We were collected form the Kodiak Inn at 9.15am by Kingfisher Air and taken to the lake where their planes operate from - as the winds were strengthening when it was time to depart we had to be taken across to the wider waterway on the other side of Near island, where Andrews Airways operate from, to take off. We went in the bus while the plane floated round!
It was a little bumpy but the trip took us over snow capped mountains, through passes, over lakes - we saw areas of the Kodiak wildlife refuge that you can only see by air - we even saw bears fishing in rivers and on the edge of O'Malley lake - the largest lake on Kodiak - before we landed on Frasier lake. We parked the float plane on the lake edge and walked to the bear viewing point along a lovely trail. It was a 15 minute walk to the viewing point where we sat high on a slope and could look down to the pool below and the river beyond - it was by a fisheries salmon ladder and gates to help the salmon negotiate the waterfall - you could see shoals of red sockeye salmon below the gates in the pool.
The bear watching was a bit like yesterday a slow start - two bears left when we arrived, they had fed well and we're off for a nap, we then waited watching the seagulls, three Sitka deer that passed on the hillside and adult and juvenile bald eagles flying around - just as we were about to go and see the top of the fish ladder the old blonde sow who left earlier returned, she fished & caught one then collected dead salmon from the back of the enclosed aluminium holding tank just before the fish ladder - it had been built to stop the bears fishing from the ladder -but instead the salmon jump as they enter it and knock themselves out giving the bears, ironically, easier fishing - as they get the dead ones out of the back - a crazy waste of money as bears only take a few fish and eat them - they don't gorge and don't hassle the salmon!
A mum and two cubs then arrived and fished, the young male sneaked up and pulled the tail off his mothers catch and headed to the bank with it. This was soon followed by another sow walking up the edge of the river - the young look concerned, in a show of dominance the arriving female chased the mum up the bank near us where she stopped with the cubs several yards behind often standing on their hind legs looking - the two sows then had an aggressive spiring, the two frightened cubs were standing on their legs watching mum stand her ground when it was all over mum lay down and they suckled for comfort - the young male looked too big for nursing!
Tension remained and there were lots of concerned looks ( today's photo) particularly as the two sows wandered from the river towards us and the mum and cubs but no further action happened between the bears. The only slightly worrying thing was they took our path and we were about to return to the plane - the older female left the trail first whereas the younger more feisty was on it for much longer so we slowed down until she eventually headed off into the vegetation to our left.
Back on the plane you could tell the wind was up, take off was a little rocky but the upside was a tail wind so we were back in half the time and the landing was a little rocky. Glen, the owner pilot, has been flying this area for 20 years so he knew what he was doing - even though he wasn't going out again today.
They took us to the airport for our quick flight to Anchorage followed by a long wait for a hire car - 90 minutes - we were second on the list so we went for an Alaskan cod dinner before collecting the car and finding Highland Glen Lodge, via a slightly circuitous route, a lovely B&B overlooking Anchorage.