A Case of Tecate Blues (or "The Ballad of the Champagne Ranger")

Hank and I made it down to Guerrero Negro just in time to catch the last boat of the season.  The good news is we had this mommy and baby ballena all to ourselves.

July

 

Right on schedule, the sockeye begin their upstream journey.  Right behind them come the bears and the tourists. This is the shot people travel thousands of miles for.

Welcome to the Middle of the Food Chain

 Back at the coast where, in addition to the myriad bears, a pair of wolves was hanging around.  The epic interspecies battle I had hoped for here never materialized.

TrailBlog Season Three: Alaska Edition

I suppose an update is in order.  I'm writing now from Eddie's Fireplace Inn in King Salmon, Alaska.  All people and supplies have to be brought in by plane, which is why the turkey sandwich I'm eating costs fifteen dollars and a case of Rainier runs thirty.  It's pretty quiet here right now, but once the salmon start running, the town will swell with fisherman and cannery workers.  I'm here, however, to work in nearby Katmai National Park, another plane ride away.  Although officially set aside to preserve the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, the site of a colossal volcanic explosion, the park's main draws are the fish and the bears that come to catch them.  If you're not a fisherman and you've heard of the park, it might be because it's where Timothy "Grizzly Man" Treadwell and his girlfriend were killed and eaten in the fall of '03.  For my mother's sake, I'd like to stress that bear-related injuries in the park are exceedingly rare and, in fact, the Treadwell incident was the first fatality in over twenty years.  Moreover, we'll be carrying a portable electric fence to set up around camp when we're in the backcountry.  I still have yet to see the park, as we've been in training here in King Salmon all week, but I will be flying out on Friday for boating class.  More about the town and the park later, but in the meantime, enjoy these images from my stayover in Anchorage.  

daaa-DUM...daaa-DUM

Here's a juvenile salmon shark that washed up at Sand Point. They can grow to be up to ten feet long, but this one's only forty-six inches. I know 'cause I measured it before cutting out its spine for the scientists to study.

Seattle

The distinctive Seattle skyline and weather.

The Pike Place Fish market in Seattle. You pick out your fish and one of the fishmongers tosses it back over the counter to be butchered and wrapped.