Kenai Peninsula Road Trip

[NightTrain]

Went down on a work trip last week to Seward, Soldotna & Kenai (pronounced Keen-Eye) and took a few pics.


Sucks that this one wasn't in focus (hard to get good shots at 70 MPH), but it's a good size Mama Griz with two cubs right beside the highway.

[NightTrain]

About 40 miles out of Soldotna :

[NightTrain]

[NightTrain]

[NightTrain]

Kenai Lake... the headwaters to the Kenai River.

This body of water is a very unique color of blue/grey, but it doesn't show in this pic because it was such a gloomy day.

[NightTrain]

Cooper Landing... this is a tiny little town that you NEVER speed though, even though the speed limit is 35 MPH. It's about halfway from Kenai to Anchorage.

That's because a State Trooper lives here and he has nothing better to do than nail speeders. I've talked to the nice policeman a few times before it sunk in that speeding on that stretch was a Bad Idea.

[jimnyc]

Nice! Why didn't you just stop and walk over and get a few pics of the Mama for us?

[NightTrain]

Nice! Why didn't you just stop and walk over and get a few pics of the Mama for us?

Nyet!

I have a real healthy respect for bruin, especially Mamas. I've seen tourists stop and take pictures of such scenes, and they don't realize how incredibly fast Mama can cover that distance if she chooses to.

[Abbey Marie]

Nice! Why didn't you just stop and walk over and get a few pics of the Mama for us?

Lol, I understand they really appreciate it when you cuddle their cubs.

[fj1200]

Went down on a work trip last week to Seward, Soldotna & Kenai (pronounced Keen-Eye) and took a few pics.

How do I make sure that the bear doesn't eat me when I'm up there in four years and possibly camping?

[Jeff]

How do I make sure that the bear doesn't eat me when I'm up there in four years and possibly camping?

Hand feed him Fj, take plenty of raw meat with you and when a bear comes into camp take a nice lean raw steak and hand feed him, he will love you forever.

[NightTrain]

How do I make sure that the bear doesn't eat me when I'm up there in four years and possibly camping?

Don't camp next to a river - salmon are every bear's #1 priority during the summer and they roam the banks as they fish 24/7 from late May to early September.

Don't have any sort of food that's not sealed up and stored inside a cooler - their sense of smell is incredible. This includes snacks you may have in your saddlebags, especially candy bars.

Don't leave used cooking utensils (grill, spatula, tongs, forks, knives, etc) laying around. They have to be cleaned as soon as you're done eating, and damn sure not left out overnight.

While awake, it's a good policy to shout every 10 or 15 minutes or so. If they hear you and know you're there, you won't even see 99.9% of them.

Make sure you have a .44 or even a nice .50 pistol on you at all times and under your pillow while sleeping. A .41 is the bare minimum and a .357 is useless. Almost all of the people that get mauled are unarmed in bear country for some crazy reason. You want fully jacketed ammo for penetration, do not use hollow points or the 'dum dum' rounds.

If there is a bear suddenly facing you and it is trying to decide what you are and if you're a threat, stay calm and don't stare him in the eyes - use your peripheral vision. He will stand on his hind legs to try and see you better, and while this is happening you need to present yourself as non-threatening as possible while he makes his decision about you. Talk softly and calmly and whatever you do, do not try to run. He'll catch you within seconds and all you've done is trigger the Cat vs. Mouse instinct. If you can, look down at the ground and slowly back away while still talking calmly.

If the bear is aggressive, he'll begin 'bluff charging'. That means he's acting like he's charging you and is trying to see if you'll turn tail and run for it. Again, he'll have you in seconds if you do run.. It's impossible to know initially if the charge is the real deal or not, and it is scary as hell - and at this point, he's trying to be scary as hell and they're good at that. Hold your position facing him, but continue to back away slowly. If he continues the charge past 2 leaps toward you, then it's the real deal and you need to be slinging lead at him.

If he initiates a charge, then you've got a couple of seconds to unload your pistol at him. You want to shoot for the front of his chest - do NOT shoot at his head, because his skull is incredibly thick and you won't penetrate it. A head shot will just piss him off and you've wasted a precious round. Aim for the chest and knock out those front legs, along with the vital organs. A bear without the use of his front legs won't be able to continue the attack and is immobile.

Once the bear has adrenaline flowing, they can continue to operate for an amazingly long time without the heart & lungs. There's been cases of bears being shot to swiss cheese in the vital organs and still continuing the attack - it's imperative that you take out those front shoulders.

Keep in mind that almost every bear confrontation resolves peacefully, with no injury to either party (with the exception to your Fruit-of-the-Looms) and it just needs to be handled correctly. If there are cubs in the equation, the odds of violent combat are increased significantly, and it all depends on how Mama perceives the threat you pose to her cubs.

A dog is the best bear deterrence you can have, but you won't have that option on your bike unless you get a sidecar. However, there are many stories regarding stupid dogs that go out from camp, find and antagonize a bear who was minding his own business, and then leading a very pissed off bear back into camp. In this case, I would shoot the idiot dog first and then finish the bear.

There are pepper sprays and bear sprays that are widely sold... and maybe they work, maybe they don't. I just don't know. I personally think if a bear decides to charge you, it's not going to matter what kind of spray you have and all you've done is provide seasoning. My money is on a trusty high-caliber handgun.

So, anyway...

1) No food/drippings/utensils in camp that can waft on the breeze to lure them in

2) Make your presence known by shouting every few minutes

3) Don't try to run

4) Keep your pistol loaded (with the proper ammo) and with you at all times

5) Don't set up camp next to a salmon loaded river

6) Always shoot for those front shoulders

[fj1200]

I think I just boiled it down to this.

Don't camp.

You already told me I couldn't get a gun through Canada so there goes #4 and #6.

[darin]

that country - holy cow. Reminds me of Central Washington State - but larger. Check out the vid I did driving from WA to Montana -

you'll see what I mean - at least in the first part.

[NightTrain]

I think I just boiled it down to this.





You already told me I couldn't get a gun through Canada so there goes #4 and #6.

Nah... I don't want to alarm you, man. Just follow the rules there and you'll have no trouble. I just wanted to give you all of the info.

Mail your piece to yourself for General Delivery in Tok, which is only a few miles this side of the border. A quick call to the Post Office should answer any questions you have and you're certainly not the first person who wants their firearm in Alaska without having the Canadians freaking out at the border.

I've camped hundreds of times in bear country with no incidents by just using the rules above.