Capturing the Moment

  This week we made a stop on Baranof Island to check out a little creek that I thought might have some salmon in it. Turns out the coho, or silver salmon were returning to the stream in droves. And luckily enough we weren’t the only ones to be drawn to this stream…brown bears were also there. I guess coho is pretty high on their menu because when we first glanced over the stream bank we found ourselves looking down at 12 brown bears.     The huge bears were so concentrated on catching salmon that we were able to hang out on the bank without disturbing them. Some of our group were taking pictures and movies, while others were just trying to savor the moment with their eyes and ears. Bears were biting into female salmon sending bright red roe arcing out. A few times fights broke out between the bears over who gets the salmon. Usually it wasn’t the bear who actually caught it.     To have all of this unfold so close to us was a true Alaskan...

Discoveries along the way Through a patch of devils club   One part of my job this season up in Alaska is taking guests out in the bush where there is no dock, no trail except those left by game, and no real destination or goal other than to immerse ourselves in the temperate rain forest and explore. We call this bushwhacking, and it is a favorite past time for people who live in and around the forest. You can blaze you own trails and find new discoveries on every trip. I don't carry a machete because I don't want to leave a trail of destruction behind us, but I do carry bear spray.    One big aspect of bushwhacking or hiking in Alaska is that you are walking through bear country. Luckily humans are not on the normal menu so it's not like bears are stalking you as you walk. If anything they want to get out of your path or just hunker down and hide until you are gone. I make plenty of noise so as not to startle any bears, and to make sure that moms with cubs ar...

The Chum Salmon heading upstream Lining the River   Here we go! I've been looking and looking for salmon to start showing up in numbers in all the Southeast Alaska streams. It only took a closer look in Juneau to find my first salmon run! And it actually turned out to be two different runs, the chum and the sockeye! Eagles Eagles Everywhere   The first was at Lemon Creek. The fact that hundreds of bald eagles were surrounding the creek was a great tip off that something was up. A closer look at the creek showed that is was packed with chum salmon. They fought their way upstream in the creek that was only inches deep. Still they fought on. It seemed that some had either already spawned and passed on or perhaps just ran out of energy. There were salmon carcasses all around. Feasting on fresh salmon "This is my meal."    Quite a few of the carcasses could be chocked up to the hungry eagles. I got up close and personal with one juvenile bald eag...

First view of a brown bear patiently fishing   We have had a few bear sightings this summer but nothing too outstanding. Usually the bear sighting are through binoculars from the bow of the big ship. Not today. Pavlof stream seemed like the perfect bear spot when I visited earlier this summer. A short trail winds its way up along the bank of a river, past a 15ft cascading waterfall, into the huge Lake Pavlof. This trail in itself is worth the visit to Pavlof. The lake is surrounded by towering snow capped mountains and is the only place in Southeast Alaska that you can commonly see the rare Trumpeter Swan.    This trip to Pavlof would prove my earlier theories correct. The first group ashore radioed back to the ship saying they couldn't make it past the waterfall because six bears were ambling around and fishing in the river! I don't think anyone was upset that we couldn't make it to the lake. It was about as good a bear show as you can get. We added more trips asho...