Bears and Bristol Bay

“Bear!”

The young boy, his pants rolled to his knees, was throwing pumice rocks into the lake and watching them float back to shore. It’s a fascinating phenomenon seeing rocks float! His parents, more tired than interested, lay on the beach, their heads cradled by daypacks. We all were enjoying the sun’s warmth, which we had felt infrequently all summer, while waiting transportation back to King Salmon.

I saw the young bear approach from the far end of the beach. The boy kept playing and his parents, with eyes closed, were oblivious to the bear. The boy’s arm had just completed a throw and as he turned back toward the beach he saw the bear and let out a scream to alert his drowsy parents.

At Katmai National Park, bears have the right of way, so we did as we had been instructed at Katmai’s mandatory bear school and cleared the beach allowing the bear to pass.

Katmai NP is located on the Alaska Peninsula and is only accessible by boat or airplane. 

Folks travel here during July and August when Sockeye Salmon are moving from the ocean into fresh water to spawn. Within the park, salmon travel up the Brooks River to Brooks Lake. Brown bears, hungry from winter hibernation, follow the fish. The salmon often congregate at the base of Brooks Falls where they are forced to navigate the falls in their journey to the lake.

The bears are intent on catching fish and pay little attention to humans. It's a very unique situation.

Looking for fish

Spring cub

Claws!

We camped at Brooks campground, operated by the National Park Service. It's no frills camping with a limited number of sites in high demand. Campers choose a spot when they arrive. Ours was a last minute booking the result I'm sure of a cancellation. Sites in July are fully booked by those wanting to see the bears. I felt comfortable knowing the entire campground was surrounded by electric fence. This has been added since our first visit in 2008.

                    Our camp site close to the beach

Bucky and our friend Carter are sitting in front of an eating shelter. All food and gear has to be stored in lockers. Eating and cooking must be done in the shelter. Backcountry camping is allowed, but there are regulations about where this can occur.

Our short visit with the bears was wonderful, but we were anxious to get back to King Salmon and the real reason of our travel, FISH. 

Our friend, Carter, is a “Bristol Bay fisherman”. Bristol Bay is the world’s largest salmon fishery. Highly valued sockeye salmon are harvested for approximately four weeks during the end of June and through July. We arrived at the season’s end. Over 1500 drift boats using gill nets and about 1000 permitted gill nets are set from shore in and around Naknek, AK during sockeye season. For this reason, Carter operates his fish camp about 3 miles from town on Pederson Point, an area well known to salmon fishermen. Although Carter's commercial fishing season was nearly over, the sockeye were still present and he generously placed two nets out. Each set net runs from shore to an anchor offshore. These nets are 150' long and are gill nets, catching the salmon as they swim through by their gills.

Carter's camp is a cluster of well built cabins overlooking the bay. Despite their solid construction, the strong bay winds have occasionally tipped them over. We stayed in the foremost cabin which has three bunks. The large grey cabin is the kitchen and lounge complete with comfy leather couch. There are two outhouses and a "sauna" in which to dry waders and wet gear. 

                               Other fish camps on the bluff

Many drift boats had been pulled and were being prepared for winter storage, but some remained at sea and I watched them set their nets. There also were set nets still in use along the beach. 

Naknek had several large canneries still operating late in the season, however, the main topic of conversation was the low price being paid to fishermen for salmon. One cannery was paying $.50 a pound while another paid $1,00. This is considerably less than last year. The following link explains the situation.

https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/premium/supply-trade/bristol-bay-sockeye-base-price-plummets-compared-to-2022-some-boats-quit-fishing

Drift boats

Carter in front of his locker at Pederson Point cannery. This facility dates back to 1890 and was fascinating to walk through. It’s a town unto itself with power plant, fresh water supply, laundry, lodging, mess hall, recreation area etc.

https://www.northpacificseafoods.com/pederson-point.html

The old and new buildings

We picked fish from Carter’s nets on three low tides. The time between low tides is about twelve hours. Two times we started picking around midnight and after delivering to the cannery, flopped into bed around 3am. A lot of day sleeping is necessary. 

