SEPTEMBER 14 MONDAY

Today it is so foggy you cannot see the lake. We had the last morning campfire and Bob cooked breakfast. Then checked the campground and toilets for one last time.

Took the camp box and all the tools and paperwork by the shop and met John and Jen and Nick (same ones as yesterday) and Preston the Ranger for lunch. Preston bought! Had a nice long visit. John gave us a chunk of halibut for the freezer.

Stopped by the store then spent a lazy afternoon by the lake. After the fog blew over it was a fantastic day - 61 degrees and clear blue sky.

Down to the river about 6:00. 8 bears again. One towards the lake, then a huge bear across the river. The last 4 years this bear has been called Gimpy because she had been shot in the butt and had a limp. Now she is completely healed and is an amazing looking bear – with no limp and a new name ….Hummer. Hummer showed up first then the two sows with two cubs each. One of the two year old cubs got to close to Hummer and she roared so loud we heard it across the river. The cub jumped in the river. His Mom and the other cub got past Hummer and jumped in too. These are the two year old cubs and it looked like the sow was letting her cub deal with Hummer on his own because he will not be with her very much longer. There were lots of people out on the road and the Ranger. It was to dark out to take pictures. The sow and 2 cubs eventually made it across the river near where we were after it got dark.






See the fish jumping?

Spawning salmon.

Bear trails.

Last sunset. Heading home in the morning.

SEPTEMBER 13 SUNDAY

Up at 7:00. Went down the river to look for bears. Didn’t find any this morning.




The pinks (humpback salmon) are spawning in the river. They are in the river along the shore lines. You can also see the leftovers from the bears. They are mostly eating the eggs and the insides. The dead fish line the banks and there are hundreds of seagulls that were not there earlier in the year. The pinks are jumping everywhere! They jump up to 7-8 times. We watched them from camp.




Drove up the Haines Highway (back towards the Canadian Border). Stopped several times along the way. Then met John & Jen the hosts from Chilkat Park and Nick from the Parks Department at 33 mile house. Best hamburgers in the area! Back to camp and built a big fire. Watched the fish jump. I spotted a mink just below “the rock” at the water line. Bob was able to get his picture. Gave away some firewood today to several campers. Did a little packing, took the borrowed canoe back and moved the guys 5th wheel into his shop for the winter for him.
Young eagle along the Chilkat River.

A little chilly out today!

Mink below camp.

Went down to the river about 6:00 tonight. No bears for about an hour then saw a bear named Clueless along the bank right below us. He is one of the collared bears and has gained quite a bit of weight since May. Across the river there was a sow with two 2 year old cubs. Then another sow with two 1 year old cubs showed up. Not a good mix! They managed to stay out of each others way. There was one more big bear back towards the lake. Back to camp at 8:30 (dark).
Nightly visitor

SEPTEMBER 12 - BACK TO HAINES

SATURDAY 9-12

I left Portland at 8:30 am and flew to Seattle, changed planes and flew to Juneau. Then I took a taxi from the airport to the ferry terminal. I arrived at the ferry terminal about 1:00.

Bob boarded the ferry at Haines about 8:30 am and left for Juneau at 9:00.
The ferry docked at Juneau at 1:30. The guy saw what was going on and knew Bob had a round trip ticket so he let us right back on. The others boarded about an hour later. We left at 3:00 headed for Haines. We arrived at 7:30 and got to camp about 8:00. It was a dark and rainy night! We made rounds in the truck tonight!

Pictures from the ferry.


Mom and baby Orca whale.

BEFORE SEPTEMBER 12

The pictures below are all ones Bob took before I got back to Haines on September 12. There are lots of bear pictures, but it is hard to pick which ones to post!

BEARS