A Long Day Where Almost Nothing Happened

Yesterday I was the lone bear manager. It is hard to be a bear manager with out bears to manage. Every few hours I walked around camp talking to people. About a 1/2 mile from camp is the mouth of the Brooks River. There is a floating bridge you can cross to get to the other side as long as there is not a bear within 50 yards of the bridge. On the other side of the bridge is a large platform where you can safely view the bears. There is a ranger stationed at the entrance of the brdige and another ranger on the platform. They keep visitors safe from the roaming bears. So every couple of hours I went on patrol and stopped to visit with the rangers. As the salmon are not running yet and the bears haven't returned in their huge numbers, they were just as bored as I was. They have to stand at their post for two hours when they are relieved and replaced with a new ranger. Each ranger has a different way to pass the day. The first ranger I talked with said she was bird watching and said she figured out why mergansers have the tuff of feathers behind their head. It was so that the male had something to hang on to while he mated with the female who was pushed her under the water numerous times. Ranger two told me she had sung every scottish tune she had learned as a kid. Ranger three and the ranger on the platform played hide and seek with their binoculars. The Last Ranger I talked to said he had learned the rules of fishing in the river by an angry angler who had his space violated by another fisherman. Such was the excitement of the day.

On the walk home after my shift the most exciting thing I saw was two three-toed woodpeckers fighting with each other on the ground. Feathers were flying and the woodpeckers were rolling around on the ground. After dinner I decided to go for a walk to the falls to see if their was any action there. I spent about an hour and just enjoyed the scenery but no wildlife. On the walk back I saw the largest wolf I had ever seen. It was a tan and white male and it was huge. It was 25 yards away from me. He was bigger than anything I had ever seen so I wasn't focused on taking a picture. He looked at me for about 30 seconds than moved across the road and into the woods on the other side. Alaska has not let me down yet.

Move Out of the Way!!!!!!

Today was my first full day at Brooks Camp, my job was to meet up with a veteran of the bear squad and learn how we keep bears from entering camp. The veteran has been here for ten years. He gave me my bear training. Me, I am a rookie at this stuff. So we started our shift by walking around the camp so I could learn where the bears are most likely to enter camp. What we call camp is actually a bunch of cabins in a central location about a half a mile from the river. We also have a campground,where the tenters stay. The campground is surrounded with electric fence.

Two hours later we got our first bear call. We had a bear walking down the beach heading to camp. Our job was to keep ahead of it and watch to make sure it did not leave the beach and come into the camp. The bear behaved fine and just walked down the beach and out of site. Our last of job of the day is to go around and check all the electrical fences and make sure everything is running properly. Our last stop was the campground. On the way back we had a little excitement.

We were walking back to the ranger station, the veteran was in front and I was close behind. As we were walking I heard a twig snap and turned around thinking a red squirrel was crossing the path. Only it wasn't a squirrel it was a brown bear running full speed right towards us. I reached out for the veteran and called his name to say a bear was coming and I turned around and the veteran was running away. I was in shock I thought we were suppose to stay still and not only was he running but he left me, the rookie, behind. I quickly moved a few feet out of the running bears path just as it ran by me. I could have reached out and pulled hair off of the bear. He literally was inches away from me. If I hadn't move it would have ran right over me. The veteran ran down the path a little ways and then turned up into the woods and stopped. When he stopped the bear stopped just a few feet away from him. The two of them stared at each other, then the veteran stomped a foot and yelled and the bear turned and ran into the woods and kept running.

I quickly ran to catch up with the veteran and said "what the heck". But the veteran kept saying that there was another bear. There had to be another bear chasing it. So he looked one way and I walked down 6 feet to the beach and sure enough another bear was heading our way. The two of us moved down the path and stopped to watch where this bear was going. It came up on the path about 25 yards away and stopped and looked at us. We both yelled at the bear. The bear raised his head up and sniffed. He had caught the scent of the other bear and headed through the woods after it.

When I saw the bear I wasn't scared even as it ran past me. What scared me was that the veteran turned and ran and just left me. I couldn't believe it. I did however feel my heart in my throat when it was all over then I couldn't help laughing. It was just too funny that the veteran ran. Needless to say he is having a hard time living that one down. He keeps telling people he wasn't running just quickly getting out of the way.

About 15 minutes later the bear that had been chased showed up in camp right outside the ranger station. I think she felt that it was saver for her in the camp then out where other bears can chase her. The veteran and I chased her down to the beach and followed her. Every so often she tried to get back into camp. Then when she reached the river she turned around and headed back the way she came. I watched her chew on the visitor sign, chase a magpie,inspect a boat on the beach,and eat some grass. She was in no hurry to leave the camp vicinity. Then finally when she reached the camp boundaries and tried one more time to come up into camp. The veteran stomped his feet and kicked up a little dirt and the bear grabbed one more bite of grass and took off.

