Bear Sighting!

Well I knew I would be seeing bears soon enough when I read this post at the glacier that said "Open: Some bear activity. Use caution." True to its warning I saw this little guy right next to where we park the buses and wait for our passengers to meet us to pick them up.

I was standing with a few other drivers and we noticed this guy licking the ground. We were about 25 yards away (very safe mother).

A little while later a ranger came to see what was going on. She informed us that this was a one year old black bear that had been abandoned by its mother. He was pretty scrawny, only 100 pounds or so. She said that someone was baiting bears in the area, and the bear was going after some grease in the dirt. She wasn't happy with what was going on and started yelling at the bear to go on, and you know what, it actually did surprisingly enough. So that was the end of that fun.

I feel like me and this guy made a connection. He really understands me :)

A Special Group

So a few days ago I started the day do normal transfers and just enjoying an overcast day. At around 3 in the afternoon I received a call from operations control (OPS) with a request to cover a tour. This tour came about because the groups first excursion on a helicopter was cancelled (mind you, they were not okay with this at all, to the point of swearing and very upset) so they gave them the option of a personal tour to the Mendahall Glacier. I was put in charge of that personal tour with 13 family members. I must admit that I was quick to judge them of being rude and over bearing, but after giving my safety speech I realized that this was going to be fun. When we arrived at the glacier they insisted on me accompanying them on their hike! Needless to say, instead of the normal hour and a half that we would spend there, we spent two and a half hours having a GREAT time!!!

The people in this picture are all part of my group. The hike we were on is called Nugget Falls (seen on the right side of the picture).

At the end of the tour we exchanged hugs and took a group picture :) what a great day?! Gamma is the lady in the light blue jacket near me, and she is 87 years old! She was a huge sport and made the hike like a champ.

Day Off July 22

This is a cool little abandoned one room cabin. I actually hiked out to it and looked inside, nothing special. Still pretty fun to explore though.

This is the beautiful Mendenhall Glacier. I thought i would ride the scooter out there this morning. Apparently a lake that had a dam made of ice gave way and the lake and river flooded from the massive amount of water flow. Hence the above picture as well.

This is the bay that I went to this evening. Me, Phil, and Hana went and fished, threw rocks, and hung out. The fishing is fun, Chum Salmon were everywhere, but we were mostly hoping to catch a King. The picture below is a panoramic view of the bay. It is a gorgeous area, and i can't get over the beauty here.