Denali: stay off the beaten path

 After our bear hunting extravaganza, we packed up and drove to the Coal Creek Trail head. Over a cold breakfast, Eagle Eye made some suggestions of places that we might like to visit. He headed back to Wasilla, leaving us to experience Alaska on our own.  It was 45 degrees outside. Yes, it was June.  We stopped in the small town of Cantwell for ice and stamps. I'm not sure if the town actually had anything else in it other than the store.  After a short drive down Denali Hwy, we headed back to Parks Hwy going north. It was rainy and foggy, but the scenery was still unbelievable. We drove to Denali National Park. Okay, so Denali is not really off the beaten path. It is a very popular NP. However, it is so incredibly beautiful that we couldn't miss it. It is best to have reservations if you plan to camp at Denali. Since we didn't really know where we were headed until that day, we didn't have reservations. They keep some campsites open for people like us. We were able to secure a nice site in the Bear Loop of the Riley Creek Campground. It was not full tourist season yet, so we lucked out. I wouldn't chance it much later than mid June. The camp sites consist of a picnic table and fire ring. Ours was surrounded by beautiful white birch trees. It was very private. Due to the wildlife, we didn't see many people camping in tents. There were quite a few RV's, mostly rentals. The loop had a bath house with toilets and sinks (if I remember correctly). On the outside was a sink for dish washing. The headquarters building had a general store with camping supplies, sundries, souvenirs, ice cream and some groceries. Across a concrete patio area was a bath house with hot showers. Ahhhh!

Somewhere along the way the weather cleared up.  Once we were settled in, we went to the area of the park where the sled dogs are housed and trained. Denali is so big and undeveloped that they actually patrol the park via dog sled in the winter. We were able to see the dogs up close, hear about their food, care, training, etc. and view a demonstration of the dogs pulling a sled along the road. Of course there was no snow. The dogs were smaller than I expected but full of energy. They couldn't wait to pull that sled. We left there and took a drive on the park road to the Savage River. This is the end of where you are permitted to drive. If you want to go beyond this point, you must go by bus. Of course WE wanted to go beyond this point. That was our goal for the next day. We went back to our campsite for the night and took advantage of the fire ring by cooking all of our meat. That meant that the next few days only required that we reheat it or add it to some other tasty ingredients in a one pot meal. This would be a real help if the weather was nasty.

The next morning we visited the Wilderness Access Center and purchased bus tickets. There are various options for the bus ride. One main road leads deep into the park. You must decide how far you want to go before you get on the bus. Tickets are priced accordingly. We opted for the 4 hour ride to Eielson Visitor Center. There were several scheduled stops along the way where we could get out and stretch, use the "facilities", and gawk at the scenery. The driver explained that we were allowed to get on and off the buses as often as we wished. All we had to do was ask him to stop and let us off. We could got hiking for as long as we wanted to, and then stand on the side of the road and wait for another bus to come along. Buses would pass by about every 30 minutes. Cool! Why not get on and off several times along the way and go for some short hikes? We had backpacks filled with rain gear, food, water, pocket knives, first aid kits, etc. This sounded like a great plan. We were so naive.

Shortly after beginning our bus ride, a lynx ran across the road in front of the bus. It disappeared into the brush. The driver told us that it was fairly rare to see one. We were lucky. Dall sheep and caribou were visible through binoculars. Then came the event that changed our plans. We saw a mother grizzly and her cub. They were just hanging out not far from the road. We were told that if we decided to go hiking, we should NOT take the trails that wove through the tall grass. Those were made and used by the bears. The grass was beaten down by their huge bodies walking on it. We were to avoid them. Our decision was swift and firm. There was no way were getting off that bus until we were at a rest area or the end of the route. We then saw a mother and 2 cubs, and farther down the road, 2 young bears. All of the bears that we saw were grizzlies. That's 7 grizzlies visible from the bus. In Alaska, they are referred to as brown bears or brownies. Their coats range from blonde to dark brown. They are bigger and meaner than black bears.

