Tag Archives: Kodiak Bear Viewing

Munsey’s Bear Camp Mid-Summer 2023

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Greetings from Munsey’s Bear Camp. It is already mid-August, and we are halfway through our summer season. We’ve had a great summer with visitors from Israel, California, Washington, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Switzerland.

Our summer has been cooler than usual. While much of the world baked in June and July, our temperatures hovered in the high 40s and low 50s. The wildflowers are two weeks behind schedule, and the berries are just beginning to ripen. The salmon run is also late, but the fish are arriving and heading upstream to spawn.

The bears are congregating at the mouths of the salmon streams and eagerly devouring their favorite meal. In the last few weeks, we saw bears walking the beaches nearly everywhere we went. Recently, a sow with three one-year-old cubs and another with two-year-old cubs have provided our guests with non-stop entertainment. Watching the family groups interact and seeing how the mothers teach their cubs to fish is fun.

We have not seen many whales yet this summer, but I suspect they will move into the bay in the next few weeks. Fishing has been good. Salmon fishing in Brown’s Lagoon was great in late July, and our guests caught some nice halibut.

Also, In late July, we welcomed Mike’s cousin, Jay Munsey, and his wife, Penny, and their family. Mike and Jay had never met, but they teased each other as if they were old friends, and you only had to look at them to know they were related. We had a fun few days with Jay and Penny and their family, and they left us with the warm feeling of knowing we had just expanded our family.

I will write a more in-depth post once our season has ended, but thank you to all our guests so far this summer, and thank you, Adam, for the wonderful care package! To our late August and September guests – we can’t wait to meet and have fun with you in our beautiful little corner of the world.

Summer 2020

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This has been a strange year, and the effects of Covid-19 touched even our remote corner of the world. One-half of our summer guests opted not to travel to Alaska this summer, and we could not blame them. Alaska required all incoming visitors to show proof of a negative Covid-19 test administered no more than 72 hours before boarding their Alaska-bound flight. This regulation proved difficult for many of our guests since either their city or state only offered tests to individuals showing symptoms of the virus, or the testing facility could not promise results within 72 hours. On top of this, airlines canceled many flights to Alaska, and Ravn Air, the primary air carrier between Anchorage and Kodiak, declared bankruptcy and closed its doors, not bothering to refund tickets or re-book travelers.

I am happy to report that we could re-book most of our guests for either the summer of 2021 or 2022. Meanwhile, those guests who managed to run the gauntlet and find their way to secluded Amook Pass enjoyed a few peaceful days away from the crazy world. 

Our dear friend, Marcia Messier, returned to cook for us this summer. Marcia retired from the cooking job ten years ago, but with the promise of a camp helper to assist her with the never-ending list of chores, she jumped at the chance to return to the solitude of Munsey’s Bear Camp and a cool Kodiak summer. Our camp helper this summer was Chelsea Moran, and we struck gold with her. Her endless energy and can-do spirit gave us all a lift and lightened our workloads. Chelsea probably never expected to paint a warehouse this summer, but during one of our long, unscheduled breaks, she grabbed a paintbrush and went to work. Marcia and Chelsea formed a seamless team. 

Our summer began on July 20th with the arrival of Dan Robertson from Nevada, and his grandson, Ashton Cornell, from California. Due to the pandemic, Ashton was an unfortunate high school senior who graduated without a ceremony. Dan was determined to make his grandson’s graduation special, though. Dan brought Ashton to Munsey’s Bear Camp for Ashton’s graduation gift, a place Dan has visited 19 times. This was Ashton’s second visit to our lodge. We were excited to make Ashton’s trip special, and it turned into the trip of a lifetime on day number one. Mike took Ashton bear viewing, and they watched several bears, including a large male. The bear saw Ashton and Mike and began ambling toward them. He walked to the edge of the creek across from the guys and growled, foaming at the mouth. He put on quite a show until Mike spoke calmly to him. Then, he slowly turned around and walked away. After an exciting bear encounter, we stopped at a favorite fishing spot, and Ashton caught a 115 lb. halibut! Two days later, Ashton and Mike caught pink salmon, and we grilled them on the beach for lunch. Dan and Ashton shared an adventure they will always remember. 

