Kake is a tiny town on the northwestern coast of Kupreanof Island.  With very few roads, we had all of our work done by early afternoon.  I decided to fill my time on one of the streams I noted earlier along a road into the island’s interior.

Jenny Creek is comparable in volume to the Spirit River, up in my neck of the woods.  But its morphology is more similar to something you might see tumbling toward Lake Superior; bedrock outcrops, steep gradients and small waterfalls all surrounded by moss-draped forest.  The water was a bit low and long, shallow riffles connected the deeper pools.  Though it was mid-afternoon, the steepness of the valley and the dense forest made for low light levels.  While respectable by Midwest standards, this forest was clearly second growth.  Stumps and remnant logs 8 feet and more across were scattered among younger trees already 3-4 feet in diameter.

The first couple of pools yielded nothing.  But a little further downstream, a sudden tug on the line meant something found my 1/8 oz yellow spinner interesting.  It was this 10 inch cutthroat trout.

It was the first of half a dozen small cutts.  For a time I thought some of them were rainbow trout because the parr markings on the smaller ones accentuated the irrendescence behind the spots.  But after further review, they were all cutthroats.  I kept none as there is an 11 inch size limit and that 10-incher was the largest of the lot.

I fished my way downstream for almost 2 hours until I came upon this 10-12 foot waterfall.  Not wanting to Bear Grylls my way down the “slippy” rocks, I started my return trek back upstream to the bridge.

I was very much aware I was in the woods in bear country.  We saw a small black bear on the edge of town earlier that day and I passed another on my way to go fishing.  Bears have good hearing and an excellent sense of smell, but their vision is relatively poor.  As such, when hiking in bear country it’s adviseable to make a lot of noise so as not to surprise one.  An occasional shout of “Heeyyy bear!” is good.  So is singing out loud.  Anything that pitches your voice through a range of octaves is best as it makes it more likely you will be heard over the normal sounds of nature; especially along a stream.  Black bears are generally timid around humans, but around garbage dumps and other sloppy human activity, they might need encouragement to skeedattle.  In the woods, I’ve only ever seen them running away from me.

I’m a little over half way back to the road, when I hear a twig snap up ahead a little on the same side of the stream as me.  This gets my attention and I listen for anything else.  Another snap; this time a little closer.  Instantly I give a loud whistle and kick some rocks around, just in case.  Sure enough, about 30 yards away, an adult black bear appears at the base of the valley slope among the brush.  It was a heck of a lot closer than I was comfortable with.  I found it remarkable how well it was hidden by the vegetation; if that bear had been standing still instead of walking toward me, it would have been impossible to see.  I shouted at the bear, “Go on, get outta here!” and he scrambled up the steep slope several dozen yards before stopping to look at me.  Another word of encouragement and the bear disappeared into the dense forest.  I continued my hike back to the road on the other side of the stream.

It was an exhilerating experience.  The twinge of danger and subsequent fight or flight decision was very raw and primitive.  The relization that it was ‘just’ a black bear is darkly humorous to me.  “Phew, the probability of mauling dropped from ‘slightly possible’ to ‘extremely unlikely’; what a relief!”
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a bear while hiking in the woods.  It’s a much different experience when you are in their element, rather than spotting one from a car.  There’s always a tiny rush of fear because these creatures have the hardware to mess you up, but not usually the desire.  So when they immediately high-tail it away from you, the relief is very satisfying.  “Okay, we understand each other, bear.  You go that way; I’m going this way.”