The Day We Did Fly!

In Alaska, so far, our experiences have exceeded expectations. We flew with Bear Adventures to Katmai National Park (number 23?) hoping to see some Coastal Brown bear - same as Grizzly but with a different diet so they are a bit larger. We landed at a beach in Katmai that our pilot, Ben, was watching for the bear to return with the arrival of the salmon. He saw three from the air so he took a chance and we landed on the rocky beach. We walked 200 yards and saw a sow and two older cubs, nearly full grown. Before we had settled in, a wolf appeared up over the dune and the bears took off chasing it, right past us. The wolf immediately went back over the dune and we did not see it race down the beach. The bears came back to the stream to fish 200 feet from us and worked their way further upstream. We watched them for about 20 minutes. Walking farther we came across two bears about 4 or 5 years old, possibly siblings, according to Ben. We moved a bit toward them and sat to watch them fishing in the edge of the ocean. They were 150 yards away at first but gradually moved toward us. When they started following the river, we went across the dunes upstream and sat to wait - the bears soon were back in sight on the opposite side of the stream. We watched them fish inexpertly. Then they became agitated. They were huffing and backing away. Coming up the stream toward us on our side of the river was a huge bear, and these younger ones knew to give him space. This bear walked 25 feet from where I was shooting photos. He continued up the stream and we went back across the dunes again. He stopped to fish and caught a salmon at once. We watched him enjoy his dinner. He tried for another one and missed, then ambled off out of sight. Back at the plane we took off from the beach into a strong headwind. Ben chose to take us over a volcano that had a deep frozen lake in the cone. Stunning. After dinner and ice cream, we returned to the trailer and, exhausted, we were quickly asleep. 

Cadillac’s Most Correct Viewpoint

I am just an amazing pilot. I had Ben sit next to me just in case. Unfortunately, Ben did not have a neat hat. I landed us on a beach. Who knew I had such a touch! The guides and a couple of others, Dave and Val, were all agog over another batch of antler-less animals. But I went to search out Moose. None to be found. Where could they be this was perfect Moosy habitat. Just as well as I am still in the R&R stage. And I needed to be at my best to get that plane off the beach. Needless to say, I did so with aplomb. And we had ice cream on the way home. No Birch though.