Bears

I'm writing this outside a coffee shop in Wrangell, which is a tiny town on Wrangell Island in South East Alaska. I think the population is about 2000. When I hear the term frontier town it creates a certain mental image (tumbleweed blowing down the street and Clint Eastwood dressed in a blanket) and Wrangell is not far off that.

However the sun came out today and the view is breathtaking.

I had hoped I might be able to see some bears whilst stopped in Wrangell for a few days, and I was not disappointed. There is a US Forestry Service observation platform at Anan on the mainland, and it is possible to get a boat trip over there, however when the salmon are running during July and August numbers are strictly controlled by permits. So I really didn't have much hope of getting to Anan when I arrived on Sunday.

Yesterday morning I went to one of the larger trip operators and found they had 4 remaining spaces on a trip so I booked. After an hour or so on a fast boat we arrived at Anan, which used to be a Tlingit (native American) gathering place. Our guide slung a shotgun over his shoulder in case we encountered any aggressive bears, as the trail leading to the observatory is the bears' domain. After a peaceful fifteen minute stroll through the Pacific rainforest, dodging bear "droppings" and learning a bit about bears from our guide, we arrived at the observation platform. There were black bears everywhere. The smell of dead fish was the first thing you noticed, followed quickly by just how little the bears seemed to be bothered by the presence of a few dozen humans.

The reason for so many bears was immediately apparent - there is a small waterfall and the salmon were backed up for at least a quarter of a mile trying to jump the fall. The bears lazily camped out next to the approach to the fall and it was like an all you can eat salmon buffet. The bears would only be interested in the female fish, they eat the brain and roe (eggs) and discard the rest. So there were eagles and crows by the dozen trying to clean up.

Visiting the toilet was interesting as it was outside the observation platform in the bears' territory. One lady was in the toilet and had to stay there as a mother and two cubs walked right past the door. Eventually they went down to the river and she was able to leave!

I managed to spend half an hour in a photo hide down by the river which put me nose to nose with the bears. I got plenty of photos and video but the time flew past and it was soon time to leave.

However the show wasn't over as a brown (grizzly) bear appeared just across the river from us as we headed down the path back to the boat. The sun came out for the trip home and the day was complete. Some Canadians I met on the tour invited me to dinner with them and were keen to hear about the trip. They were delighted to hear I was going to pass close to their home town of Calgary and I left with some addresses and promised to stop by if I could. Leaving the restaurant I met an Irish chap who has been living in Alaska for thirty years. He was keen to find out if I supported Arsenal and was pleased to find out I didn't! But he very kindly went through some detailed maps of Alaskan roads with me, he knew them well as he'd been working on the construction of a lot of them. His parting gift was a foghorn type device for scaring off bears!

I finally got to pitch my tent in failing light at about 9.30pm. It was the end of a spectacular day and the sun was plunging into the Pacific ocean in an amazing display of deep orange, surrounded by snow capped peaks.

I leave Wrangell for the mainland tomorrow, it will take a further day to reach Skagway and start my journey in Alaska proper. But I will never forget this place or the people I met here.

Fraser.