Pederson Point cannery behind us

                            A steel sea wall stabilizes the bluff.

                          A midnight tide in the rain was very eerie.

Each net is 25 fathoms or 150 feet in length .Sometimes Carter adds another 25 fathoms. The fish swim into the net and are caught by their gills. It’s helpful to use a pick to dislodge the net. However, some fish wrap the net around their bodies creating quite a string puzzle. Carter moved quickly from shore to chest deep water removing fish while we struggled with a handful. It’s an acquired skill. Each net was yielding between 200 and 400 pounds of sockeye.

          The green tote in the pickup is filled with ice water.

Fish are picked from the net and placed in the tote which Carter has attached to his waist and drags behind him. They are then gill bled and put on ice in the large insulated tote in the back of the pickup. From there they’re delivered to the cannery to be sorted and weighed. Salmon other than sockeye, receive less money. 

The importance of salmon to the living environment cannot be overstated, from Brooks bears to the water, trees and living organisms surrounding them.

“Salmon act as an ecological process vector, important in the transport of energy and nutrients between the ocean, estuaries, and freshwater environments.”

Whitehorse, Yukon to Alaska

The view heading into Haines Jct, YK

"Your vehicle assistance provider should arrive in 120 minutes”, said the text message from Good Sam Roadside Assistance. 

 It hadn't taken Bucky long to notice our soft rear tire, though not completely flat, it was no longer drivable. It was an outside rear tire being supported by its dual counterpart. He noticed it when dumping our black water at Hi-Country RV park in Whitehorse. We seldom stay in RV parks, preferring to spend the $50 charged per night in other ways, such as buying gas. However, the chest freezer in our motorhome shower, carrying the food of our home freezer and hopefully carrying salmon and caribou back to VT needed electricity to cool its contents. Knowing the AK Highway wouldn't provide many overnight opportunities between Whitehorse and Haines Junction and watching the temperature within the freezer rise, as indicated by an exterior thermometer, and also thinking a shower would feel nice, the decision to spend $50 for power, water and a place to dump seemed prudent. 

Our 2 hour wait for assistance stretched to 4 hours with some grumbling, much like the tension created in a taunt rubber band. It allowed time for Bucky to peel hard boiled eggs, mix these with pickle relish and make egg salad sandwiches using hot dog buns, a classic which we gobbled down. While waiting, Pika and I investigated the dusty 4 wheeler paths leading from the RV park to town. Tall spruce trees rose high above us casting a dark shadow over trails lined with blue lupine and bright purple vetch, accompanied by the sweet scent of wild pink roses. What nature had so strategically placed would be hard for an expert gardener to duplicate.

AJ busily working 

Once back on the road, we thought how fortunate we were to have our flat tire occur in town. We’ve now used Good Sam’s services twice with “good” success. However, this time when AJ Automotive arrived, AJ’s jacks were not adequate to lift a vehicle of our size, despite Good Sam giving AJ the weight and size of our motorhome. Finally, on Bucky’s suggestion, the RV was backed up onto thick wood planks we carry onboard for leveling. By positioning the dual rear wheels with the good inside tire on the plank and the damaged outside tire off the plank, the flat was easily removed. We had seen this technique used in Zion NP after hitting some sharp rock jutting from one of Zion’s magnificent red rock cliffs. While negotiating one of Zion’s narrow and curvy roads, the motorhome’s rear tire clipped a rock protrusion resulting in a flat. Good Sam sent a technician equipped with a heavy plastic wedge that Bucky drove the vehicle up on. It worked slick!

Beautiful Kluane Lake 

We carried our flat tire with us to Destruction Bay, appropriately named if describing the condition of the highway. There, at Chuck’s Tire and Welding, our tire was quickly repaired for $25!

Bucky supervising!

Griz

 Our day which began in haphazard fashion, ended magnificently!

