Sunday, September 2, 2012

Haines grizzlies, and fly fishermen


Better weather but very cold.  Marcia lost ground on the Juneau trip and takes it easy today, hoping to get better.  I’m hoping this thing skips over me, but that seems unlikely when you spend days and nights in such closed spaces.


After a light supper, I go maybe 9 miles from Haines to the Chilkoot River inlet to see if I can find bears.


The road along the river is barely a lane each way, and the pullouts are full of people also looking for bears.  I see a cluster of people and a ranger truck and find a place to park.  As I walk toward the people I find them all walking toward me, laughing and looking over their shoulders, and someone is telling them to go stand next to a car.  A man asks the driver if they – maybe 15 of them – can get in.



I notice a grizzly I photographed earlier has emerged from the river and is walking toward us.  Then it turns and goes up the hill and disappears.  

I wait with the others and finally go back to the warmth of my car to see what happens.  In about two minutes a bus pulls up, and everyone gets on, leaving me alone. 

I leave but find a few other individuals with huge lenses watching the river at a different spot, where there is a 2nd grizzly.  I park and watch him for a while and head home, wondering about the concentration of the fly fishermen going about their game paying no attention.




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