Capturing the Moment

  Sometimes when I close my eyes and dream about Alaska I dream about a waterfall pouring out of the rainforest, with huge mountains looming far behind it, and then a bear walks out in front of the waterfall and catches a salmon. Well....that exact thing happened today. We arrived early in the morning to a place called Pavlof Harbor. It is a little bay on Chichigof Island in Southeast Alaska. At this time of year the pink salmon return to the river at the head of the bay to swim upstream and mate. And with the return of the salmon, bears from all around descend upon the stream. There also happens to be a beautiful waterfall that you could almost kayak almost all the way up to. We had one large bear come out and catch a few salmon. Then it walked straight up the waterfall, posed for a moment, and out of sight. Then two more bears came out and really put on a show. By this time we had our guests up the river in kayaks, stand up paddle boards, and our small boat. It was a pretty amazi...

Like a painting   I've been watching this family of bears for a couple years now. The cubs are just about that age where they are ready to move on from their mother's side. They are rambunctious and even a little bratty towards other bears. I saw more than once the mom swat at them after she caught a salmon and they charged in to share the spoils. Tough love I guess. Climbing the old salmon ladder Mom and cubs    This latest encounter was at the waterfall on Pavlof stream, on Chichagof Island. Being one of the ABC islands, Chichagof has a dense population of brown bears. This time of year they all congregate around salmon streams to feast on the returning fish. They need all the calories they can get to make it through their winter dormancy. Eyes on me    It is always amazing to be out in the wild, with no one else around, witnessing a wildlife spectacle. Running tours on a boat in Southeast Alaska allows me the flexibility to do things l...