On July 25th, we welcomed Bill and Bobbie Parken, their daughter and son-in-law, Jennifer and Robin Hoon, and the Hoon’s kids, Karlyn, and Kade, all from Florida. This family enjoyed the full Kodiak experience. While they sat on a stream bank, a young bear put on a show for them. He wandered up to them, stared at them, stomped his feet, woofed, and left. Then, he came back and repeated the sequence. He finally walked away but then returned later to study the humans. Bill, Bobbie, and family saw several other bears, including a large, old female with ivory claws, and they also enjoyed watching a fox and two kits play and wrestle in the grass. Everyone had fun halibut fishing, but without a doubt, Robin, Kade, and Karlyn most enjoyed catching salmon in Brown’s Lagoon. 

On August 10th, we were excited to welcome our friends Andy and Candice Vena from New Jersey. Candice’s sister Kim Kenworthy, also from New Jersey, joined them, and Virginia McCarthy from Minnesota, completed the group. On a day of bear viewing, a sow with a two-year-old cub calmly walked in front of this group. The cub seemed nervous, but mom was not at all worried about the people. Virginia and Candice caught our first silver salmon of the summer, and Virginia expertly reeled in a 121-lb. halibut, joining Ashton in the “Munsey’s Bear Camp Halibut Gold Club!” This group enjoyed watching fin whales and even saw the exposed fin of a salmon shark as it cruised near the surface. They experienced perfect weather during their entire stay. 

On August 10th, we greeted our fishing buddies. After bringing Ashton on a graduation trip, Dan Robertson from Nevada returned to our lodge for a second trip, this time with his friends, Gene Fanucchi, John Mendoza, and Mike Saner, all from California. We missed Gordy Sexton and Howard Hancock, who decided to stay home this year. John brought a “party lure” and began the trip with a bang when he caught a 61-pound halibut on the first afternoon. John also caught the group’s first silver salmon, but salmon fishing was slow. On a beautiful, sunny, calm day at Aleutian Rock, Dan joined our halibut club with a 40 pounder, and the other guys also caught fish. At Green Banks, a pod of six fin whales surfaced near us while we fished. 

On August 21st, we greeted Ron Utterback and Judy Kenny from Georgia. They started their trip with a cruise to the mouth of the bay on a beautiful day and saw foxes, deer, and a baby eagle sitting by the edge of the nest, preparing to take its first big step. Four fin whales surfaced near our boat, and when we anchored and started fishing, the whales fed and surfaced close to us again. Judy caught a 35-lb. halibut, and Ron landed a large silver salmon. One day, Ron, Judy, Chelsea, and Mike sat on a riverbank and watched a bear chase salmon in front of them. 

On September 5th, we were happy to welcome back our friends Tony and Karin Ross from Pennsylvania. They were here for a 12-day stay. Frank and Barbara Easterbrook from Alaska and Brian Cesare from New Mexico joined the Rosses.  On the first day of their trip, a storm drove us into a protected spot to fish. Tony, Karin, and Brian caught silver salmon, but Tony ruled the day with three silvers, including one that weighed 18 lbs.! On day two of the storm, Mike took Tony, Karin, and Brian on a hike along a salmon stream near our lodge, where they watched nine bears. Good weather prevailed the following day, and the entire group went bear viewing on a small stream, where they watched a large, old female bear recline on her back in the sunshine and play with a piece of bark. On their last day of bear viewing, this group watched 25 bears fish and interact in front of them, including two sets of sows and tiny cubs and a big bear that marched down the river, walking 30-ft in front of them. 

And that’s before the cost of any potential aftercare is taken into account. buy levitra online Once considered as a taboo, sexual supplements are not indented to treat or cure any kind of disease? They can only professional cialis support natural functions of your body. This constituent performs the reaction generico levitra on line to form the cell membrane. Besides, generic tadalafil many have told that their sexual problems interfere with the quality of their relationships as well. On September 10th, returning guests Jim Smith and Mary Hill from Colorado joined Tony and Karin. Jim and Mary were accompanied by Jim’s daughter, Martha Smith, from Los Angeles, and his granddaughter, Emma Smith, from Colorado. This group enjoyed three days of spectacular bear viewing. They watched interactions between a sow with three newborn cubs and another sow with two tiny cubs. They saw young sub-adult bears tirelessly chase salmon and dig fish out from under a log. Cameras whirred as a huge male bear walked downriver, snorkeling for fish by sticking his head underwater. Growls and woofs pierced the silence when the bears interacted, and while the vocalizations between the young bears seemed harmless, those between sets of sows with cubs sounded more serious. On their last day of bear viewing, this group sat in the middle of eleven bears within a 75-yard radius. When they hiked back to the boat at the end of the day, smiles plastered their faces.

