28 July 2007 Bears are Back!!

Well, another day spent at the base camp due to bear activity. The bears (mamma and her two cubs) wandered back to our camp sometime early Saturday morning. They were spotted swimming in the cove having a pretty good time. The cubs were not very good swimmers, but mamma was superb!. I got out my binocs and watched her swim to the shore and emerge out of the water and shake her massive body like a huge shaggy dog. She then walked up the embankment, waited for her cubs to get their act together after coming out of the water themselves and the three of them walked right along the trail to the lake. After a short while the three of them plunked down and slept for hours. We could do nothing but wait and see if they would move along. The bears enjoyed the warm sun and continued to slumber all day. No glacier hike for us! Instead, we took turns watching the bears with radios to report on their movements and activities. While I took my post to bear watch they stirred once, moving shortly up another little bluff to lay back down once again. I couldn't hike, but at least I could be outside and observe the land, bears and birds.

Erik, the manager of Isfjord radio station and our excellent cook, decided to have a cook out for our last night at Kapp Linne, bears or no bears. He cooked steak, hot dogs and burgers, served beer and wine and we all enjoyed the event while keeping one eye to the valley east of us where the bears lay about a kilometer away. The wind was in our favor, we had rifles and flares aplenty, and so we enjoyed our dinner and the view of the mountains and glaciers across Isfjord.