When we reached the visitor's center, we ate a picnic lunch and went inside to check out the trail maps. The visitor's center was in the tundra, which means that we could see for miles around us. There were enough people around that we felt safe hiking there. There were no brown bears visible.  We hiked from the Eielson Visitor Center to the top of a mountain on the other side of the road. The elevation changed 1,000 feet in about one mile. It took a little over an hour to hike up; less to hike down. On the way up, we saw Dall sheep hanging out doing what sheep do. We viewed them from a safe distance. There were low growing wild flowers along the way. They stood out brilliantly against the brown soil and rocks. Every now and then we would stop to look back at the Visitor's Center to see how far we'd come. Oh yeah, and to catch our breath. When we were nearing the top, a big storm cloud seemed to come out of nowhere and we heard thunder. We were like sitting ducks out there in the open. A decision had to be made. Do we try to go back down, or continue up?  Getting struck by lightening was not in the plans. After watching the cloud, we decided to head up. When we reached the summit, it was cold and windy. We had to hold on the the rocks to keep from being blown off of the mountain. The view was spectacular. Snow covered mountains were everywhere. The visitor's center looked very far away. We hiked back down, boarded the bus for the 4 hour ride back to the Wilderness Access Center.

Along the way, we saw all of the grizzlies again. This time however, the mother with the 2 cubs was walking down the road! A bus going in the opposite direction from us was stopped on the road. The passengers were hanging out of the windows taking pictures. Our driver was furious and adamant that we not place any body parts outside of the bus. The mother grizzly was big enough to take a swipe at us if she got up on 2 legs. If you've never seen a picture of a grizzly paw, believe me, you do NOT want a grizzly taking a swipe at you. Our driver stopped the bus and allowed us to open the windows and take photos as long as we followed the rules. The picture above is taken from my seat. At one point, she was directly below me! Later, we passed the other set of two young bears again and watched them running through the grass. I can't tell you how exciting it was to see all of these animals in their natural habitat. As we continued down the road, someone on the bus asked about the possibility of seeing a rainbow. The driver told us that it was very rare to see a rainbow in Denali. About 10 minutes later, someone shouted out,"rainbow!", and we all looked out the window and saw a beautiful rainbow! On one day trip we saw 2 rare sights- a lynx and a rainbow.

Once we got back, we ate dinner and enjoyed hot showers. I felt so blessed to have seen so many animals, but just a tiny bit disappointed that I had not seen any moose. Remember, this is the beginning of our trip. Just as we pulled into Bear Loop, we saw the mother and calf that I blogged about in an earlier post. It was such an incredible day. This trip was a dream come true.

We never did see Denali, or Mt. McKinley as it it commonly known, while we were in the park. It showed itself the next morning, but because we were in the woods, we couldn't see it. The summit is so high up in the clouds that you can only see it if you happen to be looking when the clouds part or if it is a very clear day. We did get to see it another day from very far away.

If you decide to visit Denali NP, keep this in mind. The animals here are wild. They are not tame, and no matter how cute and cuddly they look, they WILL eat you, stomp you, kick you, etc. STAY OFF THE BEATEN PATH!!!

                                                        Looking back from the summit.

Bear "hunting"

As I have stated, I am not describing this trip in order. I will share our route in the last blog about the trip. I also make no promises about proper grammar. This is just for fun. Backing up to our first full day in Alaska, we spent the morning at Eagle Eye's house in Wasilla, gathering camping equipment and planning our route. Eagle Eye graciously supplied us with sleeping bags, cooking gear, and a folding love seat. We took a trip to Wal-mart for food and essentials. Yes, they do have Wal-mart in the wilds of Alaska, but only in the cities. A rented Toyota minivan would be our home on wheels for the next 2 weeks. We took the middle row of seats out and folded the third row down. Our bed consisted of double layers of those hard, blue foam camping pads with an egg crate mattress on top. The sleeping bags went on top of the egg crate. Five dollar pillows from Wal-mart served their purpose nicely. All of our food and cooking supplies were in plastic containers and a cooler. A case of gallon jugs of water rounded out our necessities.  We repacked some of the clothes from our suitcases into smaller duffel bags.

