This Month's Newsletter:

• Trips filling up: 7 Pass, Martin Creek
• Special Lodging Offer: McCarthy Lodging Included
• An Alaska Bear Story: Seven Bears for Seven Sisters!
  

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Group Trips with Spots Available

Some of our group trips are filled up but we have a few spots open in a couple of treks for people interested in joining a group. If you have your own group of three or more then we can still schedule a trip for you at various times during the summer, but get your reservations in now before the calendar gets too full.

We have a Seven Pass trip (July 12-19) and an August Martin Creek Exploratory trek (July 31 - Aug. 7) that have a few spots left. If your interested in making a reservation for one of these or another trek, give us a a call soon.

Special Lodging Offer

There are a lot of logistics involved when planning an Alaska trip so we've decided to take one item off the list for our clients. For groups of three or more we will offer lodging at the Lancaster Backpacker Hotel at a 50% discount. So we'll pay half your lodging and take care of all the reservations details for you. So all you have to do is get to McCarthy and we'll take care of the rest.

If you have questions about lodging or other details just give us a call or send an email.

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Close Encounters: Seven Bears for Seven Sisters

Okay it was only five and they weren't really sisters but the bears numbered seven.

It all started last summer with a group of five lady school teachers from Virginia on a grand adventure to Alaska. We were doing the Donoho Lakes Glacier Trek which is always a good bet for seeing a bear. The ladies weren't too sure if that wanted to see a bear or not - at least not without the use of high powered binoculars.

After a day of exploring on the Root Glacier we set up our camp on the edge of the glacial moraine. One of the nice things about the spot is that there is a metal bear box there.

I think it was around dinner time when they first showed up - a black bear and her two cubs. The bears were working their way along the ridge and eating berries. They saw us, which was good, but weren't all that interested. They looked like they would just pass on by on their quest for berries.
So it was a pretty low stress encounter - well okay, for myself and the other guide it was. But the group was fairly excited.

"Do you think they'll come back in the night?"

"What should we do?"

"Aren't you guys worried?"

I told them that sure they might come back to check us out but probably not.

	On the Root Glacier - Donoho Peak behind

It was time to gather up the food and personal items for the bear box. Believe me, nobody needed to be told twice to put all their smellables in the box. We were all saying our good nights and I was heading for my tent which was set away from the group. I snore... rather loudly I am told.

That's when the bears reappeared on the ridge. They milled around in the brush for a while before once again ambling away. The conversation among the group now shifted to a discussion of guard duty and sleeping in shifts. Thoughts of sleep were banished.

We assured everyone that there was no cause for concern and that we certainly would lose no sleep over the proximity of the three well behaved bears. The school teachers seemed unconvinced. Various attempts were made to persuade me to move my tent a little closer. No one seemed concerned about my snoring any more.

But they didn't come back and we had a restful night free of furry visitations.

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The next day we traveled, not on the ice, but overland to our next camp - a beautiful spot with stunning views of glaciers, icefalls and huge peaks including Mount Blackburn. Our camp was all set up and we were out enjoying a delightful evening when someone spotted a bear.

Pam pointed off to the left and said "look,it's a black bear." And Kevin, the other guide said, "Naaaaw I think it's a brown bear."

"No it's a black bear, look"

"No it's definitely a brown bear"

Then I realized that Pam was pointing off to the left and Kevin was pointing off the right.

There were two bears! One black and one brown.

These bears were really far off however so the anxiety level was a lot lower this time. Also having survived the first encounter, the group was slowly gaining some confidence.

	Making our Way Across the Ice.

Finally one of the bears wandered off and the other was so far off that his entertainment value was rapidly diminishing. So off I went with Renee to the cook tarp to work on dinner. We looked up and there was... ANOTHER bear.

But this time he was up close and personal at about 20 yards away. We stood together and waved out arms and spoke in reassuring tones to make sure the bear knew we were there.

He barely looked up at us as if to say "Yeah I see you guys, trust me I could smell you a mile away. But don't bother me I got berries to eat."

And he went about his business with no interest in us at all. He soon wandered off. This was turning into a bear viewing safari.

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The next day we put the crampons back on and head out onto the Kennicott glacier. It was a chilly and windy day with a light rain part of the time. At the end of the day we were still several hours away from the other side of the Root glacier so we set up camp at the only possible spot - right on the ice.

But this was all part of the plan. We always take an extra sleeping pad when planning to sleep on the ice. People are a little surprised to find that if properly prepared you can sleep comfortably on solid ice.

Everyone was happy to turn in early that night. I was under the tarp with the other guide cleaning up the dishes.
We were getting food into the bear canisters that we carry.

Kevin said "You're not too worried about bears out here on the ice are you?"

"Oh no, not really"

"Nah."

A few moments later I looked up and there, not 30 feet away was yet another brown bear strolling right through our camp.

I whispered"Scott... Scott"

But he wasn't responding.Then I realized it was probably because his name wasn't Scott. But in the excitement of spotting another bear I just couldn't seem to remember what it was.

So I just pointed and whispered "Bear!"

That worked.

We watched him lumber along and out of our camp. We let everyone know that if they weren't tired of seeing bears that there was another opportunity to be had.

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	Looking back across the Root to Kennicott

The ladies piled out of the tents and were happy to see another bear. The group had so much experience with bears up close by now that they were considerably less stressed. Of course it helped that the bear was already walking away from us.

He was pretty far off when someone took a picture of the bear and the flash went off. Boy that got his attention. He didn't know what that was all about and he sure didn't want to stick around to find out. He turned heal and cut out at a trot across the ice and was soon out of sight.

The next and final day of our trek passed without a single bear sighting. I wish I had some pictures of all these bears but they usually showed up when the light was fading or else when I didn't have my camera on me.

I almost always see a bear on the Donoho trek, but seven bears in five days was a record.

If you like bear stories maybe I'll tell you about my very first close encounter with a grizzly. But that's a tale for another day.

See you next month.

Greg Fensterman

907.350.3710

info@trekalaska.com    -     www.TrekAlaska.com


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