and manuever some very tough falls and climbs.  But sure enough he had found a good size fish.  As the rest of us gathered around to see the fish another fish darted out from under a rock.  Again my boss went nuts.  Fish excite the man.  The camera man thought that this would be a great thing to film.  Only thing was the fish was camera shy.

The two fish were under a set of rocks along the bank of the stream.  The camera man wanted my boss to get the fish to swim out so that they could be caught on film.  After a few minutes of thought my boss said he thought he could do this.  He thought he could toss something in the water that the would make the fish come out and investigate.  He tossed a small seed from a nearby plant and the fish came out.  Since this worked the camera man set up his equipment, when he was ready my boss tossed in another plant seed.  No fish.  He tossed a small pebble but no fish.  He grabbed a piece of grass and wiggled it in the water but still no fish.  Then it was decided that the cameraman would film my boss scaring the fish with his hand and then he would edit my bosses hand out of the picture.   After about thirteen takes they decided that they had got the shot.  We loaded up the equipment and returned on our journey.  As exciting as it was to see the fish, I am pretty sure it won't make the movie but who is to know.  The good thing is that the fish finds would mean a return trip to Aniakchak and I am all for it.

First Day of Floating - Running the Gates

From the top of the mountain the Aniakchak river did not look so bad.  The walls of the gates were high but the river, itself didn't look bad.  That all changed when we actually got into the river.

The first thing we had to conquer was how to get all our gear on two rafts and still stay a float and control the raft.  We had all our camping gear, and food, and lots and lots of camera gear.  Our little rafts were pack solid.  Since I had never manuevered a raft my boss and the director took one raft and the two of us females were in the front of the second boat and the producer expert raftsman, was rowing. 

Once in the water we had to row to the mouth of the river.  With no current that was rough work for the rowers.  My boss had traveled the river 15 times and would have been condsidered an expert except that a glacial lake had escaped its banks and flooded the river.  It changed the entrance to the river, the rapids were tough where they were suppose to be easy, easy where they use to be rough, and the river had moved and meandered in different ways then my boss remembered.  So our trip down the river was a virgin ride, as nobody had been down here before.

Large rocks blocked the river so that we would have to portage the roughest spot.  We had to unload the boats and carry gear about a 1/2  mile on rolling rock slanted hillside.  Once we had all the gear moved downriver the group had lunch and talked about how to move the boats.  It was decided that it would be unsafe to try to carry the rafts on the uneven rocky shoreline.  If someone tripped it may cause someone else to fall in the swift moving water.  So our two rowers decided that they would take the empty rafts through the rough spinning water.  The rest of us were at various parts of the river with throw bags, which are life saving devises, and were to be ready to stop the raft if needed. 

I waited with all the gear at the stop sight.  It was my job to catch the raft when they reached that area.  It only took a few minutes for the first raft to appear.  By the time they reached me the others from upriver had joined me.  We all grabbed the raft and it was all you could do to pull the raft on shore.  but after managing the first raft they hiked up and repeated the process with the second raft.  Minutes later both rafts were on shore and being reloaded.

Now for the fun.  The plan was to stop 2 miles down river for the night.  The two miles of river were full of twists, rocks, and falls.  It was a blast.  We spun and swirled and twisted our way around the river.  It was a fabulous time for all.  But after the portage of all the gear, we stopped to relax the rest of the day.  The first three miles of the gates were the worst part of the river and all survived.  Now we unloaded the rafts once again and set up camp.  What a great first day of rafting.