 We spent some time visiting Eagle Eye and enjoying the view from his house. The large front windows look out on a gorgeous mountain range. The back windows look out on a different mountain range. He is a big hunter and the living room rug was adorned with a bear skin rug. The way it was positioned reminded me of the way our big black dog sprawls out. I did more than one double take that day when I entered the room. After eating a late lunch, the three of us set out on our adventure. 

We drove north on Parks Hwy to Denali State Park (different from Denali National Park). We stopped along the way at a crazy little store called Wal-Mike's. He had all kinds of interesting things sitting out front, including statues made from tree branches of men in various stages of "excitement". I will leave it at that. You will have to take a trip there if you want more information than that. We were in our  minivan, following Eagle Eye in his big truck. He pulled down a long gravel road to an abandoned gravel pit. Eagle Eye informed us it was time for us to learn to shoot a shot gun. He gave us lessons on a 22 gauge shot gun that he insisted we carry from then on. It scared me to death to have that thing in the van with us, but Eagle Eye insisted that we really needed to have protection from the wildlife in case of an attack. Okie dokie. This was not going to be a typical vacation! I was very grateful to have someone with us to let us know what to do to survive and enjoy this journey. Lesson over, we continued on our trip.

Our next stop was at a trail head leading to Byers Creek. To find the trail head, you could probably stop any guy with a gun in his truck and ask for directions. In Alaska, that means pretty much any guy.  I thought, "Oh goody, we are going hiking!!" What a dummy.  If you are prepared to hike in bear country, this is a beautiful spot. Take note of the "if" in that sentence. You could also get really lost here so you either need a friend that knows the area or you need to know how to use a map and compass or gps. The vegetation in Alaska grows very large. It has a short growing season but  takes full advantage of it. If you step off of the trail, you could become disoriented rapidly because the plants grow so lush that you can't really retrace your steps. Fortunately, we were hiking with Eagle Eye, who is like being in the woods with a cross between Grizzly Adams and Survivor Man. I've never met anyone more in tune with nature.

We hiked the trail to a lovely little lake, climbing through a forest of Alder trees, giant fern, false hellebore, blueberry bushes and other plants foreign to my husband and myself. Eagle Eye could name many of them and knew which ones were edible. I ate some fern and fire weed. It tasted like grass but it was nice to know that if we got lost we would have something to eat. Eagle Eye pointed out various plants that would produce edible berries later in the season. He also showed us the spot where he once shot a bear. A bear? My heart started beating a little faster. Wasn't this supposed to be just a little nature hike?

 Now, when I say we hiked, this was like no other hike I had ever been on. I have hiked a jungle in Argentina, the Rockies, the Cascades, Smokies, Appalachians, Catskills, and others but never with a tour guide like this guy. The three of us hiked single file. Eagle Eye was in front, carrying a large rifle. He held it up high, with one hand. That sucker was really heavy. I don't know how he did that. Around his waste was a belt with all kinds of outdoor paraphernalia. Some of it would be revealed along the way. I was next, carrying a can of bear mace. Not being the most coordinated person, I secretly prayed that I would not have to use it. My husband brought up the rear, carrying the 22 gauge shot gun. We crept along as silently as we could. It didn't turn out to be very silent because there were dry leaves on the trail. Nothing makes me want to giggle more than someone telling me that I have to be quiet. Along the way, Eagle Eye stopped to examine various piles of animal excrement. Lets just call it poop from now on. There were four piles of bear poop, a pile of moose poop, pile of grouse poop, and one pile that came from either a wolf or a coyote. Okay, so the shooting lesson was beginning to make sense at that point.  At each pile, Eagle Eye informed us not only of what animal it had come from, but what it ate, how big it was, and how long the pile had been there. The first time he bent down to examine one, I thought maybe he'd lost his mind. Were we deep in the woods with a crazy man? A crazy man carrying a big gun? A crazy man that knew how to use the big gun? Now I realize that I was in the woods with a very competent outdoors-man. There is a science to tracking animals. This was the first time that hunting made any sense at all to me. I still don't like it, but I was beginning to understand some of the allure.

