Beautiful, Scenic Alaska

It all started around 5:30 am…

Our first days in Alaska were as adventuresome as you can imagine, with the bears. They say you have to make a lot of noise when you walk in the woods, and the locals choose to sing. So, if you’re in the woods in Alaska and you hear singing coming from somewhere off in the distance, you know someone’s trying to avoid surprising a bear.

Black bears are just as scared of us as we are of them, but the fear on our part is mostly unfounded. We didn’t know until after we’d lived there for a while that black bears don’t eat dogs, cats or children. The few stories we’ve heard on the news about black bears attacking are not the norm. They’d just as soon avoid us as look at us. But, like I said, we didn’t know.

Bears are a lot like cats in the sense that movement attracts their attention and they like to chase things that run. So if you ever come across one in the forest, don’t run. Try to look big, put your arms up and sing as loud as you can, and they’re likely to run away.

Free Food in Alaska

I’d learned that sea cucumbers were very good to eat and I wanted to get some. You have to go at the extreme low tides to get them because they’re offshore a bit, deeper than you’d want to wade in. They’re bright orange and reddish and they’re easy to see under the water; you take a yard rake and pull them in so you can pick them up and put them in a bucket. And I do mean a bucket, I learned that a plastic bag doesn’t work. Those slippery suckers slither around and escape!

These animals are so helpless that their only line of defense is to puke out their eggs, and sometimes some guts, to try and repulse their attacker.

The extreme low tide was coming at 6am, so I got up real early and drove out to the south end of the road. I got out my bucket and walked through the woods via an animal trail to the shoreline and realized I’d forgot my rake. It was still dark and I was a little scared. Who knows what creatures roam around in the darkness of Alaska? I decided to run down the trail, it was a lot darker in the woods than on the beach, though it was getting slowly lighter.

     Alone in the Dark Forest

As I ran I thought I heard something behind me, so I stopped and looked. I didn’t see anything and the night was very still so there was no noise at all. A little leery, I started to run, and about a quarter mile into the woods I thought I heard something again, and again, I stopped. I noticed a strong stench of a musty, moldy smell and wondered if that was the smell people had told me about. There’s a certain scent that an old boar (male bear) has and it’s unmistakable.

Right behind me I heard a deep, gutteral grunt and it scared me so bad I instantly and involuntarily spun around on my heel. There, not four feet from me was the biggest bear I’d ever seen in my life! Of course, running into bears isn’t that common to most people and that bear was twelve feet tall if he was an inch, in my frightened eyes.

I Nearly Wet My Pants!

Without even thinking about it I let out a blood-curdling scream and the bear stood up on it’s back legs, looking even more huge! I screamed again and took my coat and held it wide open above my head, trying to look bigger, and the bear turned and took off up the hill. Daylight had begun to creep in and I could just barely see him go over the fallen tree and up and over the hilltop.

Suddenly I didn’t know whether to wet my pants or continue on. Of course I did continue on, there was no other way out of that place, and somehow I hadn‘t wet my pants. I made it to the car and got my rake and felt a little safer having something I could use for a weapon, if I needed it. I know I’ll never forget that smell.

Getting back down to the beach I raked the little creatures up until I filled my bucket, keeping an eye on the woods the whole time. I have to admit, I was afraid to carry the bucket back down the trail, I’d heard stories of people having to defend their fresh-picked berries or their freshly caught salmon from bears. I figured if the bear wanted my catch I’d just drop it and let him have it. Fortunately, that didn’t happen. I got home safely and had a great story to tell my husband when he got up. He was jealous he hadn’t gone with me, and you can believe me when I say that I invited him every time after that!