Dawson Creek Mile 0 to Whitehorse, YK mile 887

 

It’s always exciting to begin our drive on the Alaskan Highway. For some the AK Highway is a great adventure, for others it’s a long drive. We are in the first group. We made our first trip in 2008, wide eyed and amazed by the wildlife and scenery. That summer we made u-turns after sighting animals, we retraced our steps and marveled at all we saw making little progress. Now, on round trip 15, we easily drive past herds of bison, slow for caribou, but still brake for bear and sheep.

We almost always see sheep in the same place and usually in the road. Here, the road winds through shear rock wall and steep hills of rock ledge and scrub trees. When not seen in the road, they are difficult to locate. They stand and lay high up, perfectly camouflaged in the rocks. I’ve photographed them positioned this way and they’re so perfectly camouflaged that it’s almost impossible to distinguish the animal from its surroundings. On this day, they greeted us in the road! The lambs are adorable. We watched as one tried to follow its mother who had jumped the guardrail. He looked at the hurdle, turned back, eyed it again and finally lept over with unanticipated ease.

Bears were in abundance, all Black bears, all black in color and all solitary. I’ve struggled over the years getting quality photos of these bears. We spot them as black dots in the distance and we’re now fairly good at determining if the dot is a bear or a culvert. From a distance, culverts also appear as black dots. Once properly identified, I try to catch the bear with its head out of the grass. Of the 20-30 photos of bears taken today, only 5 captured the bear with head up. The desire to munch green grass and young vegetation after a long winter is the bear’s sole focus, moving along, constantly biting and chewing, paying no attention to cars like ours stopping.

The turquoise water of Muncho Lake makes it impossible not to photograph. Muncho means big lake and its one of the largest in the Canadian Rockies. We were fortunate to find a site in the second park campground that we tried. It’s first come first served and since we put in long days of driving, the sites are usually taken. This is the first trip that we’ve been able to stay in one of the two provincial campgrounds.

I had said, “I’m not photographing anymore bison, but when the red coated calves appeared, I couldn’t resist. This particular herd was enjoying fresh water coming from a nearby culvert. One sweet calf lay on the edge of the road only feet away. Some calves nursed from their mothers. All looked very healthy.

Laird River Hot Springs Provincial Park is a favorite stop! 

The quarter mile walk along boardwalk through wildflowers and accompanied by the songs of local birds is a treat before the soak. Floating among the surrounding ferns and flowering shrubs and paddling through cool freshwater rivulets, makes these hot springs unique. Benches line one side of the pool, but the remaining sides are all natural. 

A brief stop for gas and cheese bread sticks in Watson Lake gave Pika a chance to also soak. She loves to swim so during our walk around Wye Lake she didn’t hesitate to jump in.

Tonight we’re in Whitehorse, YK. We’re spending the night in a campground where sites are tight and our neighbors close. We were late arriving so we feel fortunate to have a site. It’s 11:00 and the sun hasn’t set. Rarely do I stay up past 9:00 at home, but the midnight sun changes my internal clock and here I am typing away. Whitehorse has the Yukon River running through it and the city incorporates the history associated with the river. Whitehorse has flourished since the Goldrush as a center of transportation, lodging and services. It’s definitely a city I’d like to explore more thoroughly, but we’re always quick to pass through.

Tomorrow we should reach the Alaskan border and the town of Tok. We’ll still be a day and a half from our cabin in Talkeetna, but after 9 days of driving, the end is now in sight!

Chinook, Wild horse, Elk Water, Medicine Hat……

Napping has become a daily occurrence.

A customary overnight stop at the home of our friends, Tim and Judy, in Chinook, MT always provides a welcomed break, warm conversation and much needed showers. Our dog, Pika, joined in our pleasure, running off leash through the surrounding fields of tall grass. Our only regret was missing the extended family including six lovely grandchildren. So often in the past we’ve landed in Chinook on a birthday and have shared in cake and ice cream. This time was no different as it was Judy’s birthday. Unfortunately, she’d gone camping with friends and took her party and cake with her!

