It is only October 27th, and the ice here at Redoubt Bay Lodge is measured at 8 inches already! I am at the lodge now with our daughter, Carly, and her boyfriend, Ty. They have thankfully taken time out of their winter schedule, on their way back to South Africa, to stop off in Alaska and visit us for a while. The ice has frozen perfectly smooth begging for some ice skaters. The weather is so clear and cold, we decided to take a walk to the west and take a “firewood inventory”, i.e. where are some likely spruce trees for the cutting. Smooth, early ice is really fascinating. We can see where an otter ran across just as the ice was freezing and left his tell-tale belly slide marks. There ahead we saw where a larger mammal, probably a brown bear crossed and fell through thin ice but continued his swim across. We decided to continue or walk to Weasel lake just to the east of the lodge. Its smooth ice beckoned us further. Ahead we saw movement. Looking closer we saw a large brown bear walking the game trail back to Weasel lake also! We let him get some space ahead of us. I think he heard us whooping and sliding along the ice. When we arrived at Weasel Lake, we saw what probably attracted the brown bear. Through 8 inches of clear ice was a school of coho salmon swimming around! I didn’t see how he was going to get to them though. It is time for him to head to the hills and look for a good hibernation spot. Surely he fattened up on all the available silvers and sockeyes easily caught at Wolverine Creek. The days are shortening now, and it is time to head back to the lodge. Time for the 0150Z weather report soon.
Winterlake is well frozen and Jay is parked with Willow, Nugget, and all of the sled dogs. He has returned as caretaker/weather observer until we can join him in early December. Jay is all set but not without enduring his annual bear encounter. We received two sled dog puppies this summer from DeeDee Jonrowe and Martin Buser. We named them Duncan and Danger. They are still roaming freely with Willow as their mentor and started barking wildly last week. Jay walked back with the shotgun to investigate just in time to see two bears zeroing in on Boomer the sled dog! Jay shot two rounds over their heads and off they ran. Time for them to look for winter quarters elsewhere. With 24 inches of fresh snow, it won’t be too long and we will be able to update you on sled dog training and puppy progress!