We hiked on, stopping at the top of a gorge that overlooked Byers Creek. It was like a scene from a show on the Discovery Channel. This was the Alaska I came to see. Brilliant green undergrowth, huge trees, pristine water, and a family of bears!! Yes!! A mother black bear and  at least two cubs. The plants were so tall that the cubs would often disappear from site. Eagle Eye removed several pieces of equipment from his bag. One was a range finder. According to it, we were 600 yards from the bears. We were also way up high on the gorge. I felt like we were safe from them but I did realize that there could be a bear standing right behind us at any moment. It was exhilarating! If Eagle Eye hadn't been with us, it would have been terrifying. Being with a life long hunter gave me piece of mind. The other instrument was one of those miniature telescopes. I'm sure it has an actual name, but I have no idea what it is. Range finder was a new one on me too.  We hung out there for a long time, just watching the bears. It was such a special treat to observe them in their natural habitat. They were free and happy.

It was getting late and the sun would be setting soon. Time to go. It never actually got completely dark while we were in Alaska, but it would get darker than I'd like it to be while hiking. We quietly hiked back out with Eagle Eye and his rifle leading the way. Once we were safely back to our vehicles, Eagle Eye threw his head back and let out his Count Chocula laugh. "You just went bear hunting!", he exclaimed.  I did? Holy cow!!

Onward we drove up Parks Hwy. Eagle Eye pulled off near mile marker 159.There was another long gravel road leading to an abandoned gravel pit. To find it, just look for a gravel road on the right just past the mile marker. It is not marked. We learned that there are many of these in Alaska. You are allowed to camp in them unless there is a sign stating otherwise. This one had some type of low growing plant covering the ground. It was soft to walk on and kept the glacier dust off of our boots. There was a fabulous view  from there. Eagle Eye had been there many times. There was evidence that others camped there too. He named it Moose Camp because he saw a moose there once. My husband went to answer the call of nature. He walked down the road for privacy. Eagle Eye told me that he once saw a man down that way. It looked as if he was living down there. He hadn't seen him in a while. Just as my husband disappeared behind a tree, we saw the guy!! My husband was too far away to hear us if we shouted.  We thought the guy was harmless,, but the two of us kept watch until my husband returned. For some odd reason, later that night we found this very funny. We set up camp, built a fire, and relaxed to the sounds of nature. Eventually, we crawled into the minivan and went to sleep. The shotgun was within reach in case of wild animals or humans. What an awesome first day!

Seward, Exit Glacier, Hope, Coeur d'Alene

Alaska is spectacular. Many people don't have it on their bucket list of places to explore because they think of expensive cruise ships, bus rides, and train trips. There are other ways to see Alaska. If you don't plan to make it one of your destinations, then please see it through my eyes. It is not to be missed. I will get off the subject and on to closer locations eventually. For now, I will continue describing this wonderland. Once again, please forgive any grammatical errors. I intend for this to be conversational in nature. I am not describing this trip in the order that we actually visited the sites. That may come later. It is my intention that you will find a map of Alaska and locate these places, then search the web for information and pictures of them. Hopefully you will find your own path to take. Keep in mind that you may have many rainy days or none at all. We had quite a few.

After leaving Cooper Creek, we drove south to Seward. We camped in a city owned campground along the shore of Resurrection Bay. The sites were pretty open and not the greatest, but it was steps away from the water. There were flush toilets, picnic tables and a fire ring. The shoreline consisted of gray rocks. Many of them were flat. My husband is a master at skipping rocks, so there was plenty of free entertainment at our fingertips. As we looked across the bay, clouds hovered and  the mountains rose up out of the water..  The nearby marina had coin operated showers, so we relished in the nice hot water. It cost $2 for 7 minutes. We walked the port town and the Chinook waterfront area, stopping in the Alaskan Brewing Company for a beer and halibut cheeks. I don't think I have ever heard of such a thing before, but they were delicious. The fact that our table overlooked the marina didn't hurt either.

