Fish Creek is about 1-1/2 miles up the road from our RV park. The salmon in the ocean come up the creek every year to spawn in the creek, drawing many bears to feast on them before going into hibernation. It is all the circle of life.
The water is crystal clear and not very deep, making it easy to see the salmon, for both man and bear.
There is a long, elevated wooden walkway where everyone stands watching the creek for the appearance of bears.
It is a beautiful creek just to look at.
On the side of the walkway, opposite the creek is one of my favorite ponds, with turquoise water from glacial runoff. All in all, it’s just a great place…except for the mosquitos.
The first day we were there we saw a black bear finally come out of the bushes. He found a salmon on the bank and took it back into the bushes to have his lunch in private.
The next day we went back again. No bears.
We were just leaving when a mother grizzly bear with her two-year old cub arrived. I hope you like bear pictures, because most of the rest of this posting will be pictures of grizzlies fishing for salmon.
Mom was a proficient fisher-bear. She was also a black, or nearly black grizzly. Her cub was brown.
She could move pretty fast when she saw a salmon she wanted.
When she would catch a fish she would take it up on the bank and share it with Junior.
Then she would head back in the water looking for another one.
Bits and pieces of salmon are strewn on the banks of the creek.
While they eat, they keep an eye out for other bears that might try to steal what they have caught.
While Mom got back in the water to do more fishing, Junior decided to sit down and kick back for a while and let her bring him lunch.
While he waited, he decided to just fiddle around with some sticks and grass.
Then he brought “goofing off” to a higher level and sort of fell over backwards with all four feet in the air. He was acting like a typical two-year-old.
Finally he decided it was time to get up off his backside and head back into the water.
He made a couple attempts to catch a fish, but he wasn’t very good at it yet.
Mom caught another salmon and, of course, shares it with Junior.
They always keep the watchful eye.
It’s always good to have some greens with your fish…
Mom and Junior go back in the water for more fishing.
A very large male grizzly approaches from a distance up the creek. This poses a threat to the cub.
He comes within about 100 yards from the female and cub.
The Park rangers say he has a broken jaw from a previous fight with another male.
I don’t know how he catches fish with that jaw hanging open, but he does.
In the meantime, the female has spotted him and watches warily, staying between him and her cub.
Check out the length of his claws as he grabs for a fish.
He also, is aware of the female with her cub upstream and decides he doesn’t want to challenger her, so finally he finally turned around and went back down stream and out of sight. In the end, it was a bit anticlimactic, but the whole thing was great fun to watch.
The next stop is an overnight in Dease Lake, B.C., crossing the border out of Alaska and back into Canada. We actually cross the border 8-9 times on this trip.
We will be heading north up the Cassiar Highway. We are likely to see more bears on that route before we go back into Alaska again so watch for more pictures on my next post.
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