Alaska Fly-n-Fish (Pack Creek on Admiralty Island Bear
Trip)
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Back in Juneau, we hooked up with our bear guide, Butch
McLaughlin. Again, we were the only two clients for this
trip. We had an incredible time. Butch flew us over to Pack
Creek for our adventure. We saw two humpbacks on the way
over. After landing, we saw several bears feeding on the
beach. We needed to walk down the beach to go to a
particular area, and there was a bear feeding where we
needed to walk by. It was only about 200 yards away, so we
decided to take a walk in the temperate rainforest first. I
was a little apprehensive, but not really scared. Butch
made you feel really safe (he carried a .44 magnum and bear
mace) and told you exactly what to do if we met a bear in
the forest: don't run!, and try not to lose control of your
faculties! There was a loop you could take through the
forest, but there had been some late snow, and once we got
higher up, we were afraid that we couldn't make it all the
way. So we turned around and exited the forest the way we
came in. Our beach bear was still there. Butch told us to
walk by at a steady pace and not to stare at the bear, but
to keep our eye on it. We made it by without incident. Once
down the beach, we saw the remains of a cabin that was
inhabited by a hermit that used to live on the island. We
spotted a bear up in the woods watching a smaller bear down
on the bank of a pond. He came and chased the smaller bear
off. Then an even bigger bear came from behind the pond and
chased that one away. We had front row seats for this,
about 150 yards away! Really exciting. All total, we saw 12
bears. Butch is an awesome guide: a lot of fun to be with
and very knowledgeable.
Just arrived at Pack Creek
A walk in a Temperate Forest
Bear clamming
Taku Glacier seen on way back from Pack Creek.
