Day 16: July 6, 2009

"Knock knock."  

"Who's there?"

"Control freak.  Now you say control freak who."  --Andy Schroeder

Andy made breakfast hash this morning, and then we headed out onto Camp Island to pull orange hawkweed.  The hawkweed is an invasive species on the island, and it threatens the pushki plant which makes Camp Island a natural bear habitat.  The plant is a member of a dandelion family, and it grows fairly close to the ground.  In thick waist-high vegetation, the tiny flowers were difficult to find, but we returned to the cabins with a few hundred plants.

After lunch, we decided to explore a nearby mountain.  The hike was slow-going at first, as the terrain was rough, the vegetation was thick, and the climb was steep.  And, in such a remote location, there was no trail up the mountain.  So, moving in a train of 11 people, we literally made our own trail and climbed for about three hours.  After gaining about 1800 feet of elevation (out of 3000), we decided to stop and just enjoy the views over Karluk Lake, Thumb Lake, Camp Island, and the nearby mountains.  It was spectacular Alaska scenery -- again -- and we reveled in the fact that we were 11 of the very small number who'd ever been up that mountain.  (It's remote enough that it remains unnamed.)

On our hike down the mountain, we watched a few bears play and hunt in the Thumb River and Karluk Lake.  By the time we reached the shore of the lake, the bears were only a few hundred meters in the distance, so when we boarded the skiff to head back to the cabins, we headed first in the direction of the bears.  We watched intently as some ursine drama unfolded on the beach, just 100 meters from the skiff.  A mother with three newborn cubs headed in the direction of a larger sow with two older cubs; the smaller mother was heading into the wind and the larger one was out of sight, so we were expecting a confrontation.  At about 10 meters, the smaller bear caught wind of the larger and began to retreat with her three cubs.  The larger sow (and her two cubs) took off down the beach to give chase, and eventually the two mothers squared off.  They tangled with each other for about 30 seconds and eventually retreated in opposite directions.  The encounter wasn't fatal -- or even that vicious -- but both bears moved swiftly and were quite territorial.  (In today's photos, the smaller sow is on the right, showing her teeth.)  

After our return from bear viewing, we took a quick dip in the lake to cool off and then enjoyed a dinner of hamburgers and grilled chicken, macaroni and cheese and vegetables.  A few of us also enjoyed a turn in the island banya, and then we turned in for the night.  Click below for today's photos.

http://tinyurl.com/kqy44a