To Tracy Arm again!

I tried to replicate the trip I had done with my sister a month ago again, but this time with my brother, Abe, and his wife, Katrina.  We started off with the Midway Islands, and there were lots of birds there, but no oystercatcher nests, instead, we had lots of oystercatchers!  Also a few Surfbirds, like the one above.  Is it a Longbird or a shortbird?  I wonder if they start out as boogie-birds?  

There were also some sleepy seals.

This one was very tired.  This next one was less tired, but very cute.

And we found some Black Turnstones.  They were not turning over any stones, but looking sternly at some mussels, and flexing them (with their bills).  I saw one open one up and gobble up the insides.

From there we went up Tracy Arm and saw the South Sawyer Glacier.  It was a bit more icy and less windy than with my sister, so there wasn't much of a pathway to get to the face, but we got fairly close.  Here you can see some seals in front for perspective.

And another view, but no perspective.  

We went to North Sawyer and anchored but didn't go for a walk since the tide wasn't low enough, but I flew the kite to get a picture.

Then we found some whales at the entrance, and had a few nice sightings, It was rainy.

We explored up into Ford's Terror, but it was rainy and I didn't take many pictures.  But then we went to Port Snettisham again and found a stream full of salmon, and loads of bears eating them!  The bears were accustomed to people and so we were able to get quite close, so I have a lot of bear photos.

There was a mother with three cubs, but on the second day we saw her again and she only had two.  I think one must have been lost.

Here's mama bear chasing after a salmon

And the cubs dutifully following her.

One of the cubs got curious.  Look at the size of those paws!  Bears have big paws for their size.  Why did the bear cub fall down the stairs?  ....     .......     ........   ?     ......   ........  ....?  ?  

?   ?............

...Awkward paws.

Here's a bear that got pretty close to us while we were in the canoe

And then it was trying to pretend that we weren't there.

This bear was trying to maneuver around us and watching our reaction.  There was a lot of push and retreat going on here as the bears were all trying to get to the best fishing spots and steal fish from each other, and we just posted up on the hill and watched it all.  A few bears tried to move us in a dominance move, but I wouldn't let them, and they eventually just walked past and went on to the fishing or eating grass spots that they wanted to go to in the first place.  

 It was a great trip, aside from the copious amounts of rain we had, but on the plus side we got lots of rainwater to drink and wash dishes with.  This summer is the rainiest I've ever seen.  I think its a record.  I'm going to start working my way south in a week or two and try to get back to Bellingham before the end of September.

Juneau and Glacier Bay again

I spent about a week in Juneau, and I did a few hikes that like; climbing Mt Juneau!  There are lots of Marmots on the top.

There are lots of Mountian Goats on the top too.

And here's the view of the valley.  Looking west you can see the fairweather mountains.

Then I took my friend Tyler and we headed out to Glacier Bay.  We set off for the East Arm and passed by South Marble Island, and saw the sea lions there.

Also we got some close puffins.  This one's a Tufted Puffin

And here's a Horned Puffin

Then we found a family of bears on the beach.  These little ones must be this year, and right next to them there was another family of four as well.  An 8 bear beach!  

The other family of four were bigger.  Here's mama with one cub practicing rolling over rocks together.

There were lots of bears on the beach, this one let us get real close, she's got some barnacles on her muzzle.

Then we went in to McBride Inlet.  It used to be this terrifying inlet to go into, with huge currents (they still exist) and giant blocks of ice grounded in the middle of the current (no more) and smaller (but still big) growlers bouncing off them as they flowed with the current.  Sadly there was almost no ice in the flow as we paddled in, but we had lots of current, something like 8-10 kts and so we went fast.  Then we paddled a long ways to get to the face of the glacier.  It looks like most tidewater glaciers.

Here's Tyler in front of McBride

We got out and climbed up for a better view.

And got a picture of ourselves in front

On our way out we had lots of rain and there was a great rainbow

And lots of wind too.  Going up Lynn Canal it was big waves and lots of wind and here's tyler steering the boat.  Layla held up great to the trip and despite all the rain and the big seas we had to crash through, I haven't found anything broken.  Its really rainy for the next two days and then Abe shows up and we'll go for another trip.

 

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.  

More Pictures from the trip with Rachel

These all were taken by Rachel.  This first one is to prove that she was in the back of the canoe and steering.  We were at Wood Spit and looking at icebergs that were stranded on the beach

In Ford's Terror we saw the skull of an animal that I think might have been a Wolverine.  Take a close look and see for yourself!

 I think the teeth look a lot like a mustelid.

Here's a shot of me looking like a captain, (I guess) with the glacier behind me.  Most probably I was thinking "I can't see very well and there is ice everywhere!"  This was at South Sawyer.

Here's Rachel in front of North Sawyer, looking like an awesome sister.  I guess I took this one, but on her phone.

Henry, Nora and I climbed up on a big chunk of ice in front of North Sawyer and we were looking at a bunch of glacier mud there, and waiting for the glacier to calve.

Here is the majestic Layla at peace in port Snettisham, on the last evening, just when the wolves were starting to howl in the distance.