Dave had been kayaking in Alaska many times before this trip and had consequently grown accustomed to living with bears. But Kris, Leslie and I (Michelle) were a bit apprehensive about the bears. Baranof Island is part of the Alexander Archipelago, which has the highest concentration of brown bears in the world. The brown bears on these islands are larger than the grizzlies on the mainland because they have access to many rivers full of spawning salmon, so you can understand why we thought so much about bears.

One key thing about being in bear country is to do all you can to never startle a bear, because that’s what puts them in defensive, and sometimes offensive, mode. Since we were traveling in a group of four, we had very good odds that we wouldn’t have a dangerous bear encounter because we’d make more sound and smell a lot stronger than a single person would. But it was also important to make extra noise when walking in the woods, and we all did our part to “mark” our territory around camp perimeters. We hung our food high in trees and took care to keep the kitchen area tidy. Besides these precautions, we also had guns–a necessity if you ask any local. Dave and I had a shotgun and bear spray, and Kris and Leslie each had handguns and bear spray.

We saw several bears on the trip. Here are the bears we saw, which we named as we went along:

Ferry Bear
We saw the first bear from the ferry, on a beach, likely eating seaweed since it was a little early for salmon and berries. After this, I sort of thought we’d see bears frolicking on the shore throughout the trip as we paddled along. That turned out to be a silly idea, because the bears much prefer berries and salmon to seaweed, and there’s no time for frolicking since they have precious few months to store up fat for the next winter.

Fleeing Bear
It was a few days into paddling when we saw our first bear from the kayak. Dave, always watching the shore for wildlife, spotted a brown shape and pointed it out to me. When it moved, he got out the binoculars. It was a bear on the shore of a grassy inlet. It ran behind a bush when it saw us coming, then looked at us for a bit before disappearing. We’d been approaching the area to stop for lunch and so we continued to shore and ate our lunch, eyes searching the bushes all around. The bear was gone for good.

Napping Bear
A few days later we were taking a rest day, sitting out a storm. We were in our tents taking a nap, and at one point Dave and I heard something big sort of stomping through the bushes. It sounded as though it was approaching camp and then stopped just outside camp, paused, then crashed away. It was definitely not a deer, and the only thing it could have been was a bear. It made me feel better that as soon as it smelled us it ran away. Dave said that’s how most bear encounters go.

Reading Bear
Later, on another rest day, Dave and Kris decided to go out to fish. Leslie and I decided to sit by the fire and read, both of us being involved in very good books. We read for a couple of hours, and when the guys returned, they asked us if anything exciting happened while they were gone. When we said no, Kris pulled out his camera and showed us pictures of a bear on a beach, peeking out of the tall grasses, then standing up in the tall grasses, making the grass appear quite short. They saw that bear just down the beach from where Leslie and I were reading, oblivious to the bear. It had probably circled around camp, because later we saw fresh evidence of a bear on the opposite side of camp. Kris and Dave made sure when they were paddling up to shore to point the boat between us and the bear, and when they got close to shore the bear ran off. I will say that Leslie and I had our bear spray, and she also had her handgun, right beside us.

Beach Bear
Little Port Walter has a salmon research station run by NOAA at the mouth of the river. Instead of letting the salmon run up the river to spawn, they have a fence that keeps them at the entrance, and they collect the salmon for research every few days. With salmon hovering at the mouth of the river, it’s a sure place for bears to catch an easy meal. The researchers try to keep bears away using various noisy methods, but once a bear catches an easy salmon there it’s a lost cause. We set up camp on the opposite side of the river from the station, near an area where they stored equipment for the research station. Early in the morning, Kris was out with his camera taking pictures on the beach, the rest of us asleep in our tents. We were woken up by Kris, in a loud, firm voice saying, “There is a BEAR on the beach. There is a BEAR, FOLLOWING me, on the beach.” As Kris came up into camp he continued to announce his presence, letting us and the bear know exactly what he was doing. We got out of our tents and went to back Kris up and see the bear.  (I was too slow, the only one not to see this bear.) This was the only bear so far that didn’t run away when it saw or smelled one of us. This bear had one thing on its mind: easy salmon breakfast. He was making his way around to the river, which he eventually did, making himself a nuisance and eliciting some yelling and firecracker booms from the researchers. It seems that when bears interact with and get used to the smells of humans, they become less afraid of them, especially when driven by the hunger of fasting all winter. Always have your bear spray or gun with you, and always announce your presence in a calm, firm voice to let the bear know you’re human and so that your camp mates can come show their presence as well.

Swimming Bears
After rounding Cape Ommaney, finding protected places to land the kayak and flat places to camp became difficult for a couple of days. Dave and I were investigating a cove one afternoon, looking for a place to call it a day. Most of the shore was rocky, steep, or too thick with brush. At the back of the cove was a small island, about 100 feet from the shore. As we were paddling between the island and shore we saw bushes shaking on the tiny island. As we got closer, within 50 feet or so, a bear pops its head out and looks at us. The bear then started huffing and puffing, frantically looking at us and looking to the shore. The bear obviously felt trapped and threatened on this tiny island that was the size of a house. As we were passing by, a cub stuck its head out as well, and we realized why the big bear was so worried. Just after we paddled through the narrow passage between island and shore, the mama and baby jumped into the water and swam to shore, then crashed their way through the thick bushes and disappeared up the hill. We were quite glad we didn’t encounter those bears on foot! But watching them swim was a beautiful and wonderful thing.

Fishing Bear
We’d heard there was a river that empties into Port Banks where bears like to fish for spawning salmon. It’s a good place to see them because there’s a waterfall right by the mouth of the river where the bears fish, and you can safely watch them from the water. That’s just what Dave and I did. There happened to be a French film crew there, filming a documentary about the world’s oceans, including the salmon spawning. They had a big boat tied up to both sides of the narrow cove right at the mouth of the river, so Dave and I simply hung on to the rope and watched as salmon after salmon jumped up the short falls, and the bear at the top swiping a huge paw to catch one now and then. The bear would take the salmon into the bushes to eat, and then return to the water to watch for and catch another salmon.

 

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