Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Take a bear to lunch today

I went bear viewing Monday as part of training for a temporary, part-time gig I got with Emerald Air. I'll be helping them out for a couple weeks in September and thought it would be a good idea to go on a trip and see what they do first hand. The owners, Chris and Ken Day were great. They've been guiding bear-viewing trips in Katmai National Park and in the Preserve for two decades and have a wealth of knowledge about the area and bears. They're meticulous about every aspect of the trip to assure the safety of their clients and the bears. I had a good time and we saw many bears. Here are some photos from the trip.
Peace

The flight in was on a 1960 de Havilland Otter. Flying time was about an hour and a half. We even had to fly over the rainbow to get to the bears.


Augustine Island, where Augustine is still steaming from its last eruption in 2006.


Follow the tracks.


Mama and babes.



Babes following their mum.

Hey! Who are you? Spring cubs are curious but one snorty grunt from mama sent them running back to her.


Chasing fish in the river.
Here fishy fishy!


Got one!!


Yum.

6 comments:

BarefootBeat said...

Never in a million years would I do that. Beautiful pics though.

yukonmusher said...

very cool pictures

Kathleen said...

Thank you for taking us with you on your bear-sighting adventure. They are amazing beasts!

Kathleen said...

Thank you for taking us with you on your bear-sighting adventure. They are amazing beasts!

Alaskan Dave Down Under said...

Very cool. Love the one with the salmon.

Arvay said...

Beautiful shots!

Either you have a pretty powerful camera, or you are much braver than I am in getting that close! :)