The bear who was being chased was a cub from last year who is spending its first summer without mom. The bear chasing her was a four year old subadult. I have not see an older, larger bear, only subadults. I can't believe how big they are and the big bears have not arrived yet. I feel good about today. I actually think everything that happened was great even the close call. It is another thing I never thought I could do and I am surviving.

I Found a Reason to Hate Alaska

My first full day at Brooks camp. The sun is shining, there are no clouds, the water is perfectly calm. It is a gorgeous morning. I get ready to hike to the ranger office where I am to report this morning and I step outside. The air is so fresh and wonderful, its excelerating. I started hiking to the river and I felt a mosquito bite me. Killed it and kept walking. With in minutes I was being swarmed by the things. There was a dark cloud swirling around my head as it was the place that was the least covered. They were biting my ears, under my glasses, getting caught in my hair, they were even trying to bite through my scalp. Every time I would slap an area I would kill not one or two but four or five. Many Mosquitoes died this morning on the two mile hike to the ranger station. Even applying bug spray only partially relieved the constant drone around my ears. My face felt like it had been attacked. I don't itch, thank goodness. But it is not pleasant.

My boss ordered each of us a bug baffler suit. I haven't even taken it out of the package yet because the bugs haven't been that bad. On the way to the office I say fishermen with their faces cover in green screen. I guess I may have to relent and either drown in deet or wear the bug suit. Once I reached the ranger office I was told two things that didn't make me happy. 1. It gets worse. I am not sure how it could get worse but supposedly it will. Lovely! 2. When on duty in the Brooks Camp area we are not allowed to wear the bug nets because it distracts from our relating to the visitors. We can wear them on our off time. So I get to spend every other week covered in deet to stay bug bite proof.

Good news came shortly later. The wind picked up and it is suppose to get worse for the next few days. The only problem with that is that its blowing in cold glacier air, Hmmmmm
Mosquitoes or be cold?

What Came Up the River

My first day back from Katmai Bay brought some interesting news in our little village. Something big had been washed up on the shore when the tide went out. A Walrus carcass had been sighted on the tidal flats. I didn't have a chance or my muck boots with me to go see this site when I first heard about it. Then when I could go explore, high tide had come back in so the carcass was under water. The next day I was told that someone had cut the head off the walrus during the night. It is illegal to hunt walrus. It is illegal to buy or sell the ivory from the tusks. If you find a dead walrus you can report it to the game and fish and you will be given permission to keep the tusks. You get a certification of ownership but you are never allowed to sell or trade them. No one had heard whether or not a claim had been made on the tusks or not.

Yesterday, I caught a flight out to Brooks Camp for a week of duty out there, and as I was getting on the float plane I saw the carcass under the water. It was amazing how big it was but spooky looking at something with no head. Hopefully this winter I will get to see a live one. The trouble now with the carcass is that the bears are going to start to smell it and it will bring the bears into town. I don't think the current is strong enough to pull the body back out into the river.

We still haven't seen a bear at the house or on walks in the area but I did see fresh tracks of one on the hiking trail to work. So they are nearby.

Rain, Rain Go Away!

Day four and the weather is still crappy. We were to call in at noon to give weather reports to see if they could come and get us. As of 8 am we had low cielings, low visibility and rain. But at least the wind had died down. By this time all the clothes I had brought were wet. My tent was wet and my sleeping bag was wet. It didn't matter anymore if we were inside or outside. You were just wet. The intern decided after breakfast that he would sit in his tent and just read. The two of us biologist decided we would sit outside on the cold damp ground in the rain and wish it to go away. We thought about doing some kind of sun dance but since neither of us knew one and we were afraid to dance in case our moves brought more rain.

Then out in the distance a patch of blue sky appeared. It was heaven sent to us but a long ways away. Then you could see that the sun was finally trying to break free of the dark rain clouds. We decided to leave the enclosure with the electric fence that didn't work all week and climb to the top of the hill and watch the battle between the sun and the rain. As we passed the solar paneled battery for the fence my partner gave it a quick kick and said "Piece of shit".

We stood at the top of the hill willing the sun to come out. We were tired of being wet. If the weather did not clear up the next pick-up day was two days away. I wasn't sure I could last another two days of rain. We were watching the rays of sunshine try to peek free from the dark clouds. We could see on the horizon clear skys. The hope inside of us grew. Then for a brief moment we could see the sun. It was an awe inspiring moment that lasted only seconds as the rain god closed ranks and let one last torrid of water fall upon us. We were determined that the sun would come out and we were going home. Standing at the top of hill with rain pouring in buckets upon us we watched for the return of the sun. It took about a half an hour but the sun finally won out and shone through the dark clouds.

