Haines, Tour and more bears

Thursday August 6, 2009

Today we took a drive going in either direction from downtown Haines. In one direction is Mud Bay and some very pretty views, although today was quite smoky and hazy again. The other direction travels along Portage Cove to the Chilkoot River and on up to Chilkoot Lake, a beautiful turquoise lake surrounded by magnificent peaks. But they were in the smoke haze.

On this drive we were lucky enough to see another grizzly fishing for salmon along the river. We were able to watch him for nearly an hour. At times he was very close to us 20 feet, Ellen got a little nervous. So many of the pictures were taken from inside the truck or standing in the truck bed. It was entertaining to watch him cruise along the bank feeling for fish with his paws as he went, and occasionally dipping his head under water to actually look for the fish. While we watched he caught three salmon. He would then come up on the bank to sit down and eat his catch. He was wearing a radio collar so was either a bear that had caused trouble, or was just being tracked for statistics or other information on habits.

As you can see we were not the only one watching!

Smelling the humans to see if they are good for dinner!

VIDEO: Here is the big guy bobbing for Salmon

VIDEO: Catching Salmon

VIDEO: Eating Salmon

On the Chillkoot River there is also a salmon counting station. A person would go cross-eyed sitting on a chair over the river counting hundreds of salmon fighting through a narrow opening in the grate each day. 650 per day average or I think it said 64,000 since June.

We also came across an old cemetery tucked in the woods!
The river from the lake and many people trying to fish. The sign said that when a bear is on the river they get the right away. Go figure!

We had only been back at our trailer a short time when there was a knock on the door. A neighbor RVer in the park told us that someone had just backed into our truck, got out to look at the damage and then took off. So the rest of the evening was spent talking to the police and getting witness statements from the two guys that saw the whole thing. We were able to hunt down the culprit as there aren’t that many roads. We have to complete an accident report and turn it in at the police station tomorrow. Mostly we just need a new bumper, so won’t get it fixed until we return to Washington.