Wednesday Afternoon:
Our flight left SFO at 6:30pm, non-stop to Anchorage. As we landed at 10pm it was still light out, a sign of things to come for a summer trip in Alaska! We hopped on a shuttle to the Anchorage Millennium hotel where we tucked the curtains in around the window to block out as much light as possible to go to sleep. (Funny note: The coldest experience we had on the trip was the plane flight out, neither of us had ever been that cold on a plane before!)
Thursday Morning...
Our pilot, Chuck Wirschem of Alaska Skytrekking called us at 8am and told us that we were on a weather hold waiting for the pass at Lake Clark to open up. He called back at 9am and told us that things had improved and he would pick us up in 15 minutes. We drove to the nearby municipal airport where we packed our luggage into Chuck's Cessna 185, a four seat aircraft that would be our main mode of transportation for the next 5 days. We took off into clear skies and headed SouthWest to the towns of King Salmon and Port Heidan.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
We flew along Cook Inlet for a while and saw some beluga whales feeding near the mouth of a river that emptied into it. Then we turned inland and flew through a narrow pass and over Lake Clark. The weather consisted of low clouds and some rain, and then we ran into fog at the south end of Lake Iliamna, so we had to land at the Iliamna airfield to see if it would get better. After waiting a bit and eating a snack, things hadn't improved, so we decided to change the game plan for the day and head east. We flew back over Lake Clark, and then out to Cook Inlet where we flew south to Silver Salmon Creek where we landed on the beach. Chuck's plane is a 'tail-dragger' with big balloon tires that make it perfect for nice soft beach landings.
|
 Eight foot Grizzly! |
 |
 |
 |
We had seen some bears from the air and we started walking to see if we could get some good pictures. Chuck brought along his shotgun and a 44 pistol for protection, but we made sure not to startle any bears as we went. We spotted one large male grizzly bear walking along a stream and eating some plants. Chuck told us that when the bears come out of hibernation they come down to the water and eat before mating later in the season. We ended up getting within about 60 yards of the one bear, which was about 8 feet in size. That seemed close enough for us (at least without any Bear B'Gone), and we got some great pictures!
|
 |
 |
 |
 Mother bear with 2 cubs |
Back in the plane we took off and flew along the coast a bit, spotting two different females, each with two cubs, as well as a few more males. Then we headed east across the inlet, flying past the town of Homer and then landing in Seldovia. Seldovia is a small fishing town that is only accessible by boat or plane. We stayed at the Boardwalk Hotel, a small place overlooking the docks. We were the only guests that night, it's not a very busy town. After a cocktail on the hotel deck we headed next door to the Linwood Bar for dinner, which was a delicious Olympic Halibut dish, very tasty! Then we hopped over the rocks on the breakwater to get to the end and some great pictures. After a few minutes we headed back to the hotel, watched a bit of a movie on the laptop, and then went to sleep.
|
 |
 |
 Seldovia Harbor |
 |
