Greg -
Our time at Anan was incredible. The salmon run must be near its peak - in the slower portions of the creek, the water was little more than one writhing mass of salmon fighting its way upstream. With prey come preditors and the entire area was filled with them of every stripe. The place was literally crawling with bears. Even the rangers were remarking on the number and variety of bears visiting the creek this year. In addition to bears, there were hundreds of bald eagles and ravens picking up what the bears had cast aside.
While the vast majority of bears at Anan are black, the creek has also had a high number brown bears this year - sows with cubs, in particular. While we were there, several browns walked through the area, including one mother with four yearling cubs (or "coy", for cub of the year). While they didn't appear aggitated by our presence, they were noticeably cautious and kept a very close eye on us.
The variety of fishing techniques that the bears employ is interesting. The methods range from a somewhat lackadaisical swatting at the water to a full blown attack where the bear dives directly into the water with claws and jaws at the ready. The true fishing kings seemed to be the black bears, who would slowly walk to the water's edge, casually drop their heads into the water, and bring out an enormous fish with very little effort.
We spent a few hours at the creek and then headed back to the crew boat. The trail back to the mouth of the creek is a boardwalk that follows the bank and has many blind curves. In spite of the fact that we were all making a lot of noise, we came face to face with a brown bear at one point on the hike. After what seemed like two minutes looking face-to-face with the bear, the beast turned and bolted off into the creek below.
Back at camp, Jack whipped up another of his incredible Asian dinners, complete with napkins folded into cranes. We're working today and taking tomorrow off - I'll get some pictures posted when I get a solid connection.
Our time at Anan was incredible. The salmon run must be near its peak - in the slower portions of the creek, the water was little more than one writhing mass of salmon fighting its way upstream. With prey come preditors and the entire area was filled with them of every stripe. The place was literally crawling with bears. Even the rangers were remarking on the number and variety of bears visiting the creek this year. In addition to bears, there were hundreds of bald eagles and ravens picking up what the bears had cast aside.
While the vast majority of bears at Anan are black, the creek has also had a high number brown bears this year - sows with cubs, in particular. While we were there, several browns walked through the area, including one mother with four yearling cubs (or "coy", for cub of the year). While they didn't appear aggitated by our presence, they were noticeably cautious and kept a very close eye on us.
The variety of fishing techniques that the bears employ is interesting. The methods range from a somewhat lackadaisical swatting at the water to a full blown attack where the bear dives directly into the water with claws and jaws at the ready. The true fishing kings seemed to be the black bears, who would slowly walk to the water's edge, casually drop their heads into the water, and bring out an enormous fish with very little effort.
We spent a few hours at the creek and then headed back to the crew boat. The trail back to the mouth of the creek is a boardwalk that follows the bank and has many blind curves. In spite of the fact that we were all making a lot of noise, we came face to face with a brown bear at one point on the hike. After what seemed like two minutes looking face-to-face with the bear, the beast turned and bolted off into the creek below.
Back at camp, Jack whipped up another of his incredible Asian dinners, complete with napkins folded into cranes. We're working today and taking tomorrow off - I'll get some pictures posted when I get a solid connection.
OMG!! That is an amazing picture! Thanks so much for sharing your adventure. I got so excited just looking at the picture with the bears and all of the guts lying around - I can't imagine what it would be like to be there and experience it live!! And, encountering a bear on the trail - wow!!!
ReplyDeleteI just today found out that if you click on a picture it enlarges it. Now I will have to go back through the blog and do that with all of the pictures because you have some truly awesome shots - especially the view from your camp.
I have to admit that I am nearly as awed that Jack folds napkins into cranes as I am the whole bear episode. : ) Love you guys!
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