Last night we finally got to our tent around midnight. Between the adrenaline rush of seeing bears and late nights, my body is tired. This is the last day of the film crew being with us and it sounds like tomorrow our time at the pads will be shorter.
We were up by 8 and had breakfast before the briefing. Once again the film crew requests to leave by 10:30 and we all agree. Several more participants have joined. They are in our block, but due to flight challenges they were not able to make it out to start their block yesterday. Don and I feel fortunate that we not only made it on our scheduled day but got a bonus day of viewing bears.
The morning is beautiful and instead of loading up with extra layers we will be loading up with plenty of water. With some extra time on our hands, Don decides to take some photos of the camp.
There are two outhouses. One needs to bring their own toilet paper.
Very clean and serves a purpose.
The walls are covered with great comics about the bears.
We liked this one.
There are three cabins for staff and a cache for food that the staff uses.
The larger building is the cook shed where all cooking is done. There are 6 propane burners and heavy duty pots and pans that were purchased by the Friends of McNeil. Attached to the cook shed is a deck, that gives a great view of the lagoon and area in front of the camp. To the far left is a sauna which is heated up by one of the staff that stays in camp before the participants return.
If it weren’t for the bears that were waiting to be watched, it would be a good day to relax in camp. One has the option to stay and several folks did just that. Don and I wanted to take the advantage of watching the bears. Everyday has been different.
With new people in line we start our uniform hike to the falls.
It is the first day that we can see the tops of the mountains that are in front of the camp.
For once Braveheart was not waiting for us so after pausing at the top for our minute of telling the bears we are here we could proceed to the gravel pads.
The bears were out in force eliminating some of the fish.
Looking down the McNeil River.
While some bears were intent on fishing, some of the younger bears decided that playing was also a effective use of time.
Notice the two bears in the front playing.
The bears played in the water before finally making it to shore where where the play continued.
This is one of my favorite shots of bears just having fun.
There were bears everywhere and where to point the camera for the best shot was a challenge.
Each bear had its own technique for fishing and where to eat the fish they caught. This bear would stand below this rock and then when he caught one he would just use the rock like a table. Notice how he has stripped off the skin. When the fish were just beginning to be eaten, the whole fish would be devoured. Later though the skin would be stripped, the eggs eaten and the scraps left for other bears or sea gulls.
After eating it was time to wash the hands.
Several bears used the technique of standing on shore and then running into the water to do a belly flop in hopes of stunning the fish. Can’t say that this was most productive, but they seemed to have fun trying.
Often when one could see a run of fish in the water, several bears would jump in at once.
The weather was quite the contrast compared to the first day where it was cold and rainy. Today we were grateful to be on the lower pad to get some shade.
One of the bears who liked to hang out on the middle rock was called Clamps. He would fish some and occasionally get a fish. He more often though would beg for fish.
Clamps. The first couple of days he mostly begged. When another bear would get a fish, and go to the middle rock to eat it. Clamp would approach the bear almost on his belly with one of his paws out stretched as if to grab the fish. He seemed to have as much success begging as he did fishing.
After several hours of fishing this bear was ready for a rest. It seemed that the sea gull was encouraging the bear to head out and then share some food with the gull.
One bear that has shown up for several days is Gaucha. She is about 5 and has the reputation of standing her ground. There weren’t many females fishing except for the mother bears and their cubs. Apparently during mating season she had courted many of the larger males. It was always fun to see her heading down to the river.
Gaucha, she was fairly east to identify with her size and light colored fur.
And then there was Gooby bear. This was the first time that he had come to the falls without his mom and it was a huge learning curve. (I am sure he will have another name later, but this is the one given to him for now.)
Gooby liked to hang out next to the pad. He knew that most of the older bears left it alone so he felt safer next to the humans than the larger bears. When he attempted to go fishing and an older bear approached he quickly came running to the pad. Several times he was scolded by the staff to watch the boundary.
Another bear that he gave a wide berth to was the mother bear with cubs. Like we said there was no dull moments at the Falls.
We had an option of staying till 9 with the film crew or head back at 7 to camp. After several long days of getting back after 10 we all gave a thumbs up to head back to camp.
We wave good by when we get to the top of the hill.
There was a new staff member today called Greg. He had spent the last thirteen years working in bear management at Denali National Park. It was interesting to listen to the differences between these coastal bears and interior bears. In Denali, a bear that was closer than 300 yards to him was too close.
Greg and Nick stayed with the film crew and Tim hiked back with us. The bear count today was close to 47.
We were back at camp by 9 and were able to rinse off in the sauna. We even got to bed before midnight!. Another night of bear dreams.