Bear Country - Alaska

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Katie's uncle Don has been a bear ranger on an island off the coast of Juneau Alaska. We finally had a chance to go up and check it all out.

Juneau is a beautiful state capital of about 30,000 people, surrounded by steep, steep mountains, and salt water of the Gastineau channel.

We for camped out at the Mendenhall campground for several days and did several hikes in the mountains around Juneau, exploring the peaks and glaciers there.

Camping in the rain every night was very different from the dry, California weather we had been used to, but it was still a lot of fun, and very picturesque with all the beautiful scenery.

The highlight of our trip was our planned overnight stay at Windfall island and Pack Creek, a small corner of Admiralty Island, which has one of the highest concentrations of grizzlies anywhere, at about 1 per square mile.

Due to inclement weather, we ended up getting an extra night and day on the island, which was fine by us. We saw many different bears over our 3 days of watching, some from far away, and some that came a little too close for comfort.

Before leaving we made sure to take a boat trip to see the South Sawyer glacier in the Tracy Arms Fjord. The fjord was so unique and so different from anything in the lower 48 that it was definitely worth the effort to see, and the glacier at the end was another great spectacle.

All in all, an amazing trip. And much thanks to Uncle Don for putting up with us for a whole week. We definitely can't wait to go back.

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Photos

Mendenhall Glacier
This glacier is melting into a lake at the campground we stayed at. This picture was taken about 6 miles from the state capitol building in downtown Juneau. A good example of how this capital city is so different from any other one I have been to.

Intrepid adventurer
Uncle Don approaching the Mendenhall glacier

Under Mendenhall Glacier
The light coming through the glacier was an incredible bright blue. Very neat.

Nugget Falls
This roaring waterfall drains the Nugget glacier, which is part of the Juneau icefields.

Neat sign
A trail crew cutting a new trail found this sign in the middle of the woods about 1/2 mile from the current glacier edge. I don't know how old it is supposed to be, but it is a very obvious display of this glacier receding. I am glad we got to see it before it becomes even less accessible.

Mountain Goats
We saw these mountain goats far away on a distant summit. They looked like small white dots, but with a zoomed in camera shot, we could see they were certainly goats.

Salmon berries
These berries grow all along the trails in the rain forests of southeast Alaska. They taste a lot like blackberries and range in color from red to bright yellow. Delicious!

Bear with a fish
We were in Alaska for the beginning of the salmon run. The dog-salmon were running in full force, and the bears were getting fat and happy from their favorite food source.

Giant Tree
This is one of the most interesting trees I have ever seen. There are 6 or 7 branches that are the size of full trees growing from the one main trunk. It is hard to describe, and even these pictures don't do it justice.

Mocha and her cub
We saw this bear with her cub just about every day we were at Pack Creek. The cub was born this year, and will stay with its mother for at least one more season before striking out on its own.

A huge male grizzly
This bear came out of the woods on our last day at Pack Creek. Probably the largest bear we saw all week at about 600 to 700lbs. He didn't seem to like that we were on "his" turf, and approached us to within ten yards, trying to show that he was the boss. Looking back it was very cool, but at the time Katie and I were both basically terrified.

Bear Track
A bear track next to my size 11 boot. This is a track from the large grizzly we saw on our last day at the island.

South Sawyer Glacier
At the end of our Tracy Arm Fjord boat trip we came to the South Sawyer Glacier. We saw lots of ice "calving" off the glacier.

Katie on Ice
Walking up to Gastineau peak on our last day we had to cross a few snowfields, that were still several feet deep, even at the end of July.

Gastineau Pk.
Just before our flight we figured why not hike one more mountain? A picture of the conquering champions, 4000+ feet above the Juneau airport.