An expedition to the Hallo Bay Camp in July 2009
We flew Alaska Airlines from Honolulu via Seattle to Anchorage. Long trip that got us to Alaska at 1 AM.
Nancy is happy to be in Alaska. You need to dress like this in the Alaska summer if you are from Hawaii.
A day in Anchorage. Late in the evening, time for a drink at the top of the Captain Cook Hotel to watch the sunset.
The sun sets over the Cook Inlet. We will soon be headed in the direction of the sunset to see bears. But first, we are going to Fairbanks to join up with our friends.
Nancy is on the Alaska Railway train to Fairbanks.
The dome cars offer a great view.
First stop. Anyone know where we are?
The sign tells all.
The views from the 12 hour train trip are spectacular.
A major stop, about half way in the trip, is at Denali National Park. Lots of people get off here, especially from the "tour" cars at the end of the train.
Time to reboard the train. We are in the first of the dome cars. Note the open section at the rear of each dome car. A great location for photographers.
A huge fire burns at Nenana. Apparently there is an underground coal deposit here that periodically ignites above ground vegetation when it is dry.
Peter McRoy and Nancy walk along the trail from his house on Ester Dome to Carla's house.
What have they stopped to pick?
Wild blueberries. What a treat.
This is an especially dense patch. And they are ready to be picked.
Carla's house. She will like all the blueberries.
Nancy and Carla hard at work preparing the blueberries and the rest of the ingredients for a pie.
Blueberries are ready.
The blueberry pie, hot from the oven. We have to wait for it to cool a bit.
Peter and Nancy serve the blueberry pie. It is still hot, so bowls are appropriate.
A dab of vanilla ice cream is the right addition.
Time to eat dessert!
The obvious sign of approval.
The drive from Fairbanks toward Homer yielded a few good views of wildlife. Nancy spotted this moose in a roadside pond.
The moose wasn't alone.
Nancy, our wildlife spotter, are a wildlife viewing area just outside Anchorage.
Homer, the terminus of our road trip. A quaint city in a remote corner of Alaska.
Peter, in the rear seat, about to ask a question.
Carla is ready to go.
Nancy is co-pilot. Deb is our pilot.
Taking off from Homer gives us a clear view of the airport (blue hanger and building are for Smoky Bay) and the Homer Spit beyond.
Deb takes us up above the clouds. Another plane tried flying below the clouds but had to turn back.
Our first sighting of an offshore landmark that signals we are very near the landing spot.
We take a turn and head back toward the Hallo Bay Camp, passing over some large logs that have been thrown up on the beach during storms.
On final approach to the beach landing. This quick orientation snap turned out to be interesting on later inspection.
This is a detail from the previous picture. Do you see the bear in the meadow?
Another detail from the previous shot. People can be seen on the beach near a wind sock. The vegetation along the berm aside the landing area will be seen in the next several photos.
Just a miscellaneous shot out the window. I often take several shots in rapid sequence.
Here is the second shot in the series. Only after returning from the trip did I notice that there was something interesting in this photo. See the next picture for a detailed view.
Here is the detail. Notice the bear? This is right next to our landing spot and very close to the Hallo Bay Camp.
The greeting party. Some of these people have been waiting for six days so that the weather will clear and a plane can take them back to Homer.
We are happy to arrive!
A look back down the beach shows our landing route. There are 25 foot tides here and you can't land when the tide is higher than 15 feet.
The camp entrance.
Each person must carry his or her own belongings to the camp.
Nancy head to tent #2, our place to stay for two nights.
It isn't long before we head out to see wildlife. The sand is covered with evidence. Here is a large wolf footprint. Lots of bear track on the beach.
Peter and Carla sit on some big logs as we watch for bears.
Our guide, John, is always on the lookout. While we look forward, he makes sure that there are no bears behind us.
Additional evidence that there have been bears here.
Early the next morning, we go down the beach again. This time we spot a brown bear. And we get spotted by the bear.
This bear is just across a shallow stream. Not far away.
Obvious we aren't very interesting. It is time to do a bear scratch (and scratch, scratch, scratch). All that scratching must feel good.
Looks like this is fun.
Finally, it is time to get up and get moving.
We prepare to follow, but bears walk much faster than people.
This bear needs to eat some fish, but the salmon run is still at least a week away.
