Another 3:30am departure, catching another ride from the marina to the airport for our chartered floatplane flight over to Admiralty Island.
Pack Creek Bear Reserve
Pack Creek Bear Reserve is unique, in that there is no "controlled" area to view Brown Bears (AKA, Grizzlies). Rather, there are established "people areas" used as viewing locations which allow you access to areas where the bear congregate to feed, rest, and travel. There are no fences or other structures to separate bears from humans as we share this space for the day.
About Brown Bears: Alaska is home to one of the world's largest populations of Brown Bear, and there are three "type" based on diet and geography: Coastal Brown Bear (found in SE Alaska like at Pack Creek) reside close to the sea, and are a large variety based on a diet supplemented by fish and lush vegetation). Kodiak Bear are another type of Brown Bear found on Kodiak Island in NW Alaska and are the largest type. Grizzly Bear are yet another type of Brown Bear, found in Alaska's interior (as well as parts of Montana) and tend to be a smaller than the Coastal Brown Bear due to a more limited diet of grubs and vegetation.
Bears found at Pack Creek are Coastal Brown Bears, they are quite large and feast on salmon, clams, and lush tall grasses of the tidal flats. Visitors during peak season (July-August) are limited to 22 persons/day. We purchased passes for this peak season window back in May, prior to our departure for the Inside Passage in June.
We chartered a 4-passenger Cessna floatplane that dropped us off on a long spit that is part of the viewing area. We hop out (wearing our ever-present tall rubber boots) into the shallow water and are led by a Park Ranger to review the Pack Creek rules, which are vital in maintaining a relationship with the bears where they know what to expect from humans. Since we are here for the day, we bring food but it is placed in a bear-proof cache, and the beach where we landed is the only place where food is consumed. We are allowed to move about within a couple of square miles as a group, coordinated (but not necessarily accompanied) by the Park Rangers so they always are aware of our location. They keep us appraised if they see bear movement to limit the potential for surprises.
With about 30 lbs. of camera gear spread across a backpack and a chest pack, you could say I am "loaded for bear"...
Mark and Ollie on the floatplane...
Another gorgeous flight over the islands and waterways...
Arriving at Pack Creek by chartered float plane...
We were the first group of the day. The two Park Rangers had yet to decide which outpost each would take and could not decide who would stay at the beach for the next group; and who would walk out to the field viewing location to await our group to hike out afterward. I suggested "paper-rock-scissors" to make the determination...
Ollie, Pam, and Mark - ready for bear - and to make the hike out to the field viewing location unaccompanied, but given very specific directions on how to behave and interact with Brown Bear in the event we come across one...
Stan Price homesteaded in Pack Creek back in the 1950's, and played a key role in habituating the Pack Creek bears to become accustomed to the presence of humans, a tradition that is what makes Pack Creek unique for bear viewing today. Remnants of some of Stan Price's equipment can be seen rusting at the edge of one of the fields where we set up to first look for bears...
Titanium tripod, gimbal mount, and 600mm lens: hoping that the weight and bulk of this gear on Seaquel for a few months will be worth it, largely just for today's opportunity to get great shots of bears in the wild...
Upon hiking out to the 2nd viewing spot, there was very fresh bear scat so we knew there had to bear around nearby...
We did not see bear for at least the first hour despite keeping a keen eye out. Then the mama and cub appeared, and shortly after two more. At one point, standing at this triangular viewpoint (below) we were surrounded with Brown Bear on all sides, each just a few hundred feet away...
A mama Brown Bear and her cub. This cub is just under two years old, and had a sibling that was killed and eaten by a male Brown Bear last year. This type of outcome and fatality rate is very common for bear offspring...
Look closely: that is a Brown Bear in the tall grass to the far right, in close proximity to the deer that has come down to the stream...
This Brown Bear cub is a female, and the Park Rangers are excited that a female Brown Bear will add to the local population. Male Brown Bears tend to be loners and go off on their own; while females tend to stay close within the Pack Creek area. So a surviving female cub represents a possible new member of a close-knit family that will help grow the local population...
This sequence of five pictures below shows this adult Brown Bear suddenly deciding it was time to take a mid-day siesta right in front of us. It certainly would know of our presence, yet felt comfortable enough to just lay down and stretch out for awhile, totally at ease...
