Kenai, Alaska: Fishing For Bears -- Another Alaskan Tall Tale?

The people in Alaska enjoy Fishing For Bears. Or rather they fish and the bears feel comfortable with 'taking' the catch. The bears are not really interested in people, just the fish people catch.

Let me start at the beginning and then I'll tell you about -- Fishing For Bears...

My buddy Dave & I went salmon fishing yesterday on the Kenai River. Actually we were fishing at the confluence of the Kenai River and the Russian River, one of the hottest salmon fishing spots in Alaska. This area is known for its Combat Fishing.



If you are not familiar with the term, Combat Fishing refers to a uniquely Alaskan style of fishing where fishermen stand shoulder-to-shoulder and flip their lines in front of the salmon swimming upstream. Seriously, folks line the river banks on both side of the river for a mile or more, standing roughly 10-12 feet apart.

And you don't cast the lure/bait and then reel the line in. Nope, that would be fishing, not combat fishing. Here you flip the line and bait out 8-12 feet about 45 degrees up river, let the line float downstream and then pull like crazy to set the hook. The salmon are not hungry and do not 'eat' the bait, Actually they get annoyed with anything that gets in their way of accomplishing the monumental task of spawning, the first step of which is to swim long distances past all sorts of wildlife predators, then commercial fishermen using nets, then sports fishermen using fishing poles in order to return to the exact location where the fish hatched a couple of years ago.

So if you cast your line and let it drift down river properly, the angry salmon snaps at the line and, if you are setting the hook at the same time, you snag them in the mouth.

Snag them anywhere else (back, belly, tail, etc) and you have to let them go. That's if you can get them in. An improperly snagged fish usually breaks the line. Unless you hook a fish in the mouth its almost impossible to beat the combination of their strength and the flow of the river. Do it right and you have a real fight on your hands with these big fish.

When hooked properly, the salmon put on quite a display, leaping and splashing as you pull them to shore. The fish that are running on the Kenai/Russian river right now are the Red Salmon which range in size from small (5 pounds) up to large (20 pounds). These fish are huge and truly an amazing sight (King Salmon are even bigger; I saw a 59.8 pound King Salmon when we were in Petersburg).

The best part of the 6 hours Dave & I spent fishing was when a large brown bear wandered out of the woods, calmly selected a nice salmon someone had caught moments earlier, and then wandered back into the trees to enjoy said salmon. About 30 minutes later, here comes the same bear, walks along the shore, selects another fresh salmon and takes it into the woods. It reminded me of the way you or I would walk along the seafood counter at the grocery store and take a few minutes selecting the freshest and best looking fish to take home for our meal. Except his fish choices were a lot fresher than ours...

Apparently, walking out of the woods and back into the woods involved far too much effort because about 30 minutes after taking the second salmon the brown bear emerges from the woods after eating his second huge salmon and strolls down the river's bank until he finds a stringer of about five salmon. Despite a number of people shouting at the bear and someone banging pots and pans together, the bear sat down and began enjoying all five of the salmon. And there he sat for over an hour before he strolled back into the woods for a well deserved late morning nap.

When you look at the pictures I took of the bear you can almost feel the fisherman's frustration of losing the fish he had worked so hard to catch.

This bear reminded me of the politicians who run our country. He only took a part of what the people had earned by working. Just like politicians know if they take all of our money we would quit working for them, the bear was careful to take just enough so people would keep working on his behalf. By just skimming off the top keeps lots of people coming out and fishing hard & in the process make sure the bear is well fed.

All those pictures you see of a bear standing in the freezing water waiting for a fish to leap into his mouth or chasing a fish through ankle deep water must happen in areas where fishing is restricted or prohibited. Bears are too opportunistic to work that hard when they can steal the fish -- from a person or another animal.

Seriously, the state of Alaska is working hard to reduce the number of bear/people interactions however its difficult to make that happen when the bear and the people are drawn to the same item like moths to a flame. The state has reduced the number of fish cleaning stations so any waste (basically anything other than the salmon fillets) can be thrown into the fast moving river.

And the Kenai River is fast. Wander too far into the current and you will be swept away. The current flows so hard that it can be harnessed to move the people ferry across the river; no engines required, thank you.