The next day we drove through the Chugach National Forest and crossed Resurrection River on our way to Exit Glacier. Exit Glacier is in the Kenai Fjords National Park. We hiked some of the nature trails and viewed the glacier. Stunning. Glacier blue is the most beautiful color!

We headed back north and turned off  for one last attempt at fishing on the Cooper River. I had given up, but my husband gave it a shot. Still nothing. We drove down Sterling Hwy to Seward Hwy and turned off onto Hope Hwy. The scenery along the coastline on the Kenai Penninsula is gorgeous. We drove to the very end of Hope Hwy to check out Porcupine Campground. It was a pretty drive and the campground is very nice. I would recommend it as a nice "off the beaten path" destination. We didn't stay there because we weren't ready to stop for the night yet. Our next goal was to visit the town of Hope. My mother-in-law goes by the name Hope, so we felt that we couldn't be this close to the town and NOT visit it. There is also a great view of Turnagain Arm from that area. Turnagain arm is breathtaking. The town of Hope turned out to be a bit small. By small I mean tiny. By tiny I mean minute. There were a few preserved buildings from the mining days and  an RV park off to the side. We took a few pictures in front of the sign so that we could show them to my mother-in-law. It was definitely off the beaten path.

Coeur d'Alene was our next destination. We had a bit of trouble finding it, but we finally found the road leading to the campground. It was in the Chugach National Forest, seven miles up a narrow, winding, unpaved road that climbed into the mountains.We saw a huge moose along the way. There were about a half dozen campsites beside a small, clear, rushing river. Beautiful. There is a latrine, but no potable water. No problem. We carried plenty. Once again, we had the whole place to ourselves. We built a nice fire and cooked the fresh salmon that Eagle Eye had given us. There we were, all by ourselves, next to a river, deep in bear country and we were cooking salmon on the campfire. We could almost feel eyes staring at us through the trees. We decided that the best thing to do was to stay together at all times. We even walked each other to the latrine. We each carried a can of bear mace. We took the shotgun that Eagle Eye has supplied us with and placed it on the picnic table. Eagle Eye taught us how to load and shoot it. Neither of us wanted to be in a position to actually use that training but we were glad to have some protection.  It started raining just as the salmon was finished cooking. We cleared a spot in the back of the van and turned it into our dining facility. I felt so lucky to be sitting there. The surroundings were stunning, the sounds of the river and rain were soothing, and we were dining on fresh caught Alaskan salmon. A five star restaurant has nothing on that atmosphere.  After dinner we drove up about a mile or so past the camp. As we climbed in elevation the plant material got smaller and the season seemed to change to early spring. The mountains got closer and suddenly the road was covered in snow.  We turned around and drove back to camp. The snow turned back to rain and got heavier and heavier.  When we woke up the next morning we could see fresh snow on the mountain tops. As we were driving back toward Hope we saw a young black bear walking on the road. I was very happy that the bears decided not to make an appearance while we were camping the night before.

Cooper Creek Campground and Salmon Fishing on the Kenai River

If you have been to Alaska to fish for salmon, you may be familiar with the Russian River and the Kenai River. If you are like most people, you have not been to Alaska to fish for salmon. These rivers are probably as foreign to you as they were to me. For that reason, I include them among places that I consider off the beaten path. In fact, for most people, all of Alaska is off the beaten path. Most people that have an opportunity to go there do so via cruise ship. Many also board the train to view the heavenly scenery. Fisherman head to one of the rivers during salmon season. I am not a fisherman but I was in Alaska at the start of salmon season. How could I resist the opportunity? As usual, we trusted our friend to tell us where to go and to teach us the ropes.

