Hiking With Bear Spray

Browns Lake moose

08-24-2012
"This says 14 miles up Funny River Rd."
"We've still only gone eight," Andrew replies with a huff, "how many times are you going to tell me that? I am capable of remembering one number."
"Oh, shut up, I don't want to miss it."
As we arrive, property #3 looks pretty good. We park the car, eat a quick sandwich, and started to walk. "Do you want a second sandwich for while we are walking?" Andrew asks.
"No thanks, it might attract a bear."
"You're crazy," he sighs as he gets another for himself. "You should never have read those bear attack stories."
We walked onto the property on what was once a driveway, but now was overgrown with brush and moss. The lot is nicely wooded except for a nice field area and a cleared section in the middle with power lines and an atv trail. Bad, right? A power line. Normally, yes, but something about it just wasn't that bad. The more we walked the lot, the more we liked it. We marked the property paper as a possibility and drove to the next lots.
Let's just say, looking at property online, doesn't truly portray anything. We looked at four more properties and they were all bad in their own strange way. One was next to a dump, literally. One was inaccessible, and two were simply not there. It was interesting to say the least. Property # 3 was looking better and better. Then we found the most amazing thing. As we were driving down an empty street, not 5 minutes from property # 3, there was a giant alien cow chewing on some fireweed., right on the side of the road. A large moose cow, right by the car. We pulled up as close as we could, rolled down the window, and took a ton of pictures. We were pretty excited, our first moose and so close. We rolled on to the top of a hill and looking down to the bottom was the most beautiful site. Browns Lake to be precise.  Amazing and surrounded by snow capped mountains. How could this be so close to that property? Maybe we had found a winner.
Next stop... Kenai Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center. That's a mouthful, huh?  Well, this may very well be the cutest visitors center ever. Of course, I may be a little bias... nah, probably not. I had to find the bathroom first ( for research only of course ) and when I came out there was Andrew at the information desk, sexually harassing a hot ranger lady. Okay, not really, but he was seriously hounding her with questions. Luckily she was thrilled to be sharing all her information about canoe trails, hiking trails, lakes, lakes, the best places to see bears, etc. Wait, WHAT?! I decided it was time to intervene. "Can we see some bears from our car, ya know, safely?" I asked Andrew's new girlfriend. "No, we want to hike and see some bears," Andrew says. "No we don't." "Yes we do! Its my birthday so you're gonna hike with me for my birthday present." Oh, crap!
 Next stop... Sportsman's Warehouse. Reason...bear spray. I might have been just a little pouty while we made that purchase. Now I had no choice, I had to hike. In bear country. During a salmon run. Along a river. During the drive to the trailhead of what I was sure was our last hike ever, I opened the bear spray and read the instructions to Andrew. All he could say was, "Are you really scared?" or "I'm not gonna let a bear get you." Okay, that was sweet, but really, what is Andrew gonna do when a 9 foot 1000 lb bear grabs me for a snack?! I delayed departure as much as possible with going to the restroom and debating wearing my jacket. Meanwhile, Andrew tested the bear spray. It worked pretty well... on a TREE. "Come on, Autumn, or we'll be walking back in the dark." Oh, crap! Off we went, on a rather beautiful hike. I'd have to say that it would've been pleasant if I wasn't keeping a death grip on Andrew's jacket, scanning every tree for giant killer bears, and playing out how I would quickly hide behind Andrew when we were inevitably attacked. After what seemed like an eternity,  we heard water and came up to a wooden viewing platform. It overlooked the Russian River. To the left was a very nice waterfall.. I immediately lifted my camera and began shooting. A man next to me starting trying to tell me something, but I didn't understand him. Then Andrew tapped my shoulder. "I just can't get it right," I told him, " it just isn't as pretty thro' my lens." Have you looked over here yet?" He asks me, pointing to the other side of the deck. So I casually walk to the other railing, expecting to find another waterfall. "BEARS! Oh, there's bears! Did you see the bears!!??" I can't tell you how many photos I took of that mother bear and her two cubs, but it was beyond thrilling. I couldn't help it, I wanted to get closer, I needed to get closer. "Can we go down there?" "Sure, there's a trail. Let's go." We ended up right across the river from the bears.We watched them catching and eating bright red salmon. It was amazing. They were huge. Mama bear was in the water and seemed to be getting closer to where we stood. She got about 100 feet from us. "Uh, can she come across that water to where we are?" I asked suddenly in a panic. If that bear decided she didn't want us there, it would pretty hard to scramble up the skinny trail we came down on. "Yeah, I'm sure she could," Andrew replies too calmly, "it isn't that deep." "I wanna go back, I'm done. I don't want to be this close. I wanna go back up." I was sure that bear was coming to get me. We took a few more pics from the deck and headed back down the trail.
"See, it wasn't that bad. We weren't attacked," Andrew says as we drive to our camping spot for the night. "Now you're addicted to finding bears, aren't you?" "NO!"  Okay, maybe I am...

