Today is the Winter Solstice. It’s a big deal around here – it’s the shortest day of the year (with about six and a half hours of daylight), and that means starting tomorrow, every day will get a little longer. Tomorrow will be 3 seconds longer than today – every second counts! We’re lucky to have daylight – unlike those in the Far North who haven’t seen the sun in a very long time, and they still have a long wait ahead of them.

We’ve been very busy recently, working on some volunteer projects at church, including replacing all the lights in the sanctuary. It was a big job over 2 weeks, with lots of exercise climbing up and down the scaffolding.

Now we’re focused on the holidays – feeling pretty Merry and Bright, though we’re tired from shoveling lots and lots of snow. We’ve had over six feet since the beginning of December, and none of it has melted. We’re running out of places to put it, when we can’t get it into the water. It sure is pretty though, living in a Winter Wonderland.

When he’s not shoveling, Jim has been baking up a storm, preparing six different kinds of holiday cookies to deliver to friends around town. This year he’s added Norwegian krumkake (pronounced “crum-ka-ka”), and we got together with friends so he could learn some tips for making them. Success!

We’re all decorated and lighted around here, feeling festive. I love putting out decorations such as this very special angel crocheted by my friend from something not much bigger than thread… wow!

Today was a uniquely Alaskan event – the annual state-wide holiday greetings on radio stations across the state. The FCC prohibits personal messages on the radio, except in Alaska. With so many people living off the grid, it’s a necessary means of communication. Even our local radio station (KFSK – Fish Head Radio) sometimes broadcasts “Muskeg Messages” to reach people in our area without reliable communications. But today is extra special and fun, with a 2-hour program where anyone in the state can call in to share holiday greetings to friends and family across the Great Land. Some greetings were spoken in one of the native languages, and we got to hear well wishes from places like Nome, Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow), Shismaref, Adak, and of course the North Pole! It’s a wonderful holiday tradition.

We enjoyed a few days’ break from snow, and the clear skies brought temps in the teens and 20s. Sunrises have been spectacular, and the best part is that we don’t have to get up early to see them. This photo was taken around 8:45am, just as the pre-dawn light crested the mountains. We send our warmest wishes to you for a Happy, Healthy Holiday season!

…having adventures. Sorry about neglecting the Blog for so long. At some point, the pile of photos got pretty overwhelming, and it came down to choosing to stay on the boat and edit them, or go out in the kayak and shoot more.

We stopped in Wrangell to return the tent we borrowed from friends (and to visit them!), then decided to try a new (to us) route up to Frederick Sound – Rocky Pass. It’s shallow and has a good bit of current running through it, so there’s a certain amount of timing so one arrives at the infamous Devil’s Elbow at high slack current, and then the northbound traffic gets to buck a building current through The Summit. We decided to stage in Totem Bay while we waited for the right time, and I enjoyed a little paddle to see some of the weird rock formations that give the bay its name.

We managed to get through Rocky Pass without incident – glad to get that first experience behind us, so now we know what it looks like and what to expect. We tucked in behind a nameless island for a late supper and a pretty sky once we made it through the pass…

…and we stayed there an extra day since some weather moved in and it wasn’t very nice outside! From there, we cruised to Honeydo Cove, across from the village of Kake. Honeydo is a nice spot, tucked mostly out of sight, yet with a little view out to Frederick Sound. When it’s quiet we can hear whales blowing out there, and there are plenty of rocky islets to explore with the kayak.

I found a flock of pigeon guillemots, which are neat birds since they have very red-orange legs and, as you can see in the photo below, that same bright color inside their mouths.

I found a lone harbor seal napping in the “banana pose” – a funny position seals often adopt.

I spotted a group of river otters in the distance, and a sea otter cruised closer by, less interested in me than the seal was.

After a relaxing couple of days we cruised over to Baranof Island, to a favorite spot in Takatz Bay by the waterfalls. Earlier in the season I observed a brown bear and her three cubs, and I was wondering if they were still around. I paddled towards the low waterfall and the tidal flats, guessing that mid-way through the falling tide would be a good time for bears to look for fish. Bingo! I returned the next day at the same state of tide and found them again.

The fishing wasn’t too successful, so they climbed out of the chilly water and munched on grass for a while. I had to pay attention to the falling tide – the kayak was briefly stuck on a rock when the sow was moving in my general direction, and that got my heart pounding a bit.

Do you know how hard it is to get four bears to all look up at the same time???

More bears… sorry, but I just can’t resist. We actually saw other things this summer – stay tuned.

Thanks for “bearing” with me as I recount some of our adventures at McNeil River Game Sanctuary and Refuge near Homer, AK. It’s amazing how many photographs a person can take in four and a half days. But who can resist these faces?

It’s a long, involved trip just to get to McNeil, but it was worth it, even with a day of 30 knot winds and horizontal rain. We didn’t miss a minute of bear viewing, no matter what.

Fortunately, although camp was pretty basic, the cook cabin was a nice warm place to hang up soggy gear and to escape the elements for a little while…

…and we were so tired after a long day, hiking out and back that we didn’t have any problems sleeping.

And there was one more treat that we didn’t expect – a wilderness sauna! We just assumed that we would be smelly, grubby creatures for the flight back to Homer, but were thrilled to find this nice little cabin off to the side of the camp. We could get warm and we could get clean!!

The big pot had the hot water, the blue bucket had cold water (all from the little pond just outside), there was a pan and scoop for mixing the perfect combination of hot and cold water, and a choice of biodegradable soaps. When you’re finished, you just have to top up the pot and bucket with water from the pond, ready for the next person.

We had some decent weather towards the end of our stay, getting to see more of the volcanoes that dot the region. Just to the south is Katmai National Park, which includes the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.

We saw lots of wild iris and other wildflowers in bloom as we hiked along, savannah sparrows and ground squirrels. Just before we arrived, another group got a momentary glimpse of a wolf!

We were so disappointed to miss the rare wolf, but we came for the bears and their many faces and behaviors. I photographed this guy (below) when he was making a “drive by” – a close pass as he ambled along. Probably just as curious about us as we were about him.

Mating didn’t distract other bears from fishing.

The eagles were plentiful – cruising around, ready to grab scraps or a dropped fish. But like the eagles, it was time for us to fly.

We were sad as we trudged back up the trail to camp on our last day, but the plane can only land at high tide and it’s a short window. As camp was coming into view in the distance, the bears had one last gift for us – a sow and her two young cubs.

This sow was a good at fishing using the “snorkel” method, wading in deeper water and sticking her head under to look to for fish. Her cubs didn’t look too excited about getting wet, whining and well… grizzling! We had a little time to spare, so we settled down to watch this unexpected treat.

Eventually the cubs got in the water as their mom swam farther away, but they were getting in her way and spooking the fish. Apparently she felt comfortable about our little group sitting quietly, so she parked the cubs on shore just below where we were sitting. This is indicative of habituation – where the humans behave in a very consistent manner over days, months, years – carefully cultivated at McNeil. We travel in small, tight groups, along the same trails at the same times of the day so we become a predictable part of their environment. That is the magic of McNeil (and other places such as Pack Creek in southeast Alaska).

All good things must come to an end, and just as we were running out of time, the sow gathered her two fluffy cubs and wandered off… a magical ending to an amazing adventure.