Life on the Ayakulik

Kent and I have been "awarded" an extra 3 weeks here at the Ayakulik Lodge. The weather has been crappy - rain everyday but maybe two. Gray and gloomy we've been wearing our longjohns and layering everything we brought to stay warm. We're also heating with wood - in JULY!!! The daytime temps have been in the 50s with a bite to the wind. Yesterday I stayed inside by the fire while it poured rain all day. I am tired of filming in the rain. We are waiting for the pink salmon to come in. Supposedly they will be here in numbers around 900,000. When they come like that, the bears really get active.

We've seen bears around here we haven't seen before. They are coming in anticipation of the salmon. This morning I saw some salmon in the ocean, jumping and splashing so I am expecting to see some action in the next day or two. The new bears appear to be related, some of them, to the rest of the clan here. Oddly, there is a familial resemblance I would not have expected to see in bears. But there is one new bear who appears to be the same age as one that’s been around and they have other similarities as well. And I’m not talking about fuzzy ears and big paws either!

Yesterday I defended our cache of salmon from the mama bear and her four cubs. Mama was maybe 50 ft. from me, heading my way. She knew we had a couple of fish – she could smell them. I turned toward her and said GO! NO BEARS! Yikes! My courage and stupidity caught me off-guard! Thing is, she was testing me. I’ve seen her do it before and I watched Tom move toward her the same way and darned if she didn’t go. If you back down, forget living here with them. They’ll chew you up. I’m not about to arm wrestle her for a few fish but once they see you as a food source, there’s no stopping them.

When Kent brought the fish back to clean them, he was down by the river and I looked out to see a big bear sniffing the air and moving his way, behind his back! I hollered and yelled my head off until he heard me and looked up. He scolded the bear and chased him away! We wouldn’t get away with this in October but oddly, in July it works! We enjoyed our salmon like no other! Grilled to perfection and as fresh as fresh can be. The sushi is sublime!