Bed, Breakfast, and... building products?

August 23, 2012
Daniel's Lake in Nikiski is small and owned by the people who own property around it. It isn't as amazing and majestic and some other Alaska views, but it is quaint and cozy and still known to a popular spot to hang out if you are a member of the moose community. This is where we checked into our bed and breakfast for the night. An actual bed was seeming pretty exciting about now, it seemed we hadn't really slept in two days. I guess the four hours of time difference was wearing us down a little. We settled into our room and were tempted to just go to sleep, but it was only 4pm and this was the only time we had allotted for exploring this area. The living room area had a bookshelf with some area books and maps so we grabbed a map and decided to see what was around. Cook Recreation Area sounded exciting and we figured it was probably our best bet to see some wildlife (hopefully the bears would only appear if we were safe in the car). I refilled my water bottle, locked our room door, and we headed out.  It was a short and pleasant drive to the park. We thought a short hike would be nice, but we couldn't find much of that. We ended up parking and walked to an overlook type area where we could see the beach and some nice views of Cook Inlet. I couldn't help but turn around every so often to check for massive attacking grizzly bears, but there were none. We took a more scenic route back to the B&B and decided to order pizza for dinner. It was pretty good. Andrew decided to pour over the maps provided and I was busy reading a book I had brought with me when another couple arrived. They were spending an entire week in the area and were really nice. We opened some wine and chatted with them about our crazy venture. They shared some information about past trips to AK they had taken and before long we were having a slightly drunk good time. We talked construction, customers, kids, you name it. By 10pm I was damn near falling asleep on the bar, I swear I felt myself sliding off the barstool a time or two. I told Andrew I was gonna have to go to bed. I said my goodnights and slipped away from the conversation. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. Andrew ended up staying up another two hours chatting with the couple before coming to bed himself. I didn't even hear him come in.
You know that awake when you physically open your eyes and look around, but everything is still dreamy and unreal? 3:30am I wake up and forget for a minute where I am. Our room had a huge picture window that overlooked the lake. I looked outside and saw this faint green glow really low in the sky. I rubbed my eyes in disbelief, but when I looked again it was still there. I turned and shook Andrew violently, "Look, look, it's the Northern Lights!" He grunted at me with his eyes closed. "LOOK!"  Slowly, Andrew opens his eyes, rolls my way, and looks out the window. Let me point out here that he isn't wearing his glasses of course. " See the green? It's the northern lights, right? Do you see it?" I am probably yelling at him now.
"Ggggguhh" was all he can manage and then he lays back down and is immediately asleep. I was so disappointed. I watched the sky until I fell asleep again myself, wishing I was brave enough to go outside with my camera.
August 24, 2012 Andrew's 31st B-Day
Andrew and I wake up early, around 630am, and begin getting dressed and ready for the day. We meandered into the kitchen to get breakfast. Andrew enjoys cooking and I am lazy in the morning so he got out the eggs, reindeer sausage (which scared me a little) and the orange juice. I went back to our room to pack up all of our stuff while he cooked. Scrambled eggs and pan seared reindeer sausage awaited my return. I took one frightening bite of the sausage and kindly offered the remainder of my serving to him, for his birthday and all you know. I ate my eggs and some toast. We packed up the rest of our stuff, left a little goodbye note to our "neighbors" and got into the car. Today was our property viewing day so we were gonna be in and out of the car a lot and driving around to find our new home. We had picked out 7 properties to view and had prioritized them with our first choice first and so on. Let's just say that no one should ever buy property sigh unseen. SCARY! The first property was very close to town, a plus, very close to brewery, a major plus, and the photo provided online showed the most promise. Well, upon arriving there we liked the road, the neighbors, the views. Then we started walking the property to get a better feel for the size of the place. The closer we got to the back of the land, the spongier and mushier the land was. Okay, so first choice was out. Our second choice was a little too close to the road and therefore a little noisier than what we wanted. This property, however provided a really cool gift for the kids. As we were again walking the property, Andrew happened upon a moose jaw (pictured below). It was creepy and neat at the same time. We joked that we should bring it back for the kids, especially Angelo, who would think it was the coolest thing ever. Of course this is probably not allowed so Andrew told me to turn around and cover my ears. I did, and he proceeded to crack the skull and remove the teeth. "We will just take the teeth then," he says as he shows them to me. "Only our family," I reply and we go back to the car to get a plastic zipper bag to store them in.  The remaining properties were a little farther away so we decided to go back into town, pick up some food to take along and check out Soldotna Building Supply. Exciting, right? Well, maybe not, but necessary. It is actually really cute. It feels like a combination of classic hardware store and large lumber yard. Andrew compared prices for a while, we looked at some wood stoves, and headed on to Freddie's for some groceries. We bought sandwich meat, rolls, cheese, pretzels, fruit, and chocolate enough for lunch and dinner. We knew we were heading up Funny River Rd. next and that the rest of the properties were up there. From what we had seen so far, we weren't sure what the others would look like. We were a little worried that we wouldn't find one that would work for us. We had no idea what was coming.

