Monday, June 14, 2010

Haines Day

Despite our plans, we never left Haines. It was nice to be on land again, without rain. We found a state park with views of two glaciers across the Lynn Fjord, and picnicked. We then went to two museums, a presentation by the Bald Eagle foundation, and three grocery stores. The match between the number of activities and grocery store visits was an accident.

The previous evening on the ferry Nick went out for a final cigar break and lucked out. Nine humpbacked whales spouting and rolling. One went airborne and came down with a huge splash. No pictures of that event. Too dark and the camera was packed away.

We will try to get more photos into this blog. Right now there are some connectivity problems to be worked out.

Dinner calls.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for your journal of travel adventures. We love it and look forward to reading more. Here’s a bear tale for you.
    Tuesday I was running a trail on a cliff high above Hetch Hetchy lake in Yosemite.
    As I turned onto a narrow ledge, I found myself face to face with an auburn colored bear about 15 yards ahead. The bear must have heard me coming because it already had its front paws in the air as it sat up on its haunches, coming to the height of my shoulders. I stopped abruptly and tried to make myself as large and menacing as I could. The bear wasn’t impressed although we engaged in a staring contest and neither of us budged. I realized that the bear and I were both trapped by the steep cliff dropping below to the lake on one side and the overhang of the cliff on the other. One of us needed to back off along the ledge. After a few minutes I slowly backed up about 20 yards to give the bear more space. With that it completely lost interest in me, dropped down onto all fours and munched on a plant at the edge of the ledge. After a few more minutes it ambled towards me and stopped to feed on some other plants before continuing slowly in my direction. Each time it advanced, I backed up to keep about 30 yards separation. Finally I had to back around a turn and could no longer keep an eye on the bear. I waited about ten minutes and when it hadn’t come forward, I started back. But the bear was no longer on the trail which had emerged from under the cliff overhang. So I was able to continue my run up to Rancheria Falls.
    This bear story might give you a model for your tale of encountering your first grizzly.
    Elizabeth and Tom

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  2. oups, my comment does not apply to the bear story but the humpbacks... in case of doubt!

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