From our friend's house in Wasilla, we headed south toward Cooper Landing. It is located on the Kenai Peninsula.  First we had to stop and purchase a fishing rod and fishing license. The license was pricey but all we could think about was all the salmon we were going to reel in. The sporting goods store had a big sign that listed all of the rivers and the fishing conditions for the day. Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, its off to the river we go. Along the way, our friend pulled over on the shoulder and jumped out of his truck with his telescope. There were Dall sheep way up on a mountain. Through the telescope they were beautiful. Most of us would have assumed they were mountain goats. With the naked eye, they just looked like specs of white. We would have driven right by. I wondered how in the world he noticed them. He admitted that he had been by there many times and knew that they frequented that area. Good to know that we weren't as oblivious as we thought. Farther down the road, he pulled over again. He said something looked "amiss" up on one of the mountains. I looked up. My husband looked up. We both saw a brown mountain. Nothing looked "amiss" to us. Our very astute buddy pointed out a small patch way up high that looked a little different from the surrounding area. Holy cow! Really? I think I should call him Eagle Eye! He took a good long look through his telescope and determined that all was well. Onward toward the salmon!

We drove to the Cooper Creek Campground and secured a spot for the night. There was a grill, picnic table, and latrine. Okay, so its not the Ritz, but that's more than some of our campsites offered. We drove on to the Russian River Campground parking lot. They offer day parking for a fee to people who are there to fish but are not camping there. These campgrounds get pretty crowded during salmon season, so we felt lucky to get both a campsite for the night and a parking place for the evening. If you plan to go there it might be worth calling ahead for a report of availability from the rangers.

It was now early evening. We hiked to the Russian  river. There was a very, very, long wooden walkway that ran along the river bank. It was built to keep people from treading on the vegetation. Every so often was a set of steps leading down into the river. The walkway must have been a mile or more in length. They take their fishing seriously up there! We learned that the salmon had not yet made it to the Russian river. We kept walking, and walking, and walking. We were all wearing waders and carrying fishing gear, assorted bags and backpacks. I am about a foot shorter than our friend, so I was getting a workout. Eagle Eye decided that it would be best if we crossed the river so that we could walk over to the Kenai River. Reports stated that the salmon were starting to come into the Kenai. The two rivers merge, and the salmon swim up the Kenai to the Russian. Crossing the river is easier said than done. My husband and I were wearing hip boots. Our friend was wearing waders that were chest high. The river was shallow in places, but the current was extremely strong. The water was frigid. If we were to fall in, we would have to turn around and go back to camp. It was too cold to stay outside in wet clothing. If we fell in and the water was able to get inside of our boots, we could easily drown. It would make our boots so heavy that we would not be able to stand up. We saw a man fall in. He was able to stand up but he had to get out and hike back to camp. He had not even begun to fish. We decided not to risk crossing where he and his friends tried to cross. Every so often  Eagle Eye would wade out to check the depth of the water before my husband and I attempted to cross. He found a spot that he thought would be safe. We carefully and slowly crossed the river. Eagle Eye took all of my gear and held it above his head. He gave me his huge fishing net and I used the pole as a walking stick. I gingerly placed it in front of me to test each spot before I took a step. We made it safely across. On we hiked toward the Kenai. We finally got to the place where the rivers merged. The Kenai was an odd but glorious blue-green color. The Russian was clear. Where they merged, the river looked partly clear and partly blue-green. Stunning!  Let me just back up and tell you that all along the walkway and hiking path were signs warning us that we were bear country. Some of the signs told us that the bears were watching us, some told us that the bears were everywhere. It was dusk. I would have really been freaking out except that I knew that Eagle Eye was armed, and that he is an avid hunter. Earlier in our trip he insisted that we both learn to shoot so that we could protect ourselves from wild animals if the need arose. We arrived at the spot that Eagle Eye had in mind. I felt like I was taking part in a photo shoot for an outdoor clothing catalog. I thought we were in the middle of nowhere, and BAM, the path opens up and I see about 100 people out there fishing! The were all lined up along the shore, standing in the shallow water. Some were decked out in brand name clothing, obviously brand new. Others were in thrift store castoffs. It was easy to see which ones were the tourists and which were Alaskans. I was wearing 7 layers of clothing. I probably looked like a nut.

