Da Bears

Today on Kodiak was flightseeing day. Flightseeing is a common way to see things around Alaska, which lacks roads in most places. Today it was a float plane, since water landings are a lot easier on the mountainous islands of the Kodiak Archipelago.

We woke to 44 degree drizzle, not ideal. And just yesterday it was sunny and gorgeous! We have to work on our timing. We nonetheless took to the skies in search of bears. We learned that this time of year they are not easy to spot on Kodiak, so the pilot took us over to Katmai National Park and Preserve, on the mainland. It was one hour, flying low (300 feet) above the Shelikoff Strait, under the clouds that envelope Kodiak much of the year. We had to slog through some mud flats (hip boots provided) to get close to the bears, but we were rewarded (see photos). They were digging for clams and eating the newly sprouted grass.


Over on the Katmai peninsula we stopped to see a glacier, still visible at the bottom though the 8,000+ feet peaks surrounding it were not. Yes, that’s a big ice chunk by my leg in the photo! Needless to say, the water was a bit chilly.


An interesting thing about Kodiak is that the climate is not so different than the islands around Seattle and Vancouver, dropping to just the 20’s and 30’s in the winter. But they also have the grey skies and drizzle – a lot- and that keeps it from attracting more residents, I am sure. Another interesting thing: we have had the absolute best fish and chips here (it must be the state dish – everyone serves it), made with super fresh halibut and scallops harvested close to the island. A combination of the two is called scallobut and chips.