Bear-ly Enuff Bears

Katmai was a once in a lifetime experience! I wish I could give you the whole thing in "sensoround". We landed on the beach in a floatplane near a grizzley sunning himself on the beach. There was some bantering between the pilot and ground crew about landing to close....but we were to get alot closer in the next two days......

We each had a back pack with a change of clothes, some of the gear and food. We set up camp and stashed the food in a cache separate from the the gear and away from the tent. The camping area has only 16 spaces and a 5 string electric fence to keep the bears away. There is a outhouse protocol for protection from bugs and bears.

Otherwise the critters have free range and the humans are given a lecture of what to do when you suddenly come up on a bear.......and When it happened....we were lucky to have Paula, Barb's sister, to calmly escort us through the situations. We had several encounters on the path where we were backed into the woods so the bear could walk by.....less than 20 feet from us. The adults are more used to the presence of humans....but teenage bears are more unpredictable...and a Mom with a cub is definitely dangerous.

We watched them sleeping, playing, fishing, swimming, wrestling,and making more bears for next spring. We learned to tell a lot about a bear from his skat (poop).

And we brought out some red, swollen and bleeding bug bites. Barb and Patty were bitten on opposite eyes...which made them look like they had been in a tussle with each other. They are still itchy and big like our chiggers or dearflys.

We flew home overnight and then we went out to look for Salmon....That will be the next blog. Please continue to pray for our safe travel and leave a comment so we know you are following us...