It was now 9:30 pm. We fished for several hours. We caught NOTHING!!! Eagle Eye patiently taught us the proper way to cast our rods. We practiced, getting better with time. I am not a patient fisherman (fisherwoman?) If I don't have anything on my hook in about 15 minutes, I start to get bored. This was my big trip to Alaska, and I was determined to stand there with the best of them. After about 30 minutes, my feet were so cold that they were starting to get numb. I took a break. I ate a snack. I took pictures. I tried again. It get windy out. It started raining. I didn't even see one stupid salmon swimming by. Finally, I felt something on my hook, then something jumped out of the water. It was a salmon!! By the time I realized what it was, it was free and heading upstream. I think I heard it laughing. The man standing next to me said that it was on my hook at one point, so it was fair for me to claim that I had hooked a salmon. I kept trying. The rain and wind continued. I took a seat on the shore. I took a walk on the shore. Finally, the guys gave up for the night. We hiked all the way back to the car. It was after midnight. The sun was setting.  I kept wondering if a bear would suddenly appear on the path. We crossed the river again. By the time we got back to camp it was after 1:30 am. It was still raining it was dark. This was the first time we actually saw darkness in Alaska.

When we woke up the next morning it was still raining so we stayed in bed for awhile. Someone in another campsite hit the panic button on their car key. We got up and started getting dressed. Of course my husband was dressed and outside in about 2 minutes flat. Eagle Eye was outside cooking oatmeal on his little camp stove. The stove was perched on the open tail gate of his pick up truck, which had also served as his bed for the night. It was parked right behind our hotel on wheels (Toyota minivan). He adds all kinds of yummy things to his oatmeal, and it smells great. Apparently I am not the only one who thinks so. I heard Eagle Eye yell my husband's name several times. I knew in my gut that something really was "amiss" this time. I also knew by the tone of his voice that it was a grizzly. The windows of the mini van were tinted and had mesh shades on them, so from the inside I couldn't see where the bear was. I took a chance and opened the door on the side of the van where my husband was standing. I thought he might need to jump in to escape from the bear. Just then I heard Eagle Eye say "scat!" and stomp his foot several times. The bear ran off. My husband was shaking. The bear had been on the other side of the van. I never saw the darn thing! Typical. I crawled out and we ate breakfast. Eagle Eye explained that when he heard the car horn going off at the other campsite he knew that someone had seen a bear. The person had pressed it as a warning signal and to scare the bear. You learn something every day! Our friend was concerned that it may have scared me pretty badly. In actuality, I was really mad that I missed seeing it. He is a joker, so he kept trying to scare me the rest of the morning by pretending that he saw a bear. He laughs like Count Chocula, so being the butt of his joke was worth it just to hear him laugh.

We broke camp and drove back to the river for more fishing. This time Eagle Eye chose an area that didn't require crossing the river. We just had to hike through lush vegetation and down a bank. We still didn't catch anything. It was still raining and cold. I gave up and went back to the van to read. A short time later my husband joined me. We cooked lunch while Eagle Eye continued to fish. My husband swears that he had a salmon on his line but it got away. I didn't witness it so I have always teased that it probably didn't really happen. After we ate, Eagle Eye comes hiking up the path with a great big beautiful salmon. He deftly cleaned it and presented a good portion of it to us to put in the cooler for our dinner.

I have heard tales of salmon jumping out of the water, leaping onto fish hooks, rivers jammed with them frantically swimming upstream. We saw very few salmon. A few of the other people along the shore caught some, but it was nothing like what I had envisioned. We were there too early in the season. If you want to experience salmon fishing in Alaska, wait a little bit longer than we did. It was still fun, and it is a fond memory. What an adventure!