The lupins down low are way high - like around mid-thigh high, but the ones up high are low, like ankle high-low. Make sense? Generally, stuff grows HUGE in Alaska, but when you get up to the alpine areas, I noticed that the flowers are very short and scattered. It's a very harsh environment.
This was a peak over the edge to the east, down into Sadie Cove - a fjord that runs many miles back into the Kenai Mountains. This was too steep to hunt, but looking at it satisfied my curiosity. BTW, I have seen numerous mountain goats and bears on the opposite side from my boat down below.
Now this is what I came up for! A nice grassy slope, which is superb for spring bear hunting. PJ and I saw numerous bears using this area - but that was about a month ago. Would they still be here? My plan was to watch it, as if on deer stand, for the next twelve hours. It proved to be a grueling feat. On the way up, between all the rain and the morning dew on the vegetation, I was soaking wet. I was chilled from sweating too. Up here, it was in the 40's I'm sure, with all clouds and some wind - so it didn't take me long to get cold. I packed light, just in case I had to pack a bear out - so no extra clothes. Everything I have is wet. What I'd give for some dry socks right now. I watch. I take cat naps. I take my wet socks and boots off and put them in the wind - hoping they will dry. I wear one wet layer and take the other two off, hoping they will dry a bit in the wind. And then a squall blows in and undoes anything that I have accomplished. Periodically, clouds blow in and I can't see a thing. Then it rains. Then it clears. At one point, it clears, and there is a bear out on the hillside across from me! I judge that he is 700 yards away, straight downhill. Now I have to judge the bear - to see if he is worth going after. There aren't any cubs around, so I can safely assume that it's either a boar, or a young sow without cubs. One of the signs of a big bear is that their ears look small in proportion to their head - and in this case, the ears look medium to large - so I'm guessing this is roughly a two hundred pound bear. It's early, so I continued to watch - hoping that this would be a good sign of more to come. This bear disappeared and reemerged somewhere else three times - so I was able to track it over the course of several hours.
Below is San Juan Island and bay - and this is the place where PJ and I discovered this bear spot from down below. If you look closely, there is a reflection of a cloud in the bay, and near that, there are three boats moored. I know, they are small - it's a long way down.
There is a cool raptor that keeps soaring right by me; I'm not sure what it is? It's big like an eagle, but behaves more like a hawk. The tail is white, but the head is not. The wings are dark, but there is a white spot on each side. He's been hunting the marmots, and they keep whistling to each other -warning of the danger. I need to get out a bird book and figure out what this bird is.
Numerous times, I had to get up and walk to stay warm. I'd go to the other side of the mountain, where I had reception, and do a little texting with my peeps. Then come back when I felt warm enough to last a couple more hours. I pass the time, eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cookies, m&m's of course, and lots of fruit. What I did pack up was a gallon and a half of gatorade - I knew I'd need it. I sweat alot here. It's humid, but not the hot sticky humid we have in MN. You sweat, but you feel cool at the same time. At least I do...
I'm hopeful that more bears will come out; that's what keeps me enduring. When PJ and I watched from below, the bears became more and more active between 6 and 9 pm, but by 9 pm, all I have seen is a coyote messing around down below me. I realize that if I killed a bear at this point, I might miss the next high tide coming at 2 am (remember- my boat is beached) - so I begin my trek back down - thinking I will hunt along the way, and maybe see a bear in the big bowl on the way back.
The sun is setting in the distance, and I thought one of the stone piles looked cool, but pictures rarely do things justice...
It's 11 pm, and now I'm back down into the trees. I can't help but wonder the status of my boat. I can hear the tidal waves crashing down below. Is it still there, or did the tide pull it out? What would I do if it were gone?
Wouldn't you know it, as I get closer to the bottom, I find several fresh piles of bear crap that were not there this morning when I came up the trail. I emerge on the beach to find my boat still there, what a relief, but it is still beached, and I wind up waiting 90 minutes for it to float again. Then it's back across the bay, get the boat on the trailer, and get some sleep. This has been a learning experience. I now know how to access this good bear hunting spot - though in the future, I will go earlier in June. I also know to wear rain gear on the way up, and pack some extra dry clothes just in case. And, I will be more careful with my boat. No more beaching it when unloading. I guy can do that work with knee high boots or waders...
Finally, to add insult to injury, I arrive at the B&B to find a huge pile of bear crap square in the middle of the driveway! I WILL kill one if I have to shoot it off the deck :-) You'll see...
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