It seemed everyone was out fishing as the banks were literally filled with people standing 10 feet apart. And there is apparently more skill required than first meets the eye. I walked about a mile along the river and paid close attention to the stringers where people keep the fish they catch. You would go past five people in a row who had no fish on their stringer and then the sixth person would have 4 or 5 big salmon on his stringer. And then I realized that each of the fish on that guy's stringer had swum past the other fishermen, none of whom had the skill/equipment/luck to catch any of those fish. And yet the sixth guy had whatever it takes to catch fish and was well on his way to fulfilling his daily limit of six fish. Really amazing.

Oh, so how did Dave and I do? Lets just say the bears were disappointed with the results -- however I plan to keep Fishing For Bears.

See Ya!

Kenai, Alaska: Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge & RV Park

Anchorage has been experiencing a period of excellent, warm & sunny weather for the last couple of days. Can't really call it a heat wave if the temperatures just make it into the mid-70's. That said. mid-70's in Alaska is somehow different from mid-70's down south (south being a generic term for anywhere in the US outside of Alaska).

Perhaps mid-70's seems warmer in Alaska because of the contrast with the cooler temperatures that exist September through May. I'm not sure why but it's true. Today was another glorious day with lots of sunshine albeit a little hazy across any distance.

Yesterday while out exploring Anchorage on my own I stopped at a

couple of wildlife sanctuaries, mostly bird flyways where migrating birds flock in great numbers in the spring and the fall. Not as much happening there at this time of year but a lot of fun in any case.

Today we moved to Cooper's Landing on the Kenai Peninsula. Cooper's Landing is near Kenai Lake, a beautiful aqua marine colored lake. From here we'll be able to explore Whittier, Portage, Hope, Soldotna, Kenai, Ninilchek, Homer and Homer Spit. Home Spit is a 5 mile long sandy spur that extends from Homer out into the bay. Just a few hundred feet wide in many places, that area offers some of the best Halibut fishing in Alaska. And that's saying something...

Dave and Mary Anne are staying at an Alaskan State Park right on Kenai Lake; truly a beautiful spot. However there are no hookups and MLA enjoys her hook-ups. Maybe we'll slide over there for a couple of nights late next week.

We are staying at the Princess Wilderness Lodge & RV Park. Princess seems to own a lot of the sea/land cruise market here in Alaska, especially if you are interested in staying in Alaska. They have several Wilderness Lodges and a multitude of excursions you can take all over the state. Really quite impressive. The RV Park is OK, the view of the mountains are really something. Located on the Kenai River, the lodge has terrific views as well.

I plan to go salmon fishing tomorrow and maybe catch the fireworks display in Whittier, which is held at midnight on July 3rd or technically at 12:01 am July 4th. Have to hold the fireworks late at night since it doesn't really get that dark.

See Ya!

Anchorage, Alaska: Another Great Birthday In Alaska!

I lived in Anchorage 48 years ago; my dad was in the Air Force & was stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base, which is located just outside of Anchorage. We were here for two years and went home a year earlier than scheduled when my grandfather was dying from cancer.

Otherwise, we would have been here in Anchorage for the 9.2 magnitude earthquake that occurred on Good Friday in 1964. I remember seeing that earthquake's devastation on TV from my grandparent's home in Maryland; very strange seeing the destruction of your old home on TV while you are safe and sound in a new location.

In any case, we have a picture of me, in our Alakan home with me in my PJ's & looking fresh from my bath, celebrating my 5th birthday by blowing out the candles on my birthday cake as my little sister, Dana, looked on. There is a very Norman Rockwell-ish feeling to the picture, at least to my eyes.

Who knew, 48 years later, I would once again celebrate my birthday here in Anchorage, Alaska, only a few miles from were we lived in 1961?

Yep, today is my birthday and I've been milking it for all it's worth with my dear wife, Mary Lynn. You know how the (not) subtle hint goes... "Hey hon, you could get me that (fill in the blank) for my birthday?". A few days go by and, hoping she has forgotten about our last purchase "for my birthday", I make the same request for something else. She's so sweet she pretends to have forgotten about the previous 'birthday purchase' and she says yes.

In any case, I had (another) great birthday here in Alaska. Am I lucky or what?

Speaking of earthquakes and feeling the earth move, there is a web site you can visit to read about the last few earthquakes that have hit Alaska. Go to www.aeic.alaska.edu/Seis/recenteqs/index.html and you can track them yourself. Always interesting, slightly more interesting & less academic when you are actually standing in the center of one of the earth's most seismically active territories...

