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.
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