Tony and Karin stayed for an extra two days to end our season in style. Their fish box still was not full, so Tony quickly caught a 50 lb. halibut to solve the problem. On their last day with us, Tony and Karin opted for one more day with the bears, so they could say goodbye – until next year! 

Mike and I felt lucky this year to operate even an abbreviated summer season. As we soaked in the beauty of Uyak Bay and laughed with our guests about our shared adventures, the world seemed normal again. Our guests looked sad on their last morning with us when they stood on the dock and pulled up their face masks for their return to society. For five short days, they’d forgotten about the pandemic and enjoyed nature. 

To our guests who could not travel to Alaska this summer, we look forward to seeing you soon. Thank you to those who made the trip. We appreciate you and enjoyed spending time with you. Marcia, we cannot thank you enough for jumping in when we needed you, and Chelsea, I don’t know how we got so lucky to find you – especially during this crazy summer, but thank you for all your hard work. 

Be sure to check out my blog post on Kodiak wildlife at http://robinbarefield.com/blog. While you are there, sign up for my newsletter if you are interested in true crime stories in Alaska. You can also listen to my murder and mystery tales on my podcast, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier. 

I hope the pandemic is under control by next summer, and things return to normal. I wish you all good health and happiness! 

Robin

 

 

 

Late Spring 2018

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The sun finally shined this last week after a cool, cloudy spring, and the sunny weather turned my thoughts toward our summer trips. June is our “work month” here at Munsey’s Bear Camp. We build, paint, fix, garden and clean in June, and when the sun shines, we grab paint brushes and work as fast as we can because the sunshine usually doesn’t last long. June is one of the rainiest months on the island, so we don’t squander sunshine.

While we haven’t had much time to get out and play, we are enjoying spring. In mid-May, the landscape is pale brown and grey, but by late May, green sprouts push through the dead leaves and fallen twigs, and two weeks later, this island becomes a jungle with three-foot-high cow parsnip, large ferns unfurling in the woods, and wildflowers sprouting on every available open patch of earth. Overnight, the alders, willows, birch, and cottonwoods burst to life with budding leaves, and the wild grass in our yard grows several inches.

As soon as the grass begins showing tints of green, deer appear in our yard to graze. Two young bucks, born a year ago, have been our most frequent visitors, and their heads now sport small antlers covered by velvet. Their mother brought them into our yard a year ago soon after they were born, and we have watched them grow. They are accustomed to us and are curious, often walking to within a few feet of us. Mom accompanied the young bucks into our yard up until two weeks ago when they began showing up on their own. We thought we understood her sudden absence, and we wondered if her offspring knew why she had abandoned them. She confirmed our suspicions two days ago when she arrived with a tiny fawn.

Speaking of babies, we have already seen several sows with cubs, and we are expecting another excellent summer of watching family groups when we bear view. We have also seen a few fin whales in the bay, and we even watched orcas twice this spring.

As we continue to prepare for our summer season, Mike and I will sit down in a few days to review our list of guests for the summer. We’ll make notes about special dietary needs and try to pin down the interests of each group. When Mary, our wonderful cook, arrives, we will hand her the list of food requirements, and she will post them on her calendar. We will then sit down with Mary and Abby, our camp helper and Mary’s sister, and review our guest list again. Half of our guests are returnees, so we know their needs and what they will want to do, and for the rest, we will plan based on what they have told us.
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We only take six guests at a time, and our goal is to provide each of those guests with the best adventure possible. We want you to tell us Munsey’s Bear Camp was the highlight of your vacation, and years from now when you look at your photos, we hope you will smile and laugh at the great memories and the good time you had here. Many of our guests e-mail to thank us and let us know they have arrived home safely from their Alaska trip. A few times each summer, a guest will confide in her e-mail that Munsey’s Bear Camp was by far the best part of her Alaska vacation. When Mike receives such an e-mail, he tells Mary and me, and we cheer. We’re not aiming for “good,” we want to be “the best.”

