Sunday, June 10, 2007

First Bears

Mt. Bike 15 miles
Run 12 miles


It's no secret, there are a lot of bears in Alaska. Juneau is no exception. In two months here last fall before winter hit I probably saw 20 or so of them. This spring though they've been slow to appear after Juneau's snowiest winter on record. For about 3 weeks now I've been hearing stories around town of people starting to see a few bears, but I saw my first one today. Two of them in fact. Nothing too exciting. They were several hundred yards away, across a large creek, but in Alaska the first bear of the season feels like a turning point. It really makes it feel like summer. Or at least that is the way it has felt for the two years that I've lived in Alaska. When I lived in Utah it was always the first rafting trip of the season that made it feel like summer, even though this was often in late March or early April. When I lived in upstate New York it was always the first warm, humid night that made it feel like summer, usually sometime in mid to late May. Here though, it's either the first bear or the first lupine blooms... both of which have occurred for me in the past 3 days. I got a little sunburnt this weekend too... that also has a way of making it feel like summer.

5 comments:

FixieDave said...

Time to attach the bear (dinner) Bell to the backpack? =)

Anonymous said...

Ahhhh...the first training sunburn! That's a landmark for me every year. Then you just get very deranged tan lines!

Anonymous said...

you and jill are always an inspiration. I finally got reunited with my bike, but it has a flat tire. I was gonna fiz it on friday, that saturday, sunday, i even considered fixing it today. but i just ate a lot of food instead. about to go for breakfast... monika

WynnMan said...

I saw the biggest brown bear in my life when we were on are way down to Seward. I forgot to tell you I have close relatives that live in Juneau!

Yep it's good to mix it up a bit. Sometimes ya get so focused on training that you lose site of other things you love doing. That's why I'm happy summer is here and I can swim / bike.

is it usually rainy/overcast in Juneau? really overcast in Seward, seemed like every day.

Wynnman

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