Thursday, July 30th...the Russian River

While Kade & Ashely and company were here we took them to the Russian River. Not everyone wanted to fish but all wanted to see the place, so we opted to do the 3 mile hike to the Russian River Falls. We would eat lunch at the falls on the platform/outlook over the falls, and then those who wanted to fish would continue to hike down river and those who wanted to leave could hike back. It's an easy hike and a lot of fun to take people on, b/c the Russian is such a beautiful river.

However, if you've at all read our blog in the past, you know it's FULL of bears. I'm not talking just a few...I'm talking A LOT!! And not little bears...big Brown bears and slightly smaller Black bears. Our group wanted to see bears, b/c that's what you expect coming to Alaska...well, they weren't disappointed. When we got to the platform at the falls, there was a large Brown bear just below us in the pool at the bottom of the falls "fishing". He hung out in the pool trying to get a Salmon for a bit, caught one, pulled him to the side and then munched him. It is an incredibly cool and terrifying feeling knowing you are only yards from a massive bear, but feel safe at the same time. We took plenty of pics to document it.

Shayne had The Bug on his back in the backpack for the whole bear incident and what do you think The Bug was doing? Yup...sleeping. I had to take a pic. Our company, and the other tourists at the platform thought it was pretty cool...and I have to admit...I never get tired of watching bears...from a safe distance. :)

After the bear left, he went up the hill on the other side of the river, we ate lunch took some more photos, and then continued down river to fish. If you've ever fished on the Russian River you know what I mean when I say, "I hate combat fishing!!" There are so many people on the River all trying to catch Salmon. Usually they are a bunch of redneck's just snaggin' and fishing illegally. Drives me crazy! So...I opted to not fish a whole lot that day...ok, I didn't fish at all. Instead, with Ashley's help we sat on the bank and fed The Bug lunch, played with/entertained him, and I was the one who usually beached and bonked the fish that were caught by our group.

You can see all the people in some of the pics. One of the pics shows perfectly the mayhem that can occur while fishing the Russian. One of the girls in our group, Janell, got into her first Salmon, and didn't quite know how to handle it on a fly rod. The fish took off down river, tangling in the gauntlet of lines already in the river. Most people are inconsiderate and refused to reel up and get their lines out of the way...so Janell had to work around them. Her husband, Aaron, had her climbing over and under lines to get untangled. There was an easier way to deal with the mess...but we won't go there.

While fishing, we saw yet another bear. This was a smaller Black bear that was across the river from us. He popped out of the bushes just below us (on the other side), and then came walking up river, towards us (on the other side) and just meandered up the river. Kade videoed it, but I didn't have a chance to take a pic. I had The Bug with me, and was watching to see how he responded to the bear. He just watched it...no other reaction. Like he would know how to react. Black bears are a lot less aggressive, and much more timid than the larger Brown bears. So...we never felt uncomfortable or threatened in any way. It was just cool to watch him checking us and the river out. Gotta love the Russian River! You're almost guaranteed to see a bear in June/July when you go there...almost.

The Bug is such a little trooper. He very seldom complains when we take him places. He loves to just watch what's going on around him...and sleep. :) There were quite a few people amazed that we had brought him with us...probably b/c of the bear infestations...but we like to think it's b/c we just love to take him with us. :)

Anyway...sorry for the bajillion pics again, but the pics of that Brown bear fishing were just too cool to not post. I'm just about caught up on our summer happenings. My goal is to be completely caught up before The Bug's B-day...which is at the end of the month.