I think I'll call him "Fisher"

Caught a brown bear fishing for Salmon in Dyea on Sunday night.   More videos to follow!

Black Bear Photos from 7/25

I had a tour on Friday 7/25 and not everybody could get good photos of the bear.  I took these photos for them so they too could download the memories.  Was a great group of people -  and an awesome tour!

Introducing "The Barnett" family!

 Every now and again a family comes along and makes you wish the tour would never end. Today the Barnett family came along and made the day superior!  Some of the family are from So Cal, others just moved to Meridian, ID (close to where I live) -  all of them brought an excitement and spirit of adventure.  The kids were amazingly behaved, asked great questions and shared lots of knowledge during our "quiz" time -  they were even daring and ate a bit of Sitka Spruce.
Thank you for letting me share in your vacation, and for making today the great day it was.  To the grandson (Sorry, I am spacing the name)  who is going off to Marine Corp boot camp -  God bless you, young man, and thank you for the sacrifice and service you are going to render.  Sempre fi

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?

I see a crazy woman outside of her car a couple hundred yards away taking pictures of ME!!!

Saw my first brown (grizzly) bears EVER tonight!   These are young bears, there were 3 total. They are amazing creatures.  If you compare these pictures, to the pictures of the black bears I've posted earlier you can see a huge difference in body shape.  Remember that "black" bears can be any color, including a cinnamon and brown color, but the color isn't what distinguishes them.

The American black bear is Ursus americanus and is better known as the Kenai black bear, Louisian black bear, Glacier Bear, etc.  The Brown Bear is Ursus arctos and better known as California grizzly bear, Grizzly bear, Kodiak bear among others.  There is a great website that explains the differences here

We will call this guy Bear "A"  he is a young bear, probably a year old, We didn't see Mama around, but she couldn't have been very far off.

We will call these two guys Bear "B" & "C" -  they are probably 2 years old.  They were foraging together, and Bear "A" was off in a different area.  

Bear "C" giving me the once over.

Bear "A" up on hindquarters -  I was so excited when he raised up.  Isn't he Magnificent!!!!

Back down on all fours and looking for more food.  He ran away shortly after I took this photo.

Two eagles - One afternoon drive

When I was in Juneau, eagles were as common as pigeons.  I never tired of seeing them, but I was blessed to see t hem every day.  Here in Skagway eagles are far less common and I have to go looking for them.  I saw these two gorgeous creatures while driving to Dyea on Thursday.   

Best Day Yet!

For as awful as my yesterday was, today was as wonderful as could be.  I  picked up a private tour group at the Railroad Dock for a 6 hour tour into the Yukon.  The group of family and friends came from San Francisco, Vancouver BC, China & Seattle.  

What a JOY they were!  Their enthusiasm and appreciation of what Alaska & The Yukon Territory has to offer was infectious!   They wanted to accomplish 3 things with their tour. 

 1) Go to Emerald Lake

 2) See the Yukon

3) See wildlife, but most especially a bear

The pictures below show all 3 bucket list items being accomplished.

Thanks for being such a SUPER group!  

It was my privilege to spend the day with you.

Rudy & James

Some days being a tour driver can be more frustrating (or rewarding) than others.  Today was one of the more frustrating days -  but thanks to Rudy & James the day was not a disaster.  Thanks guys for being such great sports, keeping me laughing, and sharing your excitement with me.  It's the opportunity to meet such great folks like the two of you that makes my job the best job in the world!  Come visit Boise and I'll give you and your whole gang a deluxe tour of the city!  

Walking to The Point

Tuesday night (7/16) the two Jennifer's and I walked out to the point and then went out to Dyea.  The walk to the point was lovely, and the scenery was, as usual, spectacular.  The view of the snow covered Chilkat Mountains took my breath away.  I could not imagine having to hike that pass with 2000 lbs of goods like the Gold Rushers did.  What an amazing feat of determination!

While out at Dyea we saw a bald Eagle just hanging round the water.  There are not near as many eagles here as there are in Juneau, so seeing one is a treat. 

View of the Chilkats from The Point

Jennifer Heffelfinger

Jennifer Castle

View of the Chilkats from Taiya Inlet

Bald Eagle in Taiya Inlet

Bubba Bear!

My friend Jennifer and I went to White Horse this afternoon, and on the way back we were treated to a show by a bear we affectionately named Bubba (Jennifer is from Texas, and it's a Texas thing).  We photographed and filmed "Bubba" for about 20 minutes while he explored and ate, and visited us right up next to the van, and then ate some more (dandelions, not the van occupants) -  What a privilege it was to spend time watching one of Mother Nature's creatures in his natural habitat.  Words fail to describe the joy we felt.

The Ching Ching Chorus

I had such a delightful day yesterday, and it was due in total to the wonderful group of travelers I got to bring to the Yukon Territory on a full day tour.  The Ching Ching Chorus from the San Francisco area are on a cruise with Family & Friends.  Here are a couple photos of the group I had on my bus (we had 3 buses full with chorus member, family and friends) They are such a friendly, energetic group of people, and their enthusiasm was contagious.  Meeting new people and connecting with them is truly the best part of my job!