August 5th

Okay, sorry for the confusion everyone, we thought we were leaving Valdez yesterday, but our plans changed as we went along. We packed up the RV and prepared for dry camping where ever that would be along the way. We visited a couple of gift stores and watched a video of the 1964 earthquake and then decided to head out. There was one place we wanted to see on our way out of town which was the fish spawning ground set up by the fish & game department with live cameras and all! So we went by and watched a few 2 pound salmon in the river which was really interesting. Way too complicated to explain.
Then we went into the building and watched them under water for a few more minutes. The girl at the counter asked us if we had seen any bear? I told her, we have been so frustrated with being in the state now for 7 weeks and yet to see one grizzly. She said, “Oh, they are all over town. I saw one last night in my back yard! They are all across the bay feeding on salmon right now.” So we decided to take a little side trip across the bay to see if we could see one. What we found was amazing. There were salmon piled up for a mile along the shore. They were lining up (staging) to enter the rivers to spawn. The water literally looked like it was boiling due to the activity of so many fish on the surface of the water. But there were not only salmon in those waters…. I watched an otter and seal show for about an hour as Gary fished for what turned out to be pink salmon. The otters were more playful and social diving up and down, carrying fish with them and then flipping unto their backs to eat them. The seals operated as a group with more stealth. They worked together to surround and corral the fish into an area and then would dive and swim right through the huddled fish to feed on them. Absolutely amazing to watch. I also caught a glimpse of a couple of sea lions further out in the bay feeding on salmon. The gulls were a whole other sight to see. They thickly lined the shoreline and the rivers in order to feed on the dead fish and eggs. It was a feeding frenzy for all the wild life….. Except a bear!!!! Arrrgggg. There were signs everywhere cautioning us about the bears in the area. In one particular spot where the fish were all pooled up there were gates and yellow caution tape keeping us at a distance from the shoreline due to expecting bear to feed there. Nothin’!

Gary had a great day of fishing. Just when he thought his fishing days in Alaska were over, he decided, on a whim, to throw a fly into the thick of the fish and see if they would take it. Sure enough, within an hour he had 4 fish in the 5 to 6 pound range. He said they were the easiest fish to reel in he’s ever caught. One, in particular, really tickled him “pink!” He decided it would be his next wall mount (there goes more family pictures). It was a 24 inch, 6 pound male “humpie” with a kype caught with a fly rod in the ocean. For those interested it was a size 8 red comet (Gary tied of course). For those who don’t understand “fish-jargon” …. ignore the last 2 sentences.

It was a good day, to say the least, we ended up returning to the Valdez harbor area to stay one more night and we’ll leave today (I think) to head towards Glenallen and dry camp somewhere. Probably Kenny Lake... since Dan has us there anyway!