Rather than taking our usual route to Sweetgrass, Montana and crossing here into Alberta. We crossed in Wild Horse, MT.

Fields of canola brighten a day made hazy by wildfire smoke.

This church sits in a farmyard, begging the question, which came first?

Signpost at Wild Horse border crossing.

Cowboy silhouettes, not Big Foot, crest the hill as we head to the border

Miles of grassland dotted with cattle abruptly morphed into green hills. Towns with the names Manyberries, Elkwater and Medicine Hat conjured images of a time when native people inhabited this land. 

The suburbs of Calgary seem to grow larger each year. Planned communities in which houses are placed within yards of one another would make it essential to “love thy neighbor “.

The oil rich land from Edmonton to Grand Prairie competes with farmland. Oversized farm equipment being towed down the highway, is passed by heavy oil tankers. We hold steady in our lane, moving along with less urgency.

Tomorrow we’ll start our journey on the Alaska Highway beginning at mile 0 in Dawson Creek, BC and getting off in Tok, AK, 1257 miles. 

AK 2023

As I hefted the final tote overhead in the RV, it fit how I had envisioned, like a colorful yet awkwardly shaped jigsaw piece. It’s become easier, after more than a decade of summer repetition, to pack our motorhome and ready the house for renters. However, it’s become increasingly more difficult to leave Vermont and our children and grandchildren behind. Perhaps it’s because as I age, so do they! Our grandchildren are no longer babies and toddlers, but children and young adults with whom I now share conversations and life experiences. Most of our six grandchildren weren’t born when we began traveling to AK and now the eldest has graduated from high school! Heading off leaving infants and toddlers behind was much easier. I’ve now spent years bonding with these dynamic youngsters. We share so much time together during the year that when a small voice asked, “why do you have to go?”, it left me wondering. I miss summer birthdays, family bbqs, pond swims and seeing youthful exuberance unfold during summer vacation. 

It’s a 4800 mile drive through the US and much of Canada to reach our cabin in AK. Averaging 450-500 miles a day, it will take us ten days with very limited stops….almost three weeks of our summer devoted to “the drive” that started the summer of 2008.

Tonight, with our motorhome nestled between a large box truck and tractor trailer, I crawled into bed and quickly fell asleep to the rumble of diesel engines. Our dog positioned herself on the bed and I welcomed the familiar pressure of her warm back against my thigh. Our first day of travel was relatively short, ending near Utica, NY, but as in years past, we celebrated the beginning.

Buffalo, Cleveland, Toledo, and now, 540 miles later we’re parked beside an island of grass in the Walmart parking lot of Angola, Indiana. The dog has quickly remembered the requirement to sit and wait until I navigate the RV steps and invite her to leave for her long awaited walk. I’m proud of her for remembering these life saving tasks that aren’t necessary in VT. I wonder if the woodchuck she sniffed out in the underbrush a year ago still lives here. By her twitching tail I assume it is.

Parking lot walks, strip mall store fronts and abutting neighborhoods can look familiar but in turn can be indistinguishable after repeated stays at the same Walmarts. I often ask my husband, Bucky, “does this look familiar to you?” I have a book, the Walmart Atlas, which helps us locate stores along our route. Then, I call to see if overnight stays are allowed. Many stores have changed their policy of welcoming travelers. I write in the “atlas” the date of our stay and sometimes a comment…..nice!, train whistles or crowded. 

Chicago, Wisconsin Dell, Minneapolis, Fargo, Devils Lake, ND…..

The smoke of the wildfires burning in Canada dulled the usually green hills of Wisconsin. Red barns appeared pink in the haze and the sun had an eerie red glow. My throat scratched from breathing smoke.

 

The highway can present some interesting sights. Such was the case when this bus passed. It’s been a while for these boys.

Tomorrow it’s Montana, about half way to AK.