Best of McNeil

August 29th, day 3 and it's still raining. I am tired of being wet. Even the new loner North Face tent had water around the edges this morning.

Breakfast for the Fosters was Emerald "Breakfast on the Go" . For others it was pancakes made with yogurt and warmed syrup. Still others had sausage and home fries.

We suited up at 9:00am and headed out into the cool light rain (less than the torrential of the previous day). First bear of the day was Arrdak. The guides name the older bears that they see repeatedly year after year. They keep track of all the bears and sightings hourly when out at the viewing areas.

looking across the lagoon towards camp

This is a look across the lagoon. You can see our camp in the distance.



Dora and Tony look out over the river.



XL as she approaches our group

the beautiful XL

"XL" is and extra large sow. A beautiful, very big gal of over 650 pounds wearing a perfect chestnut brown coat. A very impressive bear. XL was walking toward us along the rivers edge. We huddled closer together and stood our ground. Quietly and motionless, the only sounds were from the clicking of our cameras.

XL walked within 15' of us (Tom paced it off). A very impressive bear, huge ! She made our day and maybe even the whole 3 days, she was gorgeous.

Diamond Eyes

We hung around the mouth of the McNeil River in our usual rainy spot for a while. Had gorp for lunch. Others in the group had high deli sandwiches with lots of fixings (lettuce,tomato,onion). Found out that
 M & M's melt in the rain.

The skinny ragged looking bear is Diamond Eyes. She still hasn't grown her new winter coat.



Bob, Austin, Tom, Spencer and Dora



Hiked over to McNeil Falls to see who might be hanging out there today. The falls are approx. 2 1/2 miles from camp. Up hills and down hills through all sorts of terrain, water and mud. I slipped and fell on a muddy downhill and injured my shoulder. It stiffened up during the day but didn't slow me down. I mention this only so someone will remember years from now why I have a shoulder problem.

Brave Heart, Diamond Eyes and XL were fishing at the falls. So much fun to watch the belly flops as they jumped for a fish and see the bigger bear, Brave Heart chase off little Diamond eyes.

Brave Hearts big butt and paw

The Shake

By this time all of our camera's were acting up. Constant rain and humidity were taking its toll, error messages and battery failures caused an inability to take pictures. Cameras were working sporadically. As disappointing as this was, I found that this gave me a better opportunity to observe and enjoy the personalities of the bears. Each bear had different fishing techniques and when they dove under water and came up without a fish, the look on their faces was priceless.

The walk back to camp brought us around the Mikfik River. Again because the water is still so high from the run off. Mikfik is approx. 2 miles from camp.

Tom was a great guide. We learned about all the vegetation along the way. Saw wolf tracks, a moose antler, eagles and followed a bear path. The bear path was big depressions made by the big paws. .

Great views from high on the cliffs if it wasn't for the rainy grey skies.

What's everyone having for supper? Austin had Mountain House beef stew with left-over ground buffalo meat that Bob and Danielle had in their tacos. Frozen margarita anyone ? Thanks Spencer and Dora.

Brought Austin for the sauna experience tonight. We were the last to go and so it was dark and steamy. Our little lantern supplied the only light. We had a water fight, now Austin wants to build one out behind the barn.

Day four of our permit and it's still damp and drizzly. We guesstimate 3 1/2 inches of rain fell during our stay at McNeil.

Red fox were running thru camp. Shawn was our guide today. Left the back pack at camp because Austin stayed behind to pack up and stay dry and my shoulder wasn't moving well enough for me to get it on and off.. With just the camera around my neck, in a bag and under my rain gear, we headed for our last day of viewing.

Funny, we get to the lagoon and a bear is heading up the spit right for camp. Only 4 people were in camp, maybe the bear knew there was easy pickins'. We watched with binoculars as Tom and Tony shooed the bear from camp. Austin got a good look without ever leaving camp.



Diane, Spencer, Dora and Bill

 Not may bears around today. Saw a sow and 2 cubs off in the distance. Brave Heart was at the falls. There were also a couple juveniles near our water hole. Picture of Spencer, Dora, Bill and myself on the gravel bar at the end of our last day.

Did I mention the guys had to carry me across the lagoon again ? That's twice that the waders weren't sufficient. Spencer was a great part of my support team. Always nearby to assist and give me a helping hand. (Austin only went out on two days).

Jose' (Northwind Aviation) arrived on schedule and we all said our good-byes at the spit.

We left in a hurry because the fog was rolling in at the landing site on Beluga Lake. It was a close call.

Back on the Kenai Peninsula now...........................the adventure continues.