July 28th

Jack, Janet and I drove into town early to be there for the start of the day's race.  I may have mentioned this previously but Jack and Janet were running the Bearfest 5k and I was running the 1/2 marathon.  

The weather has been absolutely perfect and today was the start of the current stretch.  It was a bit cool with a light wind when the gun sounded at 8am sharp.

Jack's time was just under 40 minutes - beating his mom by a few minutes and  I ran the half in an hour forty-one, placing first!   It's part of my fifteen minutes of fame.  

After the race, we showered.and headed back to camp.  I let Jack relax with his mom while I worked the remainder of the day out on the road.  

July 27th

Janet joined us on our rounds today.  The forecast called for periodic rain and slowly clearing skies - a prediction that proved to be right on the money.  

We saw a brown bear on the far side of the Nemo loop, very close to the Thom's lake trailhead.  We could see the bear's big butt swaying back and forth just over a rise in the hill as we approached.  We were able to follow it for about a quarter of a mile before it either heard us or caught a glimpse of the truck.  It sprinted off into the woods as soon as it became aware of our presence 

Later that evening, we drove to town to register for the Bearfest half marathon and 5k.  Bearfest is a "celebration of the bears of SE Alaska" and is organized by a local outfitter.  It is a weeklong event that features a golf tournament, an assortment of games for kids, and symposiums on topics such as bear research and nature photography.  

July 26th

I made my second appearance as Smokey Bear this morning at the library in conjunction with the UFSF's "Read with a Ranger" program.    The reaction of the kids was the most entertaining part - ranging from enthusiastic bear hugs and high fives to shock and sheer terror.  They had lots of questions like "why's that bear got pants on?" and comments like  "there's a human in that bear".   One of the little girls brought me a tea cup and poured tea for me while looking up "my" nose at my nose.  

We then hiked up the Dewey trail above town to the beautiful platform overlooking the harbor. Year ago, it is said that John Muir built a huge fire at the top of Dewey Mountain claiming that it was the best fire he'd ever built.

We picked up supplies and headed back to camp for a dinner and a campfire.  

July 24th

Janet arrives, rain falls - it's an axiom not unlike the fact that any three noncolinear points define a plane.  

In our three summers in Wrangell, I've never seen rain fall like this for such an extended period of time - especially given the incredible weather that we've experienced so far this summer.  

Bob gave us a ton of sockeye and we knew that now was the time to get it vacuum sealed.  I'd filled our cooler with ice from the cannery near Heritage harbor - it's a brine ice that is far below 32 degrees.  Janet and I spent several hours filleting and sealing under the potluck tent out of the torrential diwnpour's reach.

As it was our day off, we decided to head to town to restock with food and water, throw in a load of laundry, and to hit the library.   Heavy rain fell periodically throughout the day, with showers that were more reminiscent of a fire hose than a bathroom.

We had a dinner of king salmon and sacked out early.

July 25th

It had been several days since Jacj and I had visited the Weangell island sites.  It had also been several days since Jack had studied Japanese.  Since Janet is here, I decided to let him spend the day with her at the campsite while I took care of the sites.  

It took three truckloads of wood to cover the sites around the island - a chore that would normally require half a truckload.  It seems that the masses have chosen to recreate regardless of the weather.  

After I finished my rounds, we headed to town to see one of Janet's favorite bands, "Pearl Django" - no relation to the Quentin Tarantino movie character.  They are a group of five musicians who style themselves after the famous Belgian guitarist Django Reinhardt from the fifties.   Although there wasn't much of a crowd, the music was incredible.  

July 23

Jack, Janet, and I headed to the ranger office early so that we'd have an entire day at the Anan falls.   We would be joined by a bear behavior expert who had worked at Anan during the early years when scientists were just beginning to collect data on bear populations and behavior in the Anan creek area.  

There are two large sets of falls near the mouth of Anan creek.  Twenty years ago, most of the bears congregated near the upper falls where the salmon are forced to swim a narrow bottleneck in order to access their spawning ground higher up.  The bottleneck means easy fishing for bears.   Today it is the area surrounding the lower falls which draw the most bears, even though the salmon run numbers have remained the same.    The types of bears have also changed over time.  Twenty years ago, it was mostly black bears who frequented the area, with only an occasional brown bear feeding at the stream.  Now brown bears are seen as frequently as black bears and are, at times, the predominant species.  The number of brown sows with cubs greatly outnumber black sows with cubs which may indicate continued growth in the number of brown bears at the falls.  

We had an incredible day.   The number of bears in the area is astounding as was the size of the salmon run.  

We got back to town late.....not so late that we didn't have time for a pizza at the Marine Bar - great pizza to boot. 

July 20th

Bob called early and asked that I meet him at his boat at ten.  Jack asked if he could spend the day in town - the weather called for rain and he wasn't thrilled about spending the day in an open boat under a steady downpour so I gave him the option of staying back and he took it.

