Outside of Chichagof – Part 4

Wednesday July 18
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Piehle Passage with Blue Circles Marking the Waypoints

We got up early to go through a narrow, rocky passage at low water in order to see more of the rocks. Then we cruised in open waters of the Gulf of Alaska until we reached Kalinin Bay on Kruzof Island.

What Bears are Supposed to do when they see Humans

We had heard there was a hike to Sea Lion Beach on the outer side of the island.  We stopped by Northern Wanderer, the boat that had been in the same anchorage and whom we had followed through the rocky passage.  Larry told us to expect to see bears and we said we did.  We left at 3, not knowing how long the hike would be.  There were only boot prints in the mud at the beginning of the trail; that was reassuring.  However, within 10 meters, we saw relatively fresh bear scat and then more and then more.   We walked along an estuary and saw about 7 bears on the other side; they bolted into the forest as soon as they saw us.

Lake on Sea Lion Cove Walk

Then the trail went through a mature Sitka spruce forest.  We talked loudly and blew our whistles to prevent any bears from being surprised by our appearance.  The trail went up a pass and became a boardwalk over a bog – more scat on the boardwalk but no prints in the mud.  Urs stopped to take lots of pictures; I observed the flowers.  Then we came to a lake with lots of deer prints in the sand.  We’d been walking about an hour and both started to wonder how much farther it was to Sea Lion Cove. Another 45 minutes and we finally reached the outer coast.  It was a beautiful, wild, sandy beach with breaking waves.  The sun was out and so were the black flies.  We sat down for some water and crackers and then turned back.
[More after pictures.]

Boardwalk through the Bog
Water Lily		Water Lily Pond
		Sea Lion Cove E
Alaska Violet		White Bog Orchid

Back at the estuary we saw 7 grizzly bears, which immediately ran away. Shortly before we reached our dinghy, we saw two bears, between us and the dinghy. These two were apparently 2- or 3-year olds. They did not run away. Urs took some pictures. They still kept on feeding on the grass. We talked loudly and whistled. They still didn’t leave. We heard Larry blow his boat’s horn, either to warn us or to scare the bears. They still didn’t go. We saw Larry and Bill from another boat coming toward us in their dinghy. Bill blew his air horn. The bears only looked curious. Finally, Larry fired his rifle. Then the bears ran into the forest. When we walked along the trail, we could hear them huffing and could see them – that was the scary part.

We finally got back to the boat much later than we had planned. We were tired and covered in bug bites.

No Evidence of Human Remains in Scat		Bears Calmly Grazing between Us and Our Dinghy
Was that an air horn?!! - Raven Song in the Background