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Wednesday, 23 July 2025 - Today we would hike a bit to get to the bears. We were to hike to a location on the coast of Alaska. Here the bears would be at the mouth of a river at the ocean, and as the tide comes in they would get closer to us.

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The trip across the tundra was beautiful.
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Many lakes and water everywhere.
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Over the ocean the cliffs, tundra, and mountains. We would land in a few minutes near the mountains in the picture.
Our landing on the small lake.
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A picture on our hike to reach the ocean. We would hike along and in the river in the picture. In the distance is the offshore volcano St. Augustine.
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As we arrived at the ocean there was an interesting sunbow and odd clouds.
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We were confined to a small section of the beach - not on the beach but on a ledge 25 feet above the water along the river as it emptied into the ocean.

Two bears stare into the ocean looking for salmon. Nice view for fishing.
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A big grizzly bear is on the beach.
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Moving up toward the river - there were few fish, if any, in the river. It seemed more like a move to avoid another bear. The area was small and there was an obvious hierarchy after watching for several hours.
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A bear moving along the shore.
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This bear sent for a swim looking for salmon.
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A Trumpeter Swan stopped by for a couple of minutes. With all the bear activity I am not sure how it left.
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These two bears began "fighting" each other. There did not seem to be any real aggression. More like playing - this went on for several hours.
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I liked the paws of the one bear up on the chest of the other in this picture.

They reminded me of two dogs playing.
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They are so intimidating as they lumber about.
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The big bears were not having a lot of luck catching fish.
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There were several seals working the salmon run as well as the grizzly bears.
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Another behavior like a dog - playing with a stick of driftwood.
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Running in the ocean after the fish.
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Having a rough day at the beach - a yawn?
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St. Augustine volcano last erupted in 2006.
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He does not look all that happy to be at the beach.
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Some excitement as some fish are spotted.
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Two younger bears run on the beach - they are moving out of a much larger bear moved toward them.
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A young bear runs down a fish.
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This fishing strategy did not seem to work. Looking for them under the water was not very effective.
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Prowling the beach.

We ate lunch on the beach during down periods of bear activity. Careful to put all trash in our rucksacks.
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Bobbing in the water with his feet up.
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A young bear along the river - about even with the group - looking back to the beach.
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The fighting continues. Looks of activity but no real damage done.
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As we hiked out I took a picture of the river and the volcano. It was a pretty hike in and out.
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On the hike out. A concern was that we were walking through bushes where the bears liked to sleep at night.
The plane takeoff from the mountain lake. The river ran from this lake to the beach and the trail followed the river.
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A second plane carrying the guides. We typically had two guides with us on the ground. Since the float planes could only carry our small team, a second flight wound carry guides and if necessary camping gear just in case the planes were unable to take off in the afternoon.
The second plane - we fell behind as we were much heavier.
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Modified last on Aug 17, 2025, 5:21:08?PM