Camping and fishing and BEARS...oh my !!

Friday, July 22nd

Our work week ended with some interesting developments. We had our highest number of campers for this season...53 (we have 92 sites) and Lori had the highest "one transaction gift shop sales" for the month of $236. If that stays tops until months end she will get a $25 bonus of "gift shop bucks" to spend wildly as she pleases and we will have to call her "Sales Queen butt kisser". 

Lori, Spaz and John Deer "bringing home the bacon"

 Also, Lori went grocery shopping !!

I know it doesn't sound like much but this was special. Fred (our boss) went to Juneau on the ferry for supplies so Lori was able to put in an order from Costco. Groceries here are very expensive so when you can stock up, you do it. The only trouble...when you order from a catalog, you don't see the size of your order and if you live in a trailer, storage is limited and the freezer is small. So even though it took the John Deer and trailer to haul it, she did manage to cram it all in the MLS thus avoiding hearing "I told you so" from me for the next 2 months.

Alaska Marine Highway ferry from Juneau

Fishing at the Chilkoot river is getting more exciting by the day. There are more salmon running up the river to spawn (there were over 1,200 counted at the weir yesterday) which makes for more exciting fishing. It also means that more bears are coming to fish which REALLY makes it more exciting.

Speedy and one of her cubs

The bears are always fun to watch, it never gets old. There are 2 sets - a sow with 2 cubs and a sow with 3 cubs - that seem to frequent the river this time of year and come and go daily. Both sets of cubs appear to be about 2 years old. Both sows have been in this area for some years, are fitted with some type of collar for research and have been given names by the locals; "BMJ" (Big Mama Jama) and "Speedy".

While you are fishing, you really have to stay alert with one eye on your pole and one eye watching for bears. They come down the hill from the forest behind you so you have to pay attention to where you are fishing and make sure you have room to vacate your spot if the "owners" come to fish there.

 

 

The bears seem to be used to having to share the river and fish with the 2 legged fishermen. They get curious and quite close sometimes but I have heard no stories about anyone being attacked. However, we have all heard about mama grizzlies (Sarah told us) and how they protect their cubs, so only a fool would get too close. I have heard lots of stories about guys crapping in their waders and losing their catch to the bears when they fling the fish to the bears in acts of self preservation or run leaving their stringers behind. None of those stories involve me but I have had to abandon my spot every day this week while they pass through. 

This is one of the Humpback (Pink) salmon I caught. They are one of the smallest members of the salmon family and some people (not me) don't like to eat them. This is how they look when they first enter the fresh water from the ocean. As they travel up river they begin to change; the males will develop large humps on their backs (hence the name) turn splotchy red and their mouths will become hook-jawed. After cleaning this female, I kept her eggs which are all stuck together in 2 separate membranes for use as bait in the lake later. The Dolly Varden go crazy for the eggs and when I fish with them, the hook barely hits the water before I start getting bites. It's tricky to get the eggs to stay on the hook but they sure do work well and we caught 4 delicious trout in less than an hour.

We decided to try camping again, this time out at Chilkoot Lake State Park. I made sure Lori did not forget the sleeping bags this time. We picked a great site right next to the lake and set up camp.

Lori did forget to bring any side dishes to go with fish or maybe she just did not have any faith in my fishing prowess. Either way, we went with the original plan for dinner, besides, what could be better than spaghetti, cold beer and a great view from your table ?!? Spaz kept us safe from the ferocious chipmunk who came into camp when he smelled our dinner being cooked by chasing him up a tree where he yelled  at us for the next half hour. The ranger came by and reminded us not to leave any food, ice chests or stoves out because of the bears and Lori slept with her can of bear spray. Luckily, we did not have any problems from them or the chipmunks during the night.

 We were treated to a beautiful sunset around 11pm and a very peaceful night on the lake. It is really wonderful to have such a nice spot so nearby to be able to "get away from it all" and enjoy...

Camping and fishing and bears...Oh my !!