But then hunger beckoned. This bear had come down to check for fish in the stream. Salmon have not been running due to the hot weather, so other feeding options are grazing on lush grass, and scavenging and clamming on the beach, both of which we observed...
The mama and her cub: it was obvious the cub was very much concerned about the close-by presence of another adult Brown Bear. It stayed very close to mama bear, and stood up to gain a better view a couple of times...
Grazing...
Having watched four or five different bear all morning until around noon, our group decided it was time to return to the beach and have lunch. As we approached the beach, the Park Ranger there directed us to bunch up together, and approach slowly and as a single group, and take a seat on the beach in a low position so as to not threaten the bear...
Setting up for bear viewing. I had the tripod at the high crown of the beach. Yes, that's a Brown Bear at the low tide mark in the distance, just beyond where the camera lens is pointing. "Ruby" would walk back and forth past this point a few times, before settling into the work of clamming...
My camera on the Gimbal Mount, aimed at the bear "Ruby" who is clamming at low tide...
More groups came, along with more tripods and big zoom lenses. The Park Ranger (white shirt, adjacent my camera/tripod) records all activity on a clipboard...
Another floatplane bringing in some additional visitors for the afternoon...
Here's Ruby walking past our position, before turning to the serious business of clamming. We were sitting at the high tide mark of the beach; Ruby walked and clammed at the low tide mark immediately before us...
Video from my iPhone of Ruby walking past us...
After walking past us both directions along the beach, this particular Brown Bear, Ruby, settled into the serious business of clamming. For the entire afternoon. She showed an amazing amount of patience and dedication actively clamming for three hours non-stop.
The huge "hump" on a Brown Bear or Grizzly's back is a distinguishing characteristic, along with larger overall size compared to a Black Bear. The hump is a huge muscle mass, developed because of the power this great creature uses with its front legs for hunting or digging clams, such as we observed below...
Ruby shows off how flexible she is, scratching her head with her hind leg...
Ravens were constantly scavenging close by where Ruby was clamming. Sometimes the big bear would turn and sneer at the birds; but they were persistent and eventually found their dug-up prize of a clam...
Park Ranger shift change. The rangers quarters are on the adjacent island, and a small skiff is used to transport the rangers back and forth between their camp and here at Pack Creek...
The Park Rangers are armed with one rifle. They've never had to use it, but its presence is a reminder that there is not much else to stop a bear if it suddenly turned on you...
Well, if you watch a bear feeding in the wild long enough, I guess eventually you will see it poop...
Long, straight claws are another characteristic of Brown Bear...
After watching "Ruby" clam on the beach for three hours, this young couple from the U.K. decided to stretch their legs and walk out to the 3rd viewing area, a tower overlooking the salmon spawning Pack Creek. Because of the recent high temperatures, the salmon were not currently running so the bear were at the beach and not the creek, so we had stayed to continue observing Ruby. But just as this couple came back, Ruby decided she'd had enough clamming for one afternoon and started to leave the beach. Ruby walked right between where I set up shooting pictures from the tripod and this couple, who had to wait until Ruby had passed.
When this Park Ranger started her shift, she positions herself with her back to the beach so that she can see either of the directions that a bear could come...
Meanwhile, a fishing boat works the tide just off the shoreline...
Time to leave, but looking down at the bear's habitat from the air one has a greater appreciation for the bear activity that is sure to be taking place in many of these areas. For perspective, it is estimated that on Admiralty Island alone (home to Pack Creek), there is one Brown Bear for every square mile. That's a lot of Brown Bear down there...
On the flight back, a different view of the Mendenhall Glacier that we'd seen two days prior. Even Nugget Falls is visible from the air, just to the right of the bottom of the glacier...
Arriving back at "The Pond" adjacent the Juneau airport, where the many floatplane tours for exploring this remarkable back country originate...
What an amazing day! Certainly, walking among Brown Bears will be a memory I will treasure for all time. As great as this experience has been, we have been based in Juneau now going on a week and it is time to cast off our lines and continue our exploration of SE Alaska by boat. Another of our most anticipated highlights of our adventure awaits: cruising up Tracy Arm to be right among the massive Sawyer Glacier and icebergs...
~Mark
What an experience! Wow!
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