A 'beary' interesting morning run

Zippy and I met a meandering bear this morning - while out on a run on the trails behind my cabin. I knew a grizz had been hanging around the area, so for most of the morning, I made a ruckus, shouting various combinations of "hey, hey, hey" and "hey-ho" into the frosty morning air. But as I closed in on the last five minutes of the run, my mind began to think about what I needed to do to get ready for work, and as a result lapsed in my noise-making efforts. Zipster and I were floating along quite peacefully, when we looked up to see the big bear, with blond highlights, strolling right down the path toward us. I did a 180 degree twirl with the focus of a prima ballerina, and Zippy and I made our retreat back the way we came, in search of another path. Zippy is really good around large wildlife, several close moose encounters this summer haven't so much as sparked a bark, and he hardly noticed the bear. The bear didn't really pay us much attention either. It sort of looked up when I called Zippy, but then quickly returned to its morning stroll.

Backyard treasure

Xela and I are starting to settle into our new cabin. Today marks the first official day of Internet access for me ... so I'm moving back into the 21st century ... but still retaining plenty of rustic, quintessential Alaska.

Today was just one of those days at work. I got home feeling depleted and deflated. Xela, on the other hard, got home feeling buoyant and bouncy ... her way of saying, "mom, is it time for our daily run?"

Well, I couldn't quite get myself motivated to go for a run, but I could get myself motivated to get out the door.

We headed down the trail that leads from the back door of our cabin to basically endless trails through Chugach State Park and Chuguch National Forest. I mosied along, Xela leaped down the trail, every now and then running back to make sure I still trailed.

Five minutes into our walk I heard a big "kerplunk," and then "splash." It sounded like somebody had cannonballed off the boardwalk into the lake up ahead. Expecting that to be a very unlikely scenario, I approached cautiously.

The lake came into view and there was a mama grizzly and her two cubs swimming through the water!

I put a leash on Xela and we slowly walked up the trail - giving the trio plenty of room. They didn't even notice us go past.

At the next boardwalk, a fair distance away, I stopped and watched the bears as they made their way down river in the opposite direction.

Only the sound of salmon jumping out of the water pierced the dusk silence.

As the skies darkened, we continued down the trail.

A few minutes later a shrill sound rang through the forest. The more we walked, the louder and hoarser the shrill became. In a very eerie way, it sounded like a little kid screaming.

Following the noise, I spied a big bird perched in a tree. I'm not much of a birder and I couldn't quite figure out what type of bird it was.

I watched it for a minute or two and walked on.

The bird followed, swooping right in front of use before landing on a branch - this time perfectly silhouetted by the faded grey night.

My best guess: a great horned owl. It certainly had the two pokes (for lack of better words) sticking out of its head.

By the time we returned to our cabin, my whole demeanor had done a 180. It's a true treasure to have Alaska as my backyard.

Mamas and their babies

Yesterday I went for a nice long run by the Eagle River Nature Center. As I was driving home, on a gorgeous, curvy, two-lane mountain road, I saw a bit of movement in the brush. Assuming moose, I slowed down. Out in front of me, darted a huge black bear. Two, dare I say it, adorable cubs trailed behind. All three bears dashed across the road and were gone in seconds. I was left with a profound sense of awe about this amazing place that I live. Yeah, I have to make a ton of noise, aka shout like a maniac, when I'm running by myself in the woods; but how cool that I can spend the day in the office, and then spend the early evening bear viewing and running in a glacier-carved valley... pretty darn cool.

And speaking of wildlife, the other day I went to back out of my drive way. As usual, I checked my rear view mirror to see if anybody was coming... there was something coming, but not a car or a bike rider. Nope, it was mama moose and two babies that were standing in plain view of my mirror. Not a bad way to start the day, if you ask me.