Where the Wild Things Are

You may have seen “Fat Bear Week” in the news this week. It is a lighthearted contest to vote on the most blubbery brown bear in Alaska here at the end of the salmon fishing season. If you read about Fat Bear Week, you might have clicked through to the Live Bearcam, where you can watch a live video-stream of the bears fishing at Brooks Falls and other favorite fish-laden rivers in Alaska. The salmon season will be over shortly and the bears will waddle into a semi-hibernation when all the food is gone.

If you look at the Live Bearcam, this is where I was standing 10 days ago, and I know many of those bears by name. However I promised to share a story with you from this trip, and here it is:

On our last full day in Katmai National Park, we groggily trundled down to the chilly Gear Shed at the lodge, to get fit for waders. As I pulled on these rubbery waterproof overalls, which were frozen stiff from the cold, I felt stupidly clumsy. We climbed in a van and drove to the riverside ‘airport’ to climb up a thin metal ladder into a Float Plane that would take us to our remote and very secret destination in the wilderness. 45 minutes later we circled the mouth of a shallow river that dumped into a lake. As we cruised in for a landing, we saw there were bears everywhere.

We exited the plane in our waders, and sloshed through the water to a little island in the river. The island had tall tufts of grass, that hid anything in the center of the island. Our guide had to take a look and make sure there wasn’t a bear sleeping next to us in the grass.

We settled in as a ‘clump’ just in case a bear got too curious or aggressive, so we would look like one big animal. It didn’t take long for the show to begin. A shy young mama bear with 2 little spring cubs made her way up the shore just next to us, a teenage (sub-adult) bear peeked through the grass on the island adjacent to us, and a huge male bear started to make his way down the river, catching and chomping salmon as he slowly was carried downstream.

All day long we had about 30 bears making their way up or down the river all around us, and we could always see 5 or even 10 bears at any time, in the water in the distance or up close, and on the shores. The highlight of the day was when a very relaxed big mama bear made her way to our island with her 3 little spring cubs. She fished in the river right in front of us, as the cubs played all around us. Twice the cubs walked right in front of us, a foot or two away from us, making their way along the shore to catch up with Mama. We held our breath.

In the middle of the afternoon, Mama Bear laid down to take a nap just behind us on our tiny island. She was hidden by the tall grasses but we could hear her breathing. Then the cubs began to play, loudly squealing, growling, chuffing and snarling. It was hair-raising, but thrilling. Our guide explained that some older mama bears have figured out that since the male bears avoid humans, the mama can be around quiet gentle humans because it is safer for their cubs.

I am sure this story is alarming to many of you, if you have not read my previous emails. During the salmon run season, the bears can eat up to 90,000 calories a day, and they are so well fed that they have no interest in eating or chasing humans, unless we are loud and stupid. However, don’t try to do this on your own! Go with an experienced guide who will take you to the right place at the right time, and who has a deep understanding of bear behavior.

We stood in our Human Clump, held our collective breath, whispered in the softest of voices, and had perhaps the most magical day of our entire lives.

This is one of my photos as 2 of the 3 cubs walked past us in our last hour in this secret valley. The cubs looked us in the eye and just walked on by, safe in the protection of their mother and their human babysitters.

…sharing your love of fabric, and Nature…
Luana and Paul