In Southeast Alaska we had a 3.3 magnitude earlier today, a 4.1 yesterday and a 5.5 magnitude earthquake 5 days ago on June 22, 2009. Actually, MLA and I were driving just outside the town of Willow, which was the epicenter, when that earthquake occurred. We were in the RV moving from Talkeetna to Anchorage, and even though a 5.5 is a pretty good jolt, we didn't feel a thing. Or I should say we didn't notice anything unusual. When you are driving down the road in the RV it sort of bounces and bumps along anyhow, so we just chalked the earthquake up to a little 'road noise'.

In fact, we only found out about the earthquake when our son called about an hour later to see if we were OK. "What earthquake?" was our reply!

We spent time exploring Earthquake Park, where an 8000 foot by 1500 foot piece of land slid into Cook Inlet during the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake. Hard to comprehend just how powerful earthquakes are and how disorienting it is to humans when their world starts moving in ways most of us consider impossible.

Many people talk about the ground moving in waves, or rather, watching waves roll through the earth, even through hard surfaces such as sidewalks, etc. People said the Good Friday earthquake of 1964 scrambled their brain; seeing things happen around them they (previously) knew couldn't happen simply overloaded the brains ability to deal with the events.

The last few days we've been in contact with a lot of family and friends; it always great hearing from everyone and getting the latest updates on what's happening 'outside'. I spoke with my Aunt Charlotte and when she heard I was in Anchorage, she reminded me about my Great Aunt Ruth's daughter, Dot, who followed my mom to Anchorage in 1961. Dot ended up meeting and dating Mel, a guy my dad worked with at Elmendorf AFB They were later married.

When I spoke with Mel earlier this week he told me, after dating DOT in Alaska, she returned to Maryland and he returned to Louisiana when his tour of duty with the Air Force was completed. After a couple of weeks he went to Maryland to see Dot. As Mel puts it "I moved to Maryland to see if things would work out with Dot.. we've been married now for 48 years... we should know in another couple of years if it's going to work out...". They are a great couple. In fact they have had two RV's and put over 100,000 miles travelling throughout North America.

We still have some additional activities/sights we want to see in Anchorage: the Anchorage Museum, the Aviation Museum, the Native Heritage Museum and the Northern Light Theater. I'll let you know how it goes...

Thanks everyone for all the cards, phone calls and happy birthday wishes -- it always means a lot!

Hey Hon, maybe we can get me a wide-angle lens for my birthday....

See Ya!

Anchorage, Alaska: Welcome To The (Only) Big City In Alaska!

We spent two days in Palmer, Alaska before moving south to Anchorage. In Palmer we met up again with our friends Dave & Mary Anne, and met their friends Norm and Susan, who live in Palmer during the summer and live at Palm Creek (Casa Grande, Arizona) the other half of the year. What a great couple.

Norm has a penchant for stretching the truth that has long been an Alaskan tradition. Story telling is a long established tradition here in Alaska (long winters???) and since everything in this state is so big, whenever early settlers embellished the truth their stories end up sounding possible but mighty implausible.

Alaskans refer to these stories as "windies"' or the "Alaskan breeze". In any case, Norm is an accomplished story teller, weaving true stories on the history of the area with 'windies' so carefully we had to look to his wife Sue for the truth. Whenever Norm launched into one of his 'windies' Sue would just roll her eyes, something she had obviously perfected over years of listening to Norm entertain friends and family.

We had a great time with them. Norm took us up to Hatcher's pass and the Independence Gold Mine, which is now an Alaskan State Park. The mountains at this time of year have a spectacular beauty, covered in so many deep shades of green you could mistake it for Ireland if not for the height and steepness of the mountains. The night before it had rained in the lower valleys however here at Hatcher Pass that translated to a light dusting (1 inch or so) of snow at the tops of the mountains.

The top of the pass commanded at sweeping view of the mountains all the way down to Cook Anchorage and Cook Inlet, a distance of at least 30 miles.

Independence Gold Mine was yet another monument to what 'gold fever' does to men. In this case, mining for gold was accomplished in the traditional underground process of digging shafts and tunnel through the mountain chasing quartz seams that contained gold. In fact there are over ten miles of tunnels throughout the mountain.

