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September 5, 2009, a Saturday
Chugach NF (Cooper Creek S) to Homer (Skyline Dr), Alaska, USA
— Birthday dinner in Homer, and recalling my encounter with Kara the brown bear
[My log entry for today got deleted somehow, so I didn't have as many details to work with as I usually do.]
We had a normal breakfast then left with me in the RV and J following in the Jeep.
We stopped at the turnoff where we had parked last night for the brown bear, then walked up to where we had photographed the brown bear. We waited, and a brown bear came out of the woods on the far shore way too far away to photograph. We waited some more, then returned to the RV. We hooked up the Jeep to tow, then headed south along the Sterling Highway.
We reached Homer and stopped at the Safeway to unhook the Jeep. We left in the Jeep and headed ...
To the Emerald Air Service office on the second boardwalk down the Spit. We are scheduled to go on a bear viewing flight with them tomorrow over to Katmai National Park, and we had to fill out the paperwork to sign our life away. :) I have gone out on bear viewing flights with Ken and Chris Day, who are featured in the IMAX movie Bears, on each of my previous three visits to Homer. They are great guides and great people! On my first visit in September 2001, I was on their last trip of the year because my scheduled trip on September 12th (the day after thee September 11th) was cancelled. We flew over to Katmai National Park in their de Havilland DHC-3 Otter and landed on a small lake that some people call Triangle Lake. [It's now known as Crosswind Lake.] Two cinnamon brown bears came into view as we were disembarking. After watching them for a while, we started walking across the tundra to look for more bears. We came across Kara, a three year old female eating berries. We stopped to watch her from maybe 45 yds (41m) away, and when she was done eating and rolling around in the tundra, she slowly walked straight over to our group and me in particular. She stopped right on the other side of my tripod and sniffed one of its legs. During the briefing, Chris had said they'd take action if the bears presented a threat, so I figured that if it was OK with them that a brown bear was less than 4 ft (1.2m) away from me, then it was cool with me too! Kara backed up, then went to the end of the group where Ken was standing and sniffed his glove. Then she came back to my tripod and carefully tugged at one of the legs with one of her very large claws. I was tempted to reach down and pet her. At that point, Ken said something like, "That's enough Kara. Pulling on a tripod isn't nice." Kara backed away and left. It was a totally awesome encounter! Later, Chris told me that I was only the second person whom they had let a bear approach so close, so it had been an extra special encounter too.
We went back to pick up the RV, then headed up to Skyline Drive where we were told we could boondock.
We found a nice location with a spectacular view and parked the RV. We left in the Jeep and went ...
To the Homestead restaurant at 5:59 to (belatedly) celebrate J's birthday. It's about eight miles (13km) east of Homer, and is one of the best restaurants I know of in Alaska. I had the Pesto Halibut and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, and J had the special yellow-tail rockfish served Cajun style. The halibut was pan seared, and was the moistest halibut I've ever had. :) Had a slice of Chocolate Decadence for dessert and J had a piece of Carrot Cake.
We left and continued heading east to look for moose. We didn't see any, so we turned around and went back to the RV.
We had a normal breakfast then left with me in the RV and J following in the Jeep.
We stopped at the turnoff where we had parked last night for the brown bear, then walked up to where we had photographed the brown bear. We waited, and a brown bear came out of the woods on the far shore way too far away to photograph. We waited some more, then returned to the RV. We hooked up the Jeep to tow, then headed south along the Sterling Highway.
We reached Homer and stopped at the Safeway to unhook the Jeep. We left in the Jeep and headed ...
To the Emerald Air Service office on the second boardwalk down the Spit. We are scheduled to go on a bear viewing flight with them tomorrow over to Katmai National Park, and we had to fill out the paperwork to sign our life away. :) I have gone out on bear viewing flights with Ken and Chris Day, who are featured in the IMAX movie Bears, on each of my previous three visits to Homer. They are great guides and great people! On my first visit in September 2001, I was on their last trip of the year because my scheduled trip on September 12th (the day after thee September 11th) was cancelled. We flew over to Katmai National Park in their de Havilland DHC-3 Otter and landed on a small lake that some people call Triangle Lake. [It's now known as Crosswind Lake.] Two cinnamon brown bears came into view as we were disembarking. After watching them for a while, we started walking across the tundra to look for more bears. We came across Kara, a three year old female eating berries. We stopped to watch her from maybe 45 yds (41m) away, and when she was done eating and rolling around in the tundra, she slowly walked straight over to our group and me in particular. She stopped right on the other side of my tripod and sniffed one of its legs. During the briefing, Chris had said they'd take action if the bears presented a threat, so I figured that if it was OK with them that a brown bear was less than 4 ft (1.2m) away from me, then it was cool with me too! Kara backed up, then went to the end of the group where Ken was standing and sniffed his glove. Then she came back to my tripod and carefully tugged at one of the legs with one of her very large claws. I was tempted to reach down and pet her. At that point, Ken said something like, "That's enough Kara. Pulling on a tripod isn't nice." Kara backed away and left. It was a totally awesome encounter! Later, Chris told me that I was only the second person whom they had let a bear approach so close, so it had been an extra special encounter too.
We went back to pick up the RV, then headed up to Skyline Drive where we were told we could boondock.
We found a nice location with a spectacular view and parked the RV. We left in the Jeep and went ...
To the Homestead restaurant at 5:59 to (belatedly) celebrate J's birthday. It's about eight miles (13km) east of Homer, and is one of the best restaurants I know of in Alaska. I had the Pesto Halibut and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, and J had the special yellow-tail rockfish served Cajun style. The halibut was pan seared, and was the moistest halibut I've ever had. :) Had a slice of Chocolate Decadence for dessert and J had a piece of Carrot Cake.
We left and continued heading east to look for moose. We didn't see any, so we turned around and went back to the RV.