Bob and I planned on fishing for Coho salmon which are just beginning to start their run toward the freshwater streams.  You fish Coho in a similar fashion to King salmon- with perch pulled on down riggers without the heavy sink weights used when fishing for Coho.

While the weather was a mixture of fog, low clouds, and drizzle, very little rain fell throughout the day. 

Anan

Janet arrived yesterday and the connection from the site has been very weak.   We picked up Janet from the airport from the evening jet from Juneau around five and had a glorious dinner at our favorite eatery, the Stikine Inn.  

My friend Bob called just as we were finishing dinner and asked if we'd be interested in some salmon.  "Of course" was the answer - we stopped by his place and then the town fish cannery for ice and drove back to the site to fillet and vacuum pack it - doing our best to prepare for an early morning. 

We drove into the office early, dragging ourselves from bed into the cold confines of our camper.   A brisk drizzle fell from the sky and fog enveloped the island - I ran the heater in an attempt to warm and dry the air in the trailer.   We drove into town and were on the boat by eight o'clock heading for the Anan wildlife area.  We had an incredible day at the falls - there were tons of bears in the area, including a large number of the huge coastal brown bears.   We stayed on the platform for most of the day watching the bears gorge themselves on the hoardes of salmon struggling to swim the falls.  It soon became obvious that the bears have a preference for only a few select parts of the fish - that being the egg sack, brains, and skin (not necessarily in that order).  As soon as they've finished ripping these from the salmon, they dump the headless, belly-less carcass back into the stream for a fresh replacement.  

On our way back to the boat, we encountered an adolescent brown bear traveling the opposite way on the trail.   As you'll see, it took some coaxing to get it to give way.   I'll post more pictures tomorrow.

Potluck Timelapse

I made this timelapse of Friday's potluck.   Look closely as I prepare the site for the night's fesitivities.   I used one frame every five seconds.

July 19th

Jack and I made our rounds early as we had planned to go fishing with our boss Bob.   

The sites have not seen much action in July.  I believe that only we've only seen one camper who was not from Wrangell and only a handful of campers from town.  

Jack and I retuned to camp only to discover that Bob would have to cancel.    Jack cleaned up the camper while I cut grass at the site in preparation for the evening's potluck.  

The potluck was well attended - all locals, with the obvious exception of the hosts.    The presentation was a comparison between the rainforest of the Tongass and the tundra of the North.  The presenter was Harriet Schurmer, a long time resident of Wrangell and retired physician.

The bugs did a fine job of ending the conversation and we fell into bed around ten.

July 18th

Jack and I had a great day of relaxation.  We ventured into town around nine, stopping for breakfast at the Diamond C and then the laundry room at the bunkhouse.  While our clothes spun away, Jack swam laps at the rec center while I ran on the treadmill.

Jack and I spent the afternoon at the library reading and taking advantage of their internet.  We'd been there whike when the librarian came up to me and asked if I'd ve willing to help a fisherman with a math problem.  She brought over a couple who recently had a gas tank fabricated for their boat.  His wife knew the exact dimension but where at a liss as to how to calculte the its volume.   I did the calculations for them and then taught them how I went about it.  Teaching a person to fish after giving them the fish - one upping the famous proverb in the process.

July 17th Part II

Here are a few more shots from our day at the mountain top.

July 17th

The forecast called for sunny skies and a high of 78 degrees which turned out to be right on the money. Bob and I decided that today would be an ideal time to stain the high country shelters as the sunny days ahead would give the coats plenty of time to dry.

We hiked in three gallons of stain, brushes, and rollers to the Wrangell High Country shelter - it was in far worse condition. Its location on the ridge-line exposes it to the driving winds that scour the area every winter.

The heat was incredible as we walked the endless set of steps to the shelters - over 4,000 of them in all. The stain dried quickly under the blazing sun and we were able to cover it with two coats before packing up and hiking to the Shoemaker Bay shelter. It was almost as warm and humid as Illinois in July...... come to think it, not even remotely close to Illinois but still very warm and humid.

The views from either shelter are worth the effort required to reach them. From the High Countey shelter, you are rewarded with 360 views of the surrounding island and snow capped peaks on the mainland. The view was partially obscured by a thick haze of smoke that was drifting over SE Alaska. The haze is really smoke from a fire somewhere in the Yukon. If you look carefully, you see the silt line created as the muddy water of the Stikine enters Zimovia strait. The location of the silt line changes daily with the height of the tide, the flow rate if the Stikine, and timing of the tides.

Back at camp, I discovered that I'd left one of our water jugs in the sun. Much to Jack's dismay, I set up a shower using the bear resistant storage box, our cooler, and a second water jug and took a warm shower in the sun right there at our site. It was bliss - not quite what you see in a Kohler commercial but close - the pale man and horse flies being the most obvious differences.

