More Grewingk Glacier (Sept. 24, 2011)

Grewingk Glacier continued (Sept. 24, 2011)

Grewingk Glacier (Sept. 24, 2011)

On Saturday we water taxied over to the Grewingk Glacier trailhead, which is one of the places across the bay from Homer. The man who owns the water taxi company took us across with his beautiful and massive Bernese Mountain Dog named Ranger! Ranger was very lovable and we became good friends fast as I sat next to him petting his enormous head. We beached the taxi on the shoreline just a ways down from the trailhead, stepping off on an old wooden ladder and making a jump for dry land. A quick walk up the beach and we found ourselves at the trailhead where Jon straped on the pistol and I straped on the bear spray. There is a high population of black bear in the area. The forest smelt fresh after a night of rain but the sun was peaking through as we started out around 9am. About 15 minutes into our hike we had our first bear sighting. Jon spotted it first. The bear heard us coming, looked at us, then high tailed it out of the area, wanting nothing to do with us.
Our first destination was to the Grewingk Glacier Tram. We spotted two rock ptarmigans underneath a Sitka spruce, a female and a male. They look similar to grouse, except the males have a red upper eye lid, grouse do not. On our way we also took in a beautiful view of the glaciated Grewingk River before arriving at our first destination. The tram is a pulley system that takes you across the river in a metal box with seating. Getting across requires arm strength. Jon was the first to do the pulling, which was quite entertaining as he started to sing to me in the little Italian that he knows, as if we were in a gondala. I pulled on the way back and believe me, it was not the easiest of tasks with two passengers.
After our tram adventure we back tracked and got on the trail that would take us to Grewingk Glacier. Both sides of the trail were filled with white fluff from some type of plant that had gone to seed, making for a very magical looking landscape. The yellow leaves of the aspen and birch just added to its beauty. As we moved along, the Glacier started coming into view. Eventually the trail ended at the glacier fed lake with sporatic icebergs. We were able to get our hands on some small pieces of bergs floating close to shore. The ice was the purest I have ever seen it. We spent some time walking along the shore of the lake and found many moose prints. Eventually our shoreline walk was cut off by the mouth of the river.
With two hours left, we headed up the Saddle Trail to where we were suppose to get picked up by the water taxi. The end of the trail was a long switch back going downhill toward the ocean shore. The color of the water below us was very tropical looking and we spotted many houses on stilts off in the distance. As we reached the bottom we sat on the rocks to relax. After sitting there for a short while we heard rocks moving as if being shifted. Looking to our right we spotted a black bear moving towards us about 20 yards away. We stood up and told it to go. It turned around and started moving the other way. It turned back once more to look at us as if to say, "But this way is easier." With another firm "Go!" from us it went the other way. We listened and watched it as it took the higher road, going around us. Two very happy encounters with black bears on this trip.
Mako (our water taxi driver) and Ranger picked us up at 3:30 and the trip back was beautiful. We even got to see a sea otter sunning itself on a dock. The best part of this trip for me was how quiet it was. We did not see another human being until 1:30 in the afternoon. The trip was definitely a very personal experience and a beautiful one to spend with your spouse.

More Halibut Fishing (Sept. 9, 2011)

Halibut Fishing (Sept. 9, 2011)

On Friday Mark, Kelly, Jon, and I went halibut fishing off the Homer spit. The boat ride took about a hour and a half. Once at our fishing location, we got set up with a rod and reel and our adventure began. The hooks for catching halibut are a good size and the bait is a chunk of salmon meat. We dropped our lines into the water about 180-220 feet deep at which point the bait hits bottom. We then cranked the reel a few times and waited for the bite. Halibut are not easy to reel in. They are a big fish and after reeling them in from that far down, my arm was exhausted. The biggest fish we caught was probably about 30 pounds. What amazes me is that people have caught 400+ pound halibut. All four of us caught our limit of two, suppling us with a good amount of meat.

On our way back to the Homer spit was spotted 2 or 3 pods of humpback whales. We could see their spouts in the distance. We were able to get very close to one pod of 4 humpbacks. They are enormous creatures and to think, we only saw a small portion of their bodies.

Seal Release (Sept. 8, 2011)

On Thursday our 7th graders attended a mini-field trip to the Kenai Public Beach to watch and participate in a seal release. After spending some time volunteering for the wildlife rehabilitation program at the Sea Life Center in Seward this summer, they contacted me about getting our students involved in a seal release in our area. The day before the release, two presenters from the Sea Life Center came up to teach my science classes about the differences between seals and sea lions, they dissected sea lion scat, and learned about the two harbor seals that were going to be released, Sangria and Brie.

Sangria is a harbor seal that was found orphaned in Anchorage at about a week old. Brie, also a harbor seal, was found at the Kenai Boat Docks, orphaned at only a day old. The Sea Life Center has been spending the summer getting them good and fat and teaching them how to swim and catch their own food.

On Thursday, when we got to the beach we lined the students up for the release and waited for Sangria and Brie to be brought out in their cages. Two of our students got to open the cage doors. Sangria booked it to the ocean, instinct kicking in. Once in the water she popped her head up to look back at us with a look of "your not coming after me?" She did this a couple time and then dove down for good. Brie was a bit more apprehensive. We had to tip her out of the cage. Once she hit the sand, she was off towards the ocean. She also looked around unsure of what was going on, but eventually dove down. Both animals have a tag with a number for identification purposes. Brie also has a satellite tracker, so our students will be able to see where she goes.

Last Visitors for the Year: Hunting and Fishing (Aug. 30-Sept. 9, 2011)

Mark and Kelly got into Kenai on August 30 to visit us in Alaska for their second time. Mark and Jon flew out across the bay for some moose hunting over labor day weekend. Unfortunately, the conditions were terrible and they didn't see or hear any moose. There were a lot of downed trees making it impossible for them to be "ninja" quiet and the wind was working against them, allowing the moose to catch their scent. We'll have to wait on moose meat for another year. While the boys were moose hunting, Kelly and I spent some time down in Homer and Seward.

Mark and Kelly got out for quite a bit of silver salmon fishing while Jon and I were at work throughout the week. The run isn't super heavy right now, but Mark caught a rainbow trout and Kelly caught a silver salmon. Mark also caught what looked like a river monster, which ended up being a spawning king salmon. Of course, due to regulations, it was released. They also went hike at Russian River Falls were they saw 3 brown bears fishing for spawning salmon.