So first order of business after getting back to camp and selecting a tent-site was to have a group meeting with the “new arrivals” and the staff. There were five of us in all coming in. The meeting was was to lay out all the rules we needed to follow to keep us safe, as well as keep the bears safe. Things like, when the bears are within 10 feet, don’t shuffle your feet, don’t back up, no quick movements. Taking pictures is fine, but no zippers, velcro, flaps, or changing lenses. In other words, if the bears are close, stand still with whatever is in your hand and wait for them to move off. This one becomes important later on.
But more rules, all food stuff stays in the cook cabin, unless it’s your lunch/snacks that you take out with you during the day (since we would be going out for 8 to 10 hours each day away from camp at the various viewing areas). You needed to bring food and water, but leave nothing behind. The key is to not have the bears associate humans with food. This was easier than it sounded probably since the natural food sources are plentiful in the area. But it’s still a strange feeling sitting there eating a peanut butter sandwich while 30 feet away two 1,000 lb bears are fighting it out over half of a fish. No going outside of camp by yourself. If you see a bear in camp, blow the air horn first, then take pictures; don’t take pictures first and then blow the horn. We had to get our own water from the creek that ran out behind the base camp, probably about 1/4 mile walk outside of camp, you had to go in pairs and if you saw bears active nearby you had to wait. (no worries there) Then probably the most important one; listen to your guide!
I’m sure I’ll think of more, but those stand out right now. One of the other great luxuries at the camp was a sauna for decompressing at the end of the day. I’m going to have to build me one of those someday!! Anyway, at the end of my first day I decided to try out the sauna. I volunteered to go last since I was still working on getting settled in, eating, downloading cf cards, the fun stuff. It was the last day of June, so saying it got dark is a little bit of a stretch. As Ellis Paul sings in Alice’s Champagne Palace “You step on the concrete, gazing at the midnight sun” was definitely the appropriate song running through the head. If it wasn’t overcast, anyways.
So I hit the sauna around 10:30 pm or so for my turn to unwind. It was one of the warmer days I spent in the bush, felt like low 50’s still. After getting toasty in the sauna , I decided to spend a moment alone of reflection staring out on the bay at low tide; several industrious bears digging for clams along the flats. I was standing at the edge of camp at the “lookout” area for lack of a better term. There were a few sitting logs on the edge of camp overlooking the bay, the gateway to the trail head to Mikfik, McNeil and the land of the brown bears. And there I was, outfitted in t-shirt, sweatpants, flipflops and my towel, at ease.
Watching the bears was such a surreal experience, still hard to believe I was even standing there among them. One bear caught my eye off in the distance. She was a good 1/4 mile away probably, a medium size female I would have gauged looking back now compared to the other bears we had seen. Maybe pushing 600 lbs or so. She caught my eye because she was walking straight toward me. She was still so far off though, so I was half joking with myself when I spotted her that she was making a bee-line toward me. But she just kept walking, she then disappeared behind the rock spit that split the bay out from the beach. Not surprising she popped up over the top and right down the near side, still making a beeline. At this point I started to take in my surroundings, everyone had pretty much turned in for the night and here I was, no air-horn alone with the bears. (technically I hadn’t left camp so I wasn’t breaking any rules, but quite frankly that didn’t comfort me too much in the moment).
I recall thinking (irrationally of course) that it seemed like she was sort of pretending to be grazing to throw me off. She would be eating grass as she went, but she never actually stopped to eat, almost like she was going through the motions to say “see I’m just grazing and it only seems like I’ve been walking straight at you for the last 1/4 mile.” At this point I was locked into this. Remembering the list of rules from earlier, she was too close for me to be shuffling my feet, doing any quick movements or slowly removing myself from the situation. I basically just stood there as she walked within about 10 feet and then suddenly veered to the right where she became preoccupied with some wild flower/grass mix. So I stood there quietly still amazed and overwhelmed by the surrealness of it as a 600lb Alaskan Brown Bear chomped some rabbit food, giving me a precious glimpse into her wild world. Just the two of us (yes, you should be singing that song right now, “just the two of us, we can make it if we try, just the two of us…..”). After about 10 minutes she had started to mosey off, leaving me behind.
I took this as my turn to step off the log and quietly head to my tent, richer for the experience. Anyways, I didn’t have a camera with me to commemorate this visit, so this is one of my favorite shots of one of the female bears we came across in our visit. I hope you enjoy.
- Canon 50d, ISO 400, Canon 100-400L @ 400 mm, f8.0, 1/400 sec
nice post. thanks.
Great article