Moose Highway

Tom's View Part 3

Today started great!  Driving along the highway and Sandy is commenting how she thought the moose should be a bit more "apparent".  Then, while I'm at 55 miles an hour, she yells out: "Moose!"  I dutifully slam on the brakes while she rants on about this moose taking a bath in a pond down below the highway.  Of course, in slamming on the brakes the car stalls and we're in the middle of the road with a car coming at us.  Now, one would think Sandy was concerned about all this - but she's still yelling out: "I saw a moose!  I saw a moose!"  Fortunately the car starts, I back up, and Sandy takes pictures.

Our plane ride was interesting, but short-lived.  We heard a bit about Chris McCandless - the nare-do-well who died a week before moose hunters happened by his bus.  But the clouds are everywhere, so eventually we head back.

That sends us to Denali National Park.  It is 6,000,000 acres big, but you can only drive a car 15 miles on the only road in the park.  So we stop and take a hike along a stream - but with families and kids in front and back, we're not holding our breath for anything like a bear or a moose.  So we head back to the start and take a hike to some pond.  Coming out, I (yes, finally "I" get to spot something) see a moose heading into the woods across the street.  And in the words of Chris McCandless, it is then that we go "Into the Wild".

There's a road on one side and railroad tracks on the other.  We hit the road and follow the moose into the woods.  Sandy then goes around the woods and I continue through.  I get to the railroad  tracks just in time to see the moose go into the woods on the other side.  So we decide to "head it off at the pass".  We enter the woods and find Moose Highway.  How do we know?  Because a careful moose tracker can see the telltale signs, that is - if said tracker doesn't step in it (if you know what I mean).

So we decide to wait on Moose Highway to see if said moose passes by.  Indeed, I look at Sandy and she is waiving frantically at me - which I figured out meant that the moose was 50 feet behind me.  She just wants me to get out of her camera view.  The moose keeps going toward the road, and we get out just in time to watch him cross the road and stick his head into the woods on the opposite side - like we can't see the moose butt sticking out!












 Anyway, he's gone now and Sandy wants to go back to Moose Highway and wait for the next one to happen by.  I confidently tell her that that is silly - it's not really a highway.  We go and of course, then along comes a "sow" (Mom) and her two kids.  So we track them back to the railroad tracks and then cut through the woods to the next road, and there they are again, looking straight at us.  We must really be a pain in the side to these mooses (technical term meaning many moose).

Back when we were on Moose Highway, I told Sandy that if another moose came along after the first one, then we should become moose hunters.  (I really did!)  Then along comes mom and kids.  In the future, please contact us at MooseHuntersAreUs.com, or call 1-800-EatMoose.

 

Moose

This morning we left early to fly over Mt. McKinley.  On the way to the airstrip we spotted a moose having an early morning bath in a pond just off the road.  We stopped and interrupted his morning ritual to take a few pics.

We had a very pleasant flight, unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and we didn't make it all the way to McKinley.  We will try again Thursday.

So, we spent the day in Denali National Park.  After hiking a few trails, Tom spots a moose and the adventure begins.  Following are some pix from our hunt, later Tom will provide the narration.

Tom's View - Part 2

Sandy tells me that a picture is worth a thousand words.  Well then, the last posting of pictures is worth many thousands.  One would think that is enough, but being a lawyer . . . well, enough said!  Here are a few more words.

Da Bears are amazing animals.  We watched them interact, and it was great fun.  At first, there were two bears both grazing in the grass and gradually getting closer.  Finally, one started running at the other one, who ran away.  Then they both stopped, and the "lead" bear stopped with this pose like: "Here I am, you done or not?"  Looking back all the time.  They played cat and mouse for a while, and finally the pursuer turned and went the other way, and the bear in front dropped to the ground, apparently exhausted from having run a good 30-40 yards.  Life is good on the "tundra" when all you do is eat and wait for the salmon run, when you eat even more.

Our cabbie, Joey, tells us that spring bears are pretty skinny but better tasting (really, they eat bears here?), but fall bears are not as good tasting but fatter.  If 30 yards of running wears you out, I'm thinking by fall you are going to be pretty plump.

Speaking of Joey, we learned that you can sign up for a lot of quotas here.  Two bears a year, a "sow" (female bear) every other year, etc.  Oh, and best of all - you can sign up for the "Road Kill" list.  He says that when it's your turn, they call you and whatever is "on the road" is yours.  But whatever, you have to clean it up.  Gee, where do I sign up?

Into the Wild

Tom contemplating going "Into The Wild"

We flew out of Homer this morning into Fairbanks, rented a car, and made our way to the Denali area.  We are in Healy, Alaska which is just outside the entrance of Denali National Park.  We hope to take a flight seeing view of the mountain tomorrow morning.  Just outside Healy, we stopped at the 49th State Brewing Company, where the "Into the Wild" bus is on display (the bus from the movie, the real bus is actually still deep in the wilderness).  Into the Wild was a book (and also movie) based on Jon Krakauer's account of Christopher McCandless' trek (and death) through Alaska's backcountry.  Healy was one of the last stops McCandless made before he took up residence in the Fairbanks City Transit System Bus 142, located 20 miles into Alaska's mosquito-infested tundra, where he ate poison berries.  For those of you who haven't read the book, just visit BooksBySam.com for a copy of the scarce, hard-to-find first edition book. 

Flying to Katmai

Volcano

Kachemak Glacier

Glacier

Kenai Mountain Range

Volcano

Yesterday's flight to Katmai was almost as exciting as hunting for bears. In a small, 6-passenger plane, we flew over the Kenai Mountain Range which is absolutely breathtaking.  Then we made several passes around the Kachemak Glaciers.  On the way home our pilot (who was also our bear guide) flew us into the top of a volcano (inactive).  It was stunning.

Da Bears

First bear sighting at Katmai National Park

Sandy at Katmai National Park

You brought Oreos, right?

Sandy following the bear trails

Tom before we take off

Praying bear

Tom and Sandy viewing bears

Two male grizzlies

Just as we were leaving, we spot an Eagle

Momma bear and her cub

Tom's View

Day 3.  Three days since we left Indy, and at least that many stops at Starbucks.  (You may recall that for Sandy's blog for our trip to Switzerland her first picture was at a Starbucks.)  Here in Homer, we have become the taxi company's biggest customer - we're fast friends with Jake and Joey, the cabbies.  Joey picked us up at the airport and after a brief stop to drop off our bags, he took us to the Salty Dawg Saloon.  Every square inch of wall, ceiling, post, you name it, is covered with $1 dollar bills.  Sort of sets the tone for our stop here.

Hardest part of the trip so far has been getting used to the 4 hour time difference.  That alone would not be so bad, but combine that with sunrise being at 3:30 am and sunset being at 12:30 am (yes, am), it gets to be quite confusing when you wake up at what you think is 7 am, and it makes sense until you find it's really 3 am and the sun is starting to rise.

As Sandy said, we did go foraging for moose yesterday.  Can't be much fun to be a moose.  First, you have that funny name.  Then you stand around in 2 feet of marsh to eat.  On the other hand, we had an excellent breakfast of smoked salmon (surprise there) and cream cheese in a nice little bakery called Moreau Bakery.



The Time Bandit

Then off to Halibut Cove.  On the way out of the harbor we went by the Time Bandit - a fishing boat that is one of the "stars" of the TV series "Deadliest Catch".  That show takes place a few hundred miles west of here at Dutch Harbor in the Western Aleutian Islands.