Thursday, October 1, 2009

The Salmon Run (August 30, 2009)





Yay, Minnesotans! We were so excited to meet up with some Minnesota friends this week! Erin Schwartz (a co-worker of Rochelle's from North Community School in Duluth) and her boyfriend, Greg Petry having been working as kayaking guides this summer in Seward, AK. We were able to meet up with both of them as well as Erin's dad and sister. They are now back in the lower 48, on to their next adventure. Great to see you guys again!
After our first week with students and for our last weekend in August, we decided to get ourselves a bit more comfortable in bear country. After purchasing our first bear bells we headed off to Russian River Falls. The Russian River is a beautiful river with a blue-green color to it. It eventually meets up with the Kenai River which then flows into the Cook Inlet. The Russian River is full of salmon every summer hurrying to get up stream to spawn. With spawning salmon come enthused brown bears. With our bear spray hanging on our belts and bells jingling from our bags, we were ready for a true Alaskan hike. There was also a lot of singing (from Rochelle) who was a bit uncomfortable with the prospect of seeing a bear. After an hour and a half of singing and jingling we made it to the river where we watched silver salmon make attempts to jump the vicious rapids. One right after another they made their attempts, many of them failing. What a journey. No bears on this adventure, but many salmon and even a couple of spruce grouse.

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