To Glacier Bay

I just got back to Juneau after about two and a half days out.  I went over to Glacier Bay National Park and then further out to the coast, and then came back.  

When I was out with Rachel and family, we were counting eagles, and this picture above is the most eagles I've ever seen on an iceberg.  I didn't get all of them, there are a few further over to the right that are out of the frame.

After that, I found a bear walking in the grass and it had a bunch of grass seeds on it, so I am not the only one who gets those stuck all over me.  Its a great way to spread.

And here is a bear eating mussels.  Humans can't eat these, or so everyone says.  They are full of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning.  There was a group of Russians from Sitka (long ago) who didn't know and their Aleut guides didn't know either, so they cooked up a bunch and most of the party was killed.  So I don't eat them.  But the bears do.  Here's proof

Ok, those pictures were from a short trip to Tracy arm.  These pictures are from the way on out to Glacier Bay.  There aren't any otters near Juneau, you have to go west.  At some point in Icy strait, the otters decide that this is the water they like to live in, and here is a cutie clutching on to some kelp.  He was in 200 ft of water and the kelp wasn't attached to anything, but it is like a teddy bear I am sure.  Comfort

In Reid Inlet I found some oystercatcher eggs, and these ones looked like they got washed over, because they had some glacier dust on them.  And they weren't being guarded or anything, so I think they were dead.  Later on, I found a baby oystercatcher that had been out of the egg for a little while, so I think the incubation time is over.  There is this story that the oystercatcher eggs can survive being under water, but this one might be evidence that maybe they can't survive the cold water.  Inconclusive.  

Of course it could have been from another bird.  Here is a candidate!  A Semi-Palmated Plover

I went to Lamplugh Glacier and this picture is taken from where I camped last year with Danny and Abe.  

This is from last year about the same spot and the angle is a little to the left, but you can see the ice is much retreated.  The big island of ice is gone, and the sides of the curving "bay" of ice in the above shot have opened up a huge amount.  

From Lamplugh I went over to Russel cut and found some bears!  This one was fat and happy and didn't care much about me.  It looks pretty mean in this picture....

But in this picture its a lot more friendly looking.  I think the nose in the air gives it the impression of aristocracy.  

I walked up the gentle alluvial fan and it was a nice walk.  I was very impressed by looking at the tracks all over, and there were no human tracks.  I don't think people walk around here very much because it doesn't go anywhere, but lots of animals do.  I like this picture because the ground is very gently sloped, but constantly sloped.  So even at super-telephoto you can see the foregound.

When I came back down to where my canoe was, there was another bear just over the hill.  I got a picture of it before it saw me, and then set up the canoe for a retreat, since it was aimed at me.  Then I climbed up the hill a bit more to show myself to the bear to see what it would do.

The effect was amazing.  The bear looked up, saw me, and immediately started walking towards me.  I took this as a sinister sign.

Then the bear started to flank me, and "hide" behind this grass as it approached.  This is the body language of a hunting animal.  My hindbrain recognized this, as did the pit of my stomach and my heartbeat...  This bear wanted to eat me.  How rude!  I had already suspected this bear since it wasn't so fat and also because I was alone, that it might push me or something, so I ducked down behind the hill and ran for the canoe and slithered down the almost dry stream.

I wasn't very fast going down stream, so it gained on me but I made it to deep water with about 150 feet to spare.  The bear then walked up and down on the beach and looked out at the boat, waiting for me to come back to shore.  It stayed there for the whole night, waiting.

Then I went down towards Gloomy Knob and I found a young oystercatcher, and a few puffins.

And then on the south end of Gloomy, there was a sleeping bear.  This guy was king of the beach, and king of the salmon stream nearby.  I paddled over and got pretty close but he didn't bat an eye at me.  However, when a lady bear and her cub approached the river, he got lumbering to his feet and sauntered over to tell them to go away.  They stood across the river at each other and growled softly and she finally left.  He then went over to pee on her tracks to make sure she understood territory, and while he was on the other side of the river, she popped out on his side!  So he had to chase her and the cub up the hill a ways, on a trail that I was thinking about taking myself (but I didn't go ashore).  While he was enforcing his property rights, another bear popped out of the woods and went over to the stream.  
Papa bear came back and chased this one off too.  What an exhausting life.  No wonder he was tired.

Then at Bartlett Cove there was a Grouse and baby.  I like this shot of the baby in the grass, munching on seeds and beeping at mother.  The mother would beep back.  Like sonar.  I do this sometimes while hiking with people where I hoot and they hoot back to keep track of each other.  

It rained a bunch after this and was windy, so I didn't get many pictures of the trip out to the coast, but it was beautiful, though rough.  Here is one of the arch on the west side of George Island, before the clouds descended.  The Fairweather range is in the background.

After having enough of that, I made my way back to Juneau.  I am planning on staying in Juneau for a little while, and then Abe and Katrina are scheduled to come up.