July 16th

Bob and I spent the day mapping snowmobile (or snow machine as they're called in this neck of the woods) trails on his GPS so that a recreation plan can be developed for the area.

We met at nine and drove out Pat's Lake road to a network of logging roads taking us high above the back channel on the East side of the island. At the end of the road, we parked the truck and walked directly onto the bush. We followed an eroded path through the woods until we were close to tree line where open areas of muskeg dominated the forest. It's amazing to see how much of the land is covered in muskeg, even the tops of the mountains are covered by this loamy, puddle-filled ground. We followed an undeveloped trail to timberline at the top of the mountain, where we began retracing our path to the truck.

We then followed another timber spur road to a second informal trailhead at the spur's end. We pushed through incredibly dense brush before breaking our into a narrow glade lined with towering, moss covered trees. It's amazing to see what constitutes a trail in the rain forest. The tails are muddy.....and when I say muddy, i mean it. We hiked in tall rubber boots through muck so deep that it threatened to suck the boots off your feet. Trails this muddy would be closed in the lower 48 - yet they are the only way to hike through muskeg short of building an elevated boardwalk. We followed this trail to its high point where it opened up into a wide, treeless area pocked with ponds. On the way back to the truck, we saw numerous wolf and moose prints as well as what appeared to be bear tracks.

We got back to the truck around three. I made a bee line to the bunkhouse for a quick shower and the store for a few supplies before heading back to camp. I had given Jack the choice of coming with me or staying to work on his homework and he chose to stay - the Japanese is proving to be a challenge.

We relaxed at camp and watched the driftnet fishermen work the strait.

July 15th

Jack and I spend tons of time in the truck. I enjoy driving and am usually content with letting my mind wander while watching for wildlife and oncoming trucks. Jack has no problem staying busy, consuming books like I consume pretzel sticks. We do, however, occasionally feel the need for something else - a need we fill with podcasts downloaded onto my phone. We get reception from only one station while we're on the forest - the local NPR affiliate KSTK - but even that either gets fuzzy or plays country music as we drive toward the southern end of the island. Podcasts remedy this problem nicely. We can pick any topic and usually find something online that fits the bill.

Radiolab is one of my favorites. It "stars" and is produced by Robert Krowlich, who's face you might recognize - he's got a radio face. If you've not listened to his show, I'd recommend it. You can find it online and can download any of the show's programs free of charge. Their February 5th, 2013 show entitled "Speed" is absolutely fascinating and is linked below.

The weather today could not have been better. It is exactly my type of weather, that is to say cool with a slight breeze and neither a cloud nor a hint of humidity.

I had planned to hike two gallons of stain up to the High Country shelter and apply a coat to the outside of the weather beaten structure but Bob expressed an interest in joining me. His day was booked so I decided to postpone it a day or two.

Jack and I made our rounds, this time including a hike into the Turn Island saltwater access on the Nemo Loop road. It is a beautiful boardwalk trail that leads to a camping area nestled in a grove of huge second growth hemlock, spruce, and cedar. It's an interesting site as some of the huge stumps still have the springboard notches clearly visible. Loggers used the springboards for support as they cut the tree with two-man cross cut saws.

We had planned an evening of running and walleyball in town but decided to have a campfire and relax at the site instead. We grilled chicken and took in a spectacular sunset. It's paradise.

July 14th

We awoke to fog as thick as pea soup. The radio dispatcher in Petersburg informed me that it had already begun to burn off up North and that sunny skies were on the way.

We usually take the long drive to Thom's creek on Sunday - a long slow drive over rough roads to two sites that see very little activity...meaning that we usually have very little work to do once we arrive. I decided to let Jack work on his Japanese homework and make the drive myself.

As usual, it appeared that the site had been used only once or twice in the last week, although there were two guys fishing from the bridge. I took the opportunity to drive the road to its end, or rather where the alders grew so thick that it woukd have neen hazardous to my truck to push through. I saw a bull moose on the way back to camp. I almost hit it as it ran from the brush, giving me an opportunity to see the huge creature up close before it disappeared again into the alders lining the road. A few miles later, I surprised a black bear at the side of the road. It nearly jumped out of its skin when I came around the corner. is amazing how much bears resemble humans when they move. It must be the fact that their limbs bend in the same direction. This bear looked exactly like a guy in a bear suit as it jumped into the woods - not all that different from Jack as he climbed onto the float on the 4th.

Later that afternoon, we had dinner with several friends at their waterfront home. They are having a hovercraft built by an Australian engineer in their huge garage. It was a fascinating process, involving the hand construction of fiberglass molds for the craft's body, engine cowling, and motor mounts. At its completion, it will carry 14 passengers and weigh in at roughly three tons when empty. They plan on using it for site-seeing trips in the area as a supplement to the guided bear hunts that he leads.

We headed home under yet another incredible sunset.