What, me bearanoid?

I know many of you think Brad is a bit "over the top" taking a shotgun on this trip. But believe me, bears are everywhere here. Just a few minutes ago on the Sitka rock station they announced a bear alert for the Sitka Historical trail that runs past the raptor center. They said there has been an unusually high amount of bear activitiy on that trail and that any sightings should be reported immediately to the Sitka visitor center. This is a trail that the wharfinger who came by yesterday (to check our boat in) said we should be sure to do.

While it is true we have only SEEN about half a dozen grizzly and black bear live and in person, and fortunately not too closely, we have seen signs of them on many of our forages into the forest. Please rest assured, it's not like Brad WANTS to shoot them, it's just that he wants that option if all of the other options fail. So if it comes down to somebody getting hurt and the choice is between us or them, we'll choose saving US every time!

One day we were delighted to find a USFS dock and shelter along the Lisianski Strait - more about that later - called Bohemia Shelter, part of the Tongass National Forest. Brad got out his trusty iPad and, using the TOPO app, found a trail to an old copper mine and beyond to the other side of Yakobi Island to the Pacific Ocean.

We geared up and headed out: me, with noisy bear deterrent in hand (a Fresca can with a few small pebbles inside which makes one heck of a rattle - It's all in the wrist!), a marine air horn clipped to the chest strap of my backpack (which emits a blast loud enough to wake the dead and deafen anyone within a 50' radius!), and bear spray at my right hip (should I need to spray it in the bear's eyes assuming I can still aim when I'm scared shitless and shaking like a spastic AND assuming I am UPWIND) and Brad, with his Pepsi can rattling system in hand, his bear spray in his coat's breast pocket, and shotgun loaded with alternating 00 buckshot and hollow-point slugs slung over his shoulder. We were armed, loaded for bear, and ready for action!

The trail was non-existent or barely visible at best in many places so it made for more of a scramble than a hike which is just the way I like it. Sadly, Brad's arthritic toes started bothering him so we only made it about halfway to the mine. On the positive side, we saw lots of bear sign on our way out. (On the way in we were too busy concentrating on finding a suitable route to notice.) We saw big paw prints in the mud, hair on a tree as the bear rubbed past it, bear scat, and claw marks on a tree. Maybe carrying a shotgun wasn't all that crazy?

Bear claw marks on tree

Bear hair on a tree (Brad's leg in background for contrast)

Bear paw prints in the drying mud

Closeup of a paw print with can for sizing

A few days ago we hiked a delightful trail from Kalinin Bay to Sea Lion Cove. 5 miles roundtrip on mostly well-maintained trail. Again, we geared up for bear country with spray, shotgun and such. Holy smokes! Do these Alaskans like to build board walkways and fallen log staircases! They have the swampy bits covered by long, single-board walkways. (God forbid our boots should touch the moss and muskeg!) I think the narrow boards really piss off the bears though because we've seen several places where the bears have ripped the boards to shreds. My theory is that they just can't keep their paws on the boards as they saunter along - their hips and shoulders are just too wide - so they fall off and take it out on the boards. Geez! I think they need some anger management classes!

Claw marks from bear with issues

Sea Lion Cove faces the Pacific Ocean. It is a truly lovely sandy beach with wonderful, surfable breaking waves. I SO wished it was 30 degrees warmer so I could do a little body surfing. (I would have had to do it naked as I didn't bring a suit, but wouldn't that just be a hoot??? There was a surfer's camp there so I could have borrowed a board. Too bad.) Instead we took naps laying on a wide drift log, basking in the sun (but with ALL of our clothes on) like turtles glad to see a little sunshine.

We noticed LOTS of bear scat on this trip and found it interesting that the vast majority of it was deposited along the estuary part of the trail. When we left the lowlands and headed upslope, the frequency of deposits dropped off considerably - almost to none. Apparently bears are lazy and just not that into any gratuitous physical exertion (unlike me) unless absolutely necessary. We saw roughly about 10 deposits in 2 miles once we were up more than 20 feet in elevation.

Bear poo with Fresca can for sizing

On the way back to our boat, we decided to take a count. In the last half mile of trail (which goes along the estuary), we counted 44 separate and distinct piles of poo! The scary thing was that two of those piles were NEW ones. They were NOT there when we walked in about three hours earlier and they looked quite different from many of the others: dark purple, unconsolidated, with obvious berries in them and of course very fresh! Most, but not all, of the others were consolidated and green. They actually looked like compressed grass clippings. So definitely different bears frequent this area.

FRESH bear poo - note the berries!

Brad was a real hoot during this section of the trail, both going in and coming out. He had forgotten to take his bear deterrent noise maker (the Pepsi can) so he was doing a lot of talking. "Damn it bears! Stop using our trail as a toilet!" he bellowed as we proceeded down the trail. On the way out he got a bit poetic as we counted scat which allowed us to not lose count but also to keep those blasted bears on notice too:
...
"40 - Oh, Lordy!"
"41 - Counting poo is fun!"
"42 - And there's more poo!"
"43 - "More poo than a person ought to see!"
"44 - "And no more."

He had the next rhyme ready to go but alas, he didn't get to use it: "45 - And we're still ALIVE!"