Today was an exciting day...shower day! After the exciting moment of cleanliness, we decided to go fishing again. My dad and I each hooked a few salmon, but we never reeled any in all the way to the shore. We probably would have if Divot the Bear hadn't been "napping" on the spit across from where we were fishing. Divot is the bear who has learned what it looks like when an angler has a fish on...pole bent, water splashing, excited faces, etc. You get the point. So here is the story about Divot and my dad. Divot was laying down on the spit across the river. Ranger Imes, who is a bear technician, gave us the "okay" that we could fish with her asleep across from us because she was more than 50 yards away. He also warned us that she might be interested in a fish if we get one on. So my dad casts out and hooks a salmon. I figured it'd be better if I sat this one out. He catches a fish and Divot doesn't even flinch. Unfortunately, this fish escaped the hook and so my dad casted out again. This time, he hooked a fighter. Once the fish splashed about three times, here came Divot! My dad cut his line, I was freaking out (a bear was kind of chasing us, after all), and Divot didn't even get the fish in the end. Talk about exciting! My dad is a legend. After fishing for bears, we went up to the falls. On our way up, we saw a sow with her cub asleep about 25 yd off the trail. Personally, I'm glad they were sleeping! Once we got to the falls, we were greeted by a lot of bear bickering: roaring, jaw chopping and even some fighting! A few salmon were jumping, but not too many. It's amazing how these bears tolerate one another so close together. Once we got back to the lodge, we downloaded some pictures and visited with our friend Bryan who works at Brooks Camp. He showed us some pictures of the valley he'd taken on his hike earlier that day, and he was great to talk to! He's a real mountain man! So far we've met people from Russia, Germany, Australia, Hawaii, the Netherlands, and all around the U.S. Everyone is so sweet and so fun to talk to! I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds.
This is Divot. She looks so innocent, but she's real good at putting on a fake nap.
Pecking order at its finest: ears laid back, yawning, and foaming at the mouth. Those are all signs of agression.
And again, there's some pretty intense agression right there. I think there was even some roaring between these two!
I thought this picture was so funny! These two bears were fighting over who got the scraps of a salmon. Obviously the first one got it, and the second bear looks so sad!
This was my favorite shot of the day. If you look closely, you can see the salmon actually IN the bear's mouth!
Meet Bryan. He was one of the many cool people we met at camp! He and his coworkers would go into the Naknek Lake and pull the float planes to shore, tie them off, get the luggage and people out, and then we all got to visit! Talk about an awesome summer job!
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