These tunnels yielded millions of dollars worth of gold over the years until the mine was shut down in 1942 due to WWII. Remember, gold's value was fixed at $32/ounce during all the time that mine was in operation. Recently gold was selling for $975/once, so in today's dollars that $1 million would be worth ~$30.5 million.

There were several attempts to restart the mine after the war however, due to a number of factors including environmental impact, none of the reopening attempts ever panned out. In the late 1980's the mine and the property were donated to the State of Alaska to be developed as a state park. Today it's a fascinating glimpse of life at a gold mine.

This particular mine was considered one of the best mines to work for. Salary, housing, working conditions and quality of the food were the best available at any mine and miners considered themselves very fortunate to sign on with the Independence Mine.

Guided tours are available and well worth the $5 per person. The tour guides are all volunteers (mostly unpaid so be sure to tip them) and they take you into a number of the buildings not normally accessible on self-guided tours. Plus our guide, Derrick, had lots of great information and stories that he shared with us. Like many of the summer help in Alaska, Derrick is from the lower 48 and the call of Alaska proved irresistible to him. He just graduated from University of Minnesota Duluth and accepted this unpaid volunteer guide position both for the experience and with the hope it will lead to a job with the state of Alaska.

Mary Lynn and I have found these tours typically are a good value and Derrick's tour didn't disappoint. He gave us a much better look at what life was really like for the men and women working at the mine. Not a bad way to live, except for that part about descending into the dark, dank, dusty and dangerous depths of hell in search of gold...

All in all a great day in an area with great scenic beauty.

We had planned to extend our stay in Palmer however the campground owner's proved impossible to deal with; both were certifiable nut cases. The owner's wife screeched about how "you people from the lower 48 need to learn..." and her "that's your problem" lack of empathy combined with the anal retentive behaviour of the owner proved to be too much. He actually measures how long people park their car in some locations... walking around the campground with a little clipboard writing down infractions... I tell you, you can't make up stuff this hilarious.

In any case we left for saner pastures and are now in Anchorage for the next week or so... Lots to see and do here so I'll keep updated.

Last night the campground had Mitch Seavey, the 2004 Iditarod Winner come in and talk with us. He brought along one of his sled dogs, Rocko, and one of the puppies from his breeding program. Didn't think we'd be able to pry that little puppy from MLA's arms.

Mitch's talk was extremely interesting; MLA has developed a keen interest in the Iditarod. Coming to watch the race may be the only way I get her to come to Alaska during the winter.

Today we went to the Earthquake Visitor Center that has a 10 minute film shown in a theater that allows them to re-create the earthquake during part of the film. Did a pretty good job of shaking us around.

Later we watched a film (in a different, non shaking theater) about Alaska. The movie was made in the 80's on film; it desperately needs to be re-shot in digital HD. Despite the graininess and the poor color it was still quite interesting. Some of the shots were filmed from a helicopter and the lady introducing the movie said certain scenes would rarely cause someone to get motion sickness.

That said, every row had a plastic bucket sitting at each end just in case someone got sick. They seemed awfully well prepared for something that rarely happened however everyone in our showing managed to get through the movie without any ill effects. I did notice a few people who closed their eyes during the flying scenes however.

The rest of the museum had pictures of what Anchorage & Valdez looked like after the Good Friday earthquake of 1964. Just amazing more people were not killed by such a tremendous earthquake. It was 100 time larger than the 1906 San Francisco earthquake that nearly destroyed that city.

All in all a good couple of days here in Alaska.

See Ya!

Talkeetna, Alaska: A Wild Wilderness Jet Boat Trip

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Yesterday was rainy and cool; perfect weather for curling up with a good book. Mary Lynn and I love to read, especially about the history and people of the area we are exploring. We stop at almost every visitor center we see; they are packed with lots of great information and displays plus they always have the obligatory gift shop/book store.

Given the high cost of books multiplied times the number of books that appeal to us, you could quickly break the bank buying them brand new, especially at visitor center prices. Instead we take note of the titles/authors and then look up on-line at www.amazon.com and www.half.com.

Amazon is a tremendous resource and they have 1000's of book sellers as their partners. Whenever you do a search for a specific book they show you the price of that book from all the resellers, both new and used copies plus any shipping. Amazon stands behind these book resellers if there is a problem; we have never had a problem. No problem other than our obsession with books, not the best habit when you are trying to travel light in an RV.