I know many of our 2018 summer guests will read this post, and to them, I want to say, “Are you ready for your adventure? I can’t wait to meet you and see what will happen as the summer unfolds!” I will post mid-summer again to summarize our adventures up to that point.

I write a weekly blog at http://robinbarefield.com/blog about Kodiak wildlife, living in the wilderness, and my writing. I have written three Alaska wilderness mystery novels and am working on a book about the wildlife of Kodiak Island. I post on my blog once a week and release my posts on Sunday afternoons (U.S. time zones), so if you want to learn more about the island you are planning to visit or would like to visit, I invite you to take a look at my blog, and please leave a comment to say hi.

Mid-Summer 2016

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As fireweed transforms the mountains into a Christmas quilt of red and green, and the cottonwood leaves fade to yellow, I realize summer is nearly over, and autumn is about to begin.  Our summer trips run until mid-September, and by then, the morning air bites, and the wind can rage.  Some days are wet, and other days are wetter.  Last year we had snow on the final day of our “summer” season. 

Why do we run our summer trips so late? Why do we continue to take guests at least two weeks after most tourism businesses in Alaska shut down for the year? Why do we fight autumn storms and endure the sometimes unpleasant September weather?  It’s all about bears.  No matter how preoccupied Kodiak bears may be with eating berries in July and August, they turn their attention to salmon in September as they begin to add inches of fat for winter hibernation. 

We see more bears chasing salmon in September than we do any other time of the summer.  Not only are bears more plentiful and more visible in September, but they are also more photogenic.  Gone is the ratty, rubbed fur of July, and in its place, a full, dark coat gleams in the autumn sunshine, and yes, we also have some gorgeous, sunny days in September. By September, cubs are learning to fish, and it’s fun to watch their mothers teach them the finer points of chasing down a salmon. 

I think September is magical, and I look forward to it with equal parts anticipation and dread.  No matter what happens or what the weather brings, September is always exciting. 

We’ve had a great summer so far.  We’ve seen several family groups of bears (sows and cubs).  The deer population has exploded due to mild winters the last few years, and we always see does and fawns wandering the beach at low tide.  We’ve also enjoyed watching red foxes that range in color from red to black, and of course, we’ve seen bald eagles everywhere.  On the ocean, we’ve watched fin whales nearly every day, and while we haven’t seen as many humpbacks as we did last year, we were thrilled the other day when one breached in front of us.  We saw killer whales once this summer and had Dall’s porpoises play in our bow wake.  We’ve laughed at the antics of sea otters nearly every day and have photographed harbor seals hauled out on rocks.  One day while we were fishing, a young seal swam up to the boat and curiously watched us.  Everyone grabbed cameras, and the little guy stayed there and posed for photos. 

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We enjoyed excellent pink-salmon fishing in July and had great halibut fishing in August.  The largest halibut so far was a 128 pounder caught in mid-August.  We are still waiting for the silver salmon to arrive, but they should be here soon. 

All of our guests would tell you that one of their favorite things about their stay at Munsey’s Bear Camp was the food. One guest said, “I never dreamed we’d eat so well at a lodge in the middle of the wilderness.”  When another guest stepped off the float plane, and Mary introduced herself, the guest said, “I’ve been reading about your wonderful meals and was hoping you’d still be here.”  Yes, Mary Schwarzhans is again dazzling us with her wonderful, creative meals. It doesn’t take long for our guests to fall in love with Mary and wait expectantly for her next culinary delight.  We love Mary not only for her wonderful food but also for her quirky sense of humor, and boundless energy. 

I know in most areas in the U.S., autumn is still a few weeks away, but the season is already upon us here on Kodiak Island, and we are ready for whatever it brings.  Our September trips may be sunny and beautiful, but more than likely, we will battle a few storms.  No matter what the weather does, though, the bears will be chasing salmon, and they will make our September spectacular. 

Robin