July at Katmai

Hi Friends!

I am sorry I have not been keeping up with my blog! There are just so many other things that I like to do in the evenings than sit in front of a computer! But I have been doing my best to take pictures of bears here at Katmai. I am seeing so many bears now that I think it is going to be strange to return home to Louisiana and not see bears everyday! The bears are great to watch. Each bear has its own unique behaviors and personalities. They are a lot like us. There is one bear here that I enjoy watching. She reminds me a lot of me - she is very indecisive, and she avoids conflicts with other bears. She might be my favorite. I have also done some fishing. I have now caught four sockeye salmon. I do need to get out and catch a few more, but it is challenging to fish with so many bears around. You always have to yield your spot to a bear that comes along. I have experimented a little with cooking my salmon. I have tried baking it twice, and last night, I tried to panfry it. If anyone has any good suggestions or recipes for cooking sockeye salmon, I'd love to hear them! I think I am also eating the best that I've ever eaten! Each week, we get fresh organic produce from a farm in Washington. So between eating fresh fruit and veggies and fresh salmon, I am eating like a king/queen! I have spent a lot of time watching bears at Brooks Falls. Last night I saw so many bears catch and eat salmon that I sort of lost my appetite for dinner. Bears can eat an entire 5-6 pound salmon in just two minutes! And they might eat 20 or more salmon a day! Each salmon is 4500 calories! Woah!

I am posting a few of my recent pictures of Katmai in July. One bear that frequents Brooks Camp, Milkshake, has four spring cubs! They are super fun to watch. Another sow hanging around camp has two spring cubs. The spring cubs are the cutest, especially when they climb up and down trees. Well, I hope you enjoy reading this.

Bears!

Hi friends,

Wow! Today was my most exciting day yet at Katmai! Bears are everywhere you look on the Brooks River! Today, I was working on the lower river viewing platform, which is at the mouth of the Brooks River. Working on this platform is like bear traffic control for the entire river mouth. I have to look out for bears and decide when to open and close the floating bridge to visitor traffic. Twice today a hoard of bears (10-15 bears) came crashing down the river looking for fish. They were all around the bridge - it was so exciting to watch! Several of them caught fish. They can catch fish so much better than I can - I am still learning! It was an amazing day! I also saw for the first time today a bear catch a leaping salmon at Brooks Falls. He didn't catch it in his jaws, but he sort of caught it with his paw and then bit into it. That was also pretty exciting, but I felt bad for the fish. I would not want to be that fish! I hope you enjoy the pictures.