My partner could finally see her shadow and did what she called the shadow dance. We walked back to the camp site. We shook water off the tents and layed clothes out to dry. We watched as visibility cleared and the ceiling of clouds rose high enough for a plane to fly. All was good. We talked to the pilot at noon and he siad he would have to make two trips, one person and gear the first trip and the other two people and emergency gear the second. So we had to go through and decided what was going on the first run and what would be needed if the last two had to stay. The other biologist was the team leader on this mission and she said that I would be the one to fly back with the gear. We divided the food and supplies. Then we broke camp and moved everything to the beach, staging two piles of junk. Sitiing on the beach we noticed that the winds had begun to pick up and the cieling had dropped some. We kept dispatch updated with wind speeds and weather changes. Finally we saw the plane. It circled around a few times looking for a place with enough water to land as high tide was just starting and the water levels weren't that high yet.

The plane landed about a mile away from us. The three of us grabbed all the stuff going on the first flight and hiked as fast as we could to the plane. Within minutes we had the plane loaded and we were inside. The last thing the pilot said was that if the winds pick up anymore he probably won't be able to pick them up. I f conditions stayed the same it would be two hours before he would be back. With that we were on our way.

To get to Katmai Bay we flew over the valley of ten thousands smokes. We got to see the volcano crater. It was a very interesting trip, but we could not fly back that way as the pass was clouded shut. We flew south and crossed the mountains on a different pass. The ride was bumpy and rough. Good thing the dramamine worked. I did see a very large bear from the plane and numerous waterfalls in the mountains. We landed on the river and within ten minutes we had the plane unloaded on the dock and refueled, and the pilot was on his way. It felt good to be home. I am a horrible person though. I took care of all the equiment, stopped at Eddies for a cheeseburger and then home for a hot shower and my warm bed. I didn't go back to the dock to see if they had made it back. I was out like a light in my bed. The rest of the team did however, make it back and did the same thing I did.

Low Tide Hikes

When the tide is high most of the sedge meadow and the sandbars are under water. There is very little beach to walk on. At low tide it is a whole different place. At low tide you can walk on the beach away from the bay. Here you will find the shoreline lined with rocky cliffs. I am no Geologist so I can't tell you what they are made of but I can describe it. The cliffs are made of thin layer after thin layer of a black shale like rock with ash layers found every so often. These layers of rock were just beautiful. And on the last night at Katmai Bay we walked for hours exploring as far as we could go before the water started to rise again.

In the layers of rock, you could find fossil imprints. We find fossils of plants, clams, and shell creatures. My partner, the other biologist was looking for dinosaur prints. They had been found on this beach before. Katmai Park I was told had once held the record for the largest set of fossilized dino tracks in Alaska, that is, until Kenai Fjords found bigger ones. My partner was determined to get the record back. Though we didn't find dino tracks it was fun looking.

Every so often there would be a waterfall coming down from the mountains. Each was beautiful. Flowers were blooming on the sides of the stream. Purple, yellow and white blossoms that made the area colorful and smell terrific. At one part of our walk we came across some natural arches that the water had carved into the rock. They were also amazing. When the ocean would not let us go any farther we headed back to camp. We didn't mind the rain at all.

The sad thing about our walk was all the trash we found washed up that when the tide comes back in will again be taken out to sea. We found a shampoo bottle with shampoo in it. We found empty plastic bottles, buoys that had broken loose, and we even found what was left of a childs shoe. We found nets lost by fishermen, pieces of metal all rusted, and pieces of rope. It makes you wish we took better care of our planet.

More Camp Company

Day 3 at Katmai started out out like day 2 rain, rain and more rain. We had gotten up to eat breakfast but because the rain was coming down so hard we decided to stay in our tents till after lunch hoping that the rain would ease up some. So I spent the morning inside my tent reading and watching drops of rain come in from the seams. Not all government equipment is the best. I was hoping the tents had been waterproofed and sealed for the season but I was finding out that was not the case. At 11:00 we got out to fix lunch. The rain was down to a mist so we decided to eat.

We cooked refried beans for soft shell tacos. I had made mine and was eating and watching out over the bay when up the hill came more company. I said "well hello there" . Coming up the hill to check out the refried bean smell was a large, male wolf. He was gray and brown colored with a white stoamch and large white tail. He came almost to the electric fence. He was the most beautiful creature. The intern stomped his foot and the wolf jumped and started to move away. I was tempted to let him have what was left of my taco. He was just looking out for an easy meal. I wasn't afraid at all just in awe of how beautiful he was. A few more seconds of checking us out and he moved on his way. It was the best part of day 3. After he left it was back to work, back to the cliff to see if the cameras were doing their job.