Day 16,17,18 - Gonna be a Bear

We parked the RV for an overnight trip to Katmai National Park at Ship Creek RV park in Anchorage. We flew to a small airport in King Salmon where we boarded a float plane to Katmai National Park. The view from the plane was quite beautiful and the float plane was an adventure itself.

On arrival on the beach we spotted bear scat and were a little nervous to be in their path.

We had to place any food, gum etc. in a food locker and attend a bear safety lecture.   There was an eating area but it was fenced in and electrified.

 The rangers would not let us enter the park until we viewed a bear safety film which gave us instructions on how to behave if we encountered a bear. We hoped we would not need to use any of the instructions.  Many of the rangers were armed but most just carried bear spray.

We actually walked a quarter to half a mile at a time over a bridge to the 3 viewing platforms.  We were  very nervous when we saw scat on the path and saw remnants of fish the bears were eating.  The bridge would get closed by the rangers if a bear wanted to pass under it. The bears have the right of way. The bears seemed very uninterested in us to our amazement.

The bears eat the skin and brains and leave the filet of the salmon which also was quite a surprise.  We saw and smelled salmon filets(the part we like for dinner)  scattered along the river and the birds were happy to get the salmon the bears threw away.  The ranger explained that the skin and brains were the fatty part and the bears went for the fat.  If the food source were not plentiful they would eat more of the salmon.

I found a poem online that sums up some of the things we learned about bears in a cute way( no I don't believe in reincarnation)

'Gonna Be A Bear

In this life I'm a woman. In my next life, I'd like to come back as a bear. When you're a bear, you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for six months. I could deal with that.

Before you hibernate, you're supposed to eat yourself stupid. I could deal with that too.

When you're a girl bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you're sleeping and wake to partially grown, cute, cuddly cubs. I could definitely deal with that.

If you're mama bear, everyone knows you mean business. You swat anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too. I could deal with that.

If you're a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling. He EXPECTS that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat.

Yup, 'gonna be a bear!