Alaska - Admiralty Island

For my birthday this year, Anton gave me a little trip to Alaska to go see the bears on Admiralty Island! I was SO excited, but after I started watching videos on Youtube of this place, I admit that I had a few nightmares. Not to mention my fear of small airplanes. I was a little nervous when the whole adventure came, but at the same time I was giddy with excitement! These are just some of the pictures off of my phone. I got some incredible pictures with our big camera, I just need to sit down and go through all of them. The plane ride there only took about 20 minutes, and was surprisingly smooth...but very loud. The scenery from the plane was just stunning. Alaska is one of the most beautiful places and has such a unique feel about it. I love it there. 

When we arrived on the island, there was a park ranger (with a rifle) waiting for us. She gave us the rules and made us lock up any food or strong smelling items we had in our backpacks. Then she told us we would walk along the beach to the next point, where a mama bear and her cubs were sleeping...so we were told to be very quiet. The walk there was really nerve wracking because the tide was up, and so our walk along the beach was really close to the thick forest...where a bear could come out at any time. It is amazing how quickly they disappear in the woods, but they were everywhere. I saw this paw print on the beach, and had to take a picture of it. As soon as we got to the next lookout point, we spotted the giant mama bear and her cubs. I will never forget that moment!! It was incredible!! They laid there for a while asleep, and then a seal splashed in the water and woke the bears up. I was glad to finally see them up! After a while, she got up and headed up stream for some lunch. While they were walking, the walked RIGHT by us...probably 15 feet in front of us. They didn't even look at us or have any interest in us. The mom quickly got to work catching salmon for her cubs. It was so fun to watch, and surprisingly the sound was incredible too. At one point, one of the cubs stole a fish right out of its mama's mouth and ran off with it! It was so fun to watch. While we were watching them, another Mama bear and her cub came out of the forest. They were a little more cautious. They checked things out, looked over at us and then went back in the forest only to come back out several feet up the river. Then, we turned around and saw a bear coming out of the forest behind us! He got the closest to us, but still, he didn't even look at us or anything. He just walked by and headed to the river! After a while, we decided we would head back to the other side of the island where you go for a hike to an observatory tower. The hike is what had me the very most nervous!

The rangers hung this sign to let people know where the trail began. The bears apparently didn't care for the sign, and literally ate the sign. Nothing puts you on guard like this trail!! We didn't have bear spray, but we hooked up with another couple and just hoped that our talking would keep the bears away. Anton kept making me so nervous, because he would walk so fast and I was nervous about him being alone and running into a bear. Thankfully, that didn't happen! While on our hike, I almost stepped in an extremely fresh - I mean, like steaming fresh - piece of bear scat. That scared me to death! I knew that bear was right there, but I couldn't see it! The hike was stunning, and the forest was so different than what I thought it would be. I thought it would be mostly pine, but it was more rain forest like. It couldn't have been more beautiful.

Once we made it to the lookout tower, I was pretty relieved. We didn't run into any bears, but we watched the hundreds of salmon, and listed to the 50 or so bald eagles...I can't tell you how beautiful it was! 

Once we made it back to the beach from our hike, we waited for our plane to come and pick us up. In the distance we saw two great big bears playfully fighting. I was so glad we went in the morning, because I think based on listening to the other groups, we saw the most bears. The scenery was just incredible, and I am SO glad we went. I felt alive afterward...sounds silly, but that's the only way I can describe the excitement Anton and I felt after this day! I would go back in a heartbeat...what an adventure!