I’d come to Alaska in late June specifically to look for bears, though I didn’t anticipate it getting quite so personal. On the shores of Otter Lake beneath the afternoon shadow of Chigmit Mountains night time is barely distinguishable from day were it not for a soft lilac tint to the evening sky.
Initially I’m perplexed at the lack of electric lighting in my cabin beyond a low wattage light above the bathroom mirror. A couple of large picture windows frame dramatic craggy peaks to the west and the emerald green lake to the south, flooding the bedroom with natural light no matter the time of day. As the lodge is only open during summer it’s a natural solution to lighting in this remote wilderness area an hour south of Anchorage.
Summer is not a time for sleeping in these parts, whether bear or human: there’s ample time to rest up once the sun heads into the southern hemisphere and winter darkness descends. Which is why I find myself in a small punt out on the lake close to midnight taking photographs of black bears foraging on sedge grass. My guide though is keen for me to finish up so he can go fishing for salmon before fronting up for work at the lodge after breakfast.
A love of salmon is a common thread across Alaska with five species inhabiting Alaskan waters: chinook (known as king), pink, sockeye (red), coho (silver) and chum (dog) salmon. In 2010 commercial fishermen harvested 169 million of them. Or, to put it into perspective, around 230 salmon for each Alaskan resident.
By late June the lakes are filled with salmon migrating to spawning grounds in the upper lakes beneath summer-melt glaciers. Bears eagerly await the impending feast. Alaska’s state fish, Chinook (otherwise known as king) salmon are the largest, but sockeye are the tastiest, highly prized by both humans and bears. Which makes June and July a splendid time to view bears in the wild. Black and brown (grizzly) bears salivate by streams, ready to snatch salmon mid-air as they ‘pool hop’ to upper lakes. Fishermen lure them onto their lines as the salmon group in schools before making their dash for spawning grounds.
