Sunday, June 14, 2009

Freedom to Roam


Last day in Kodiak. We hired a float plane to drop us off at the Uganak River with a raft, and we spent the afternoon floating peacefully down the river, looking for bears. We didn’t see many: this is very early in the season, and the salmon are just starting to run, so the bears have not come down to fish. We had an incredibly clear day, and on the plane rides there and back, we were able to see the snow-capped peaks all around Kodiak and the Katmai Peninsula that were hidden a few days before. I was struck by the sense of freedom one feels soaring over the tundra, and the incredible gift we gave the bears (and ourselves) in making 2/3 of the island a refuge. Flying low, banking over mountain top snow fields and meadows, you feel like you could go on forever over Alaska.

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