A Day at The Spit

August 23, 2012
At 5 am we pull into Sal's Klondike Diner in Soldotna, AK. We're tired, cold, and hungry. We order coffee first and foremost, then choose different breakfast plates. We are the only customers. Sal's isn't a big fancy place, but it's warm and cozy, the portions big and yummy, and the staff friendly. The waitress is young and happy, especially considering the early hour. She strikes up a conversation after we are on mug #2 of wake up juice. We chat there for an hour at least and head to visit the local grocery store. I am especially excited about this for a couple of reasons. We had heard food was more expensive and we needed to figure that into our new living expenses. I had also heard that they carried the best peanut butter in the world. Previously I have had to travel to Columbia, Myrtle Beach, or Kentucky to get my peanut butter so I had to know if I was actually going to be able to get it in my new hometown. It was really there!!! Now, I know in your head you are picturing a rinky dink general store type grocery. FM (Freddie's to locals) isn't like that at all. It is actually quite large. It is most comparable to a supercenter type store. Groceries, clothes, sporting goods, a cafe, you name it, they've got it. Even a Star**** coffee. Yes you read that right. We were pleased to find that the grocery prices were pretty much the same as at home. There were, of course, items that were more expensive, like fresh tomatoes, orange juice, and milk, but the sales were the same. I was thrilled. Andrew picked up some new boot socks, I got an orange water bottle for our trip and we got back in the car.
We were now driving down the coast towards Homer. Along the sides of the road were views to die for. Snow-capped mountains, evergreen trees, fireweed. We were hoping to see a bear or a moose, but no such luck. We stopped when we saw a sign for beach access. Everything looked abandoned, too late in the season I suppose. We walked along the sand a bit and spotted a juvenile bald eagle (shown in my last post). It was beautiful. We didn't stay too long, as the wind was a little chilly and we really wanted to get to our next stop. Homer (pictured above) is an adorable fishing town with a definite hippy feel. We had been told about a cool bar on The Spit ( the bit of land, like a peninsula, that acts as Homer's pier ) that we wanted to check out. We had to drive up and down The Spit a couple of times to find a parking space. The Salty Dog is a pub so small that we walked right past it twice. By small I am not simply referring to square footage, but it almost seemed like Andrew wouldn't be able to walk in the front door. It is basically an old sea shanty made for hobbits. We were there right as they were opening and as we walked in, we were shocked. Every surface of the place ( except for table tops and bars where food would be placed ) was covered with dollar bills. When the bar first opened, it was a common meeting place for fisherman, visiting friends, lovers, etc. Sometimes, fate being what it is, one individual wouldn't show so the person that was then drinking alone would get a dollar bill, write their friend's name on it and hang it on the wall. Then the next time their friend came to The Salty Dog they would have a drink paid for. Cute, right? Well, this has gone on for years and now it is tradition to hang up a bill with a name Then when there is no more space left, management takes down all the bills and the money is donated to local charities. Now, does your bar do that? I don't think so. So of course, we hung up a bill with the kids name on it and sent them a picture. Andrew drank a beer ( a little too early for me ) and we left planning on getting some food. We had halibut on the brain, seeing that Homer is the halibut fishing capital of the world, but we are cheap and halibut is not. So we settled on sandwiches and started our drive back up the coast to our B&B in Nikiski.