Another great resource is Half.com. These folks have great prices on lots of items including books. In fact our kids use Half.com for hard to find (and expensive) college text books. The savings can add up pretty quickly.

Both of these booksellers will try to aggregate your purchases and use

media mail, which lowers your cost. You just have to be patient as media mail takes a week or so to make it to your door. Expedited shipping, always a tempting offer, will kill you in high shipping costs. Patience wins the day! Always tough when you are visiting a location/area a book is about...

Today Mary Lynn and I took a Jet Boat Tour organized by Mahay's Jet Boat Adventures. They organize wildlife viewing and fishing trips throughout this area on Talkeetna, Susitna & Chulitna Rivers.

We were originally scheduled to go our our trip yesterday however at noon it was still rainy and misty so we called and rescheduled for today (Sunday). Wouldn't you know it; yesterday it quit raining in the afternoon and by the 3 pm departure time the weather was beautiful. This morning we woke to beautiful weather and by 3 pm it had changed to overcast and cloudy -- go figure. Locals say weather predictions can't be trusted; just schedule and go...

Anyway, our trip included all three rivers, ending with the beautiful Chulitna River Gorge. The Jet Boat is probably the only way to see the Chulitna River since it is a multi-braided river with lots of shallow areas.

In addition to lots of birds, mostly Bald Eagles, we saw an Athabascan native village and an old fur trapper's cabin. The Athabascan villages were small, the land would only support a small number of people in any one area. Whenever the tribe reached a population of 25 or so they split into two tribes and went their separate ways.

It was interesting to note that our naturalist/guide strapped a shotgun over his shoulder -- another reminder that we are in a very wild part of the country. Sometimes all the attractions & exhibits start to take on a Disney like feel and then you notice people carry guns as casually as people in the lower 48 carry cell phones. Definitely not your everyday Disney experience...

The trapper's cabin was one small and dark place. A small door you almost had to crawl through and no windows. Trappers spent a lot of time outdoors running the trap lines and working the skins they harvested and I can see why. You would spend a lot of time outdoors too rather than spend a whole (9 month) winter in one of those cabins.

As usual, the cabin had a cache located high up on poles. The cache was were you stored your food, furs, etc. Basically anything you didn't want animals to get into. The ladder was removed and stored against another tree -- never on the ground. In a place that gets snow frequently and in large volumes, anything left on the ground would quickly get covered and 'lost' until the spring thaw.

We also saw a 'Beaver Deadfall' trap, which is basically a large log balanced on top of a small pole. The beavers cut through the pole (in about 3 minutes) and the large log falls on them -- instant beaver pelt. And since beavers in this area get upwards of 100 pounds, some mighty fine eating (so I'm told). Any excess meat the trappers had as a result of trapping went to feeding the dogs. Beaver meat is actually high in fat content and is a favorite of Iditerod racers to feed to their dogs.

The boat ride was a lot of fun as the driver really put the speed and turning ability of a jet boat on display for the return trip. Definitely recommend taking this tour.

In fact, our bus diver is the General Manager for Mahay's, a fella named Mike. He moved up here with his new bride in 1971. Great guy. He tells the story of how he came back from Vietnam, swore he would never touch another gun, moved to Alaska, staked out ten acres and began building a log home. No experience -- no knowledge -- just the determination to make it work. He and his wife lived in that cabin until she became pregnant for the second time, and in a time before Pampers, declared she wanted a home with running water. So they moved from the bush 20 miles into the 'big city' -- Talkeetna, with a population of 300. Today the population is 800. Just a different view of the world. Mike was a delightful guy to talk with. Made you feel as if you had known him all your life -- or wished you had...

Tomorrow we pack up the RV and head south to Palmer, Alaska to re-join our friends, Dave & Mary Anne.

Along the way we will pass through Wasilla, Alaska which has a Super Walmart Center. Good thing since we need to re-stock on a few basics... Who knows -- maybe we'll see Alaska's Governor, Sarah Palin out shopping -- she lives in Wasilla, Alaska. Can't wait to see Russia from her front doorstep...

Regardless of what folks in the lower 48 think about her, they love her here in Alaska. Everyone you talk to simply refer to her as Sarah and then they launch into a long lecture about all the good things she has done/is doing for Alaska -- who knew?

As you know I'm mostly interested in Alaska wildlife sightings however its my duty to report any Sarah sightings should they occur...

See Ya!