Survival 70 Days in SE AK

T

thataway

Active member
I ran across this Blog about 70 days of living off the land in SE AK. I enjoyed it, and I suspect many others who have spent time around Admiralty Island will also enjoy the story.

I know we have some C Brats who live up there, and would appreciate their comments.

Be sure and read the separate introduction and his comprehensive "Gear" list, which are separate from the story. I don't know if the book is any more comprehensive than the blog--but I found the blog to be very interesting. His experience with bears mirrors that which I have had, and we have enjoyed many of the berries in SE AK (except Marie often made them into pies, we had them on cereal or in various types of "breads".
 
I read through both his blog and his equipment list, (seriously extensive). Agree that his bear experiences are pretty “normal” from what I have seen. (My experience has been almost exclusively from observation from on the water, which has given me the opportunity to watch without interacting – leaving the bears to do their thing, even though I have been within 20 – 25 yards.)

I have been watching the program “Alone” on History Channel. The first 2 seasons were up on northwest Vancouver, and the current one is in Patagonia. Very realistic, (no camera crew following the contestants), and conditions that can be applied to a possible actual situation should something go really bad on a wilderness boat cruise.

ALONE: Survival program on History Channel is in it’s 3rd season and contestants are into 70 days now, and still 4 people left.

Here is the Wikipedia description of the program:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alone_(TV_series)

Thanks for posting that blog link Bob. Good story worth reading.

Harvey
SleepyC:moon

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Sorry, can't make that link work.

Go to it, go down their list to "The TV Series 2015" and click on that to get to the series description.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Harvey, Agree that this fellow had some serious fishing and hunting gear, and he did this during the season for green things, berries, fishing and hunting. A lot different in many ways from Alone. However, this guy was someone who had planed out what he was going to do, and already had some very serious skills. Still making a crab trap would not be outside of the skills for a person with minimal gear (knife--cordage would help, but could be made)--fishing--hooks--many of the "alone" seem to use some primitive gill net.
 
I lived on Admiralty for 4 months during the late summer early fall.

It was not all that hard to get enough food. Blueberries and salmonberries were abundant. Pink salmon were everywhere, halibut were around for the taking if you knew how to do it, and there was even a deer on the table. But while all of those foods came and went, each was a very welcome treat and a break from the daily intake of dungeness crabs.

Oh man, the dungeness crabs. It seemed like such a treat at the beginning. I ran a small 16' RIB from Juneau with one other person, and the rest of our crew came (with the food) via airplane, but were delayed and we collected dungies our first night, and I got CHOMPED! I ate so many dungies, I still have no interest in crab to this day, 8 years later. I cooked a bunch of king crab the other day and astounded everyone around me when I had no interest in even tasting it.

We had a crab pot that we abandoned in favor of wading around and pickup up the big males we wanted with a paddle, and got pretty good at tossing them up on the shore. And there were lots of recipes that we tried to change it up. The only one I'd want to this day is a particularly delicious concoction that was rolled into sushi rolls and slathered in wasabi and soy sauce.

So my wife and kid benefit from our subsistence crab permit. Even the Tanner crab we get here in PWS, I have no interest. But I still love my berries, halibut and venison!!
 
Bob, thanks for posting the link to this as I found it quite interesting. The blog doesn't mention the name of the Bay, where he stayed, though I have little doubt it was Pybus Bay from his description of paddling to and from a lodge for internet connection. Pybus Bay is the only Bay with a lodge on the Southern part of Admiralty Island that I'm aware of. Gambier Bay has two cabins, but no lodge & Murder Cove has a old Cannery that a person, I met who delivers fuel to the small SEAlaska towns has bought & turned into a part time residence. I think Pybus Bay to be the most picturesque of all the bays on Admiralty Island, but didn't care for the boats from the lodge making so many runs around the bay with their fishing clients. His blog brought back my memories of this beautiful place, that I explored throughly in the Mokai & I remember you saying how much Marie & you liked it too.

With the numerous bears there, I wouldn't sleep in a tent without the portable electric fence, he mentioned using to keep bears from his tent & equipment while he was away. I wondered if he used it at night when he was sleeping & just didn't mention it. I've also had a bear huffing outside my tent at night & it's an experience I don't want to repeat with or without bear spray or gun.

Jay
 
Agree Pybus may be the place. Also goes with the "Fortress of the bears"--since that is Pack Creek--a ways up the Island.. Also we always caught halibut at Pybus.

What made me wonder is not seeing other boats or people. Even before the lodge, it was a fairly active cove for boats anchoring.

Gambler Bay (the next major one North of Pybus is also a possibility--longer paddle, and open to the sound.) It is also one we really enjoyed.
 
thataway":2c5e7473 said:
His experience with bears mirrors that which I have had ...
Click to expand...
Having made the decision to go tent camping on an island with an estimated 1,600 big brown bears, it sounds like Bruce Nelson did just about everything else right. He followed Forest Service rules and moved his camp frequently. He cooked away from his tent, which was protected with an electric fence. He often carried a .30-06 bolt action rifle and a double-barreled shotgun. I have no doubt he was extraordinarily cautious and observant of his surroundings. His woodcraft skills are first-rate. It's a really cool story and I was kind of envious. I admire his spunk.

But still, in case anyone else is considering such an adventure ...

In my incautious youth, I hiked, hunted and camped on Admiralty Island, with great delight. It's just a three mile crossing from Douglas Island, which is connected by bridge to Juneau, and I went over there frequently in my 19-foot Glasply. I would love to go back, on day trips, under the right conditions.

But, older and maybe more easily frightened, I would no more go tent camping on Admiralty now than I would paddle my kayak through the Farallon Islands. I just don't like the idea of being eaten alive.

People get killed by bears all the time—black bears, grizzly bears, polar bears—and it ain't a pretty way to go. You can get killed by getting in between a bear and her cubs, by walking in front of a bear's den (who knew THAT was there?), by startling a bear when he's eating a deer, by startling a bear while he's eating your wife, or by just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. You can get killed and eaten while gutting a deer, sitting around your campfire or sleeping in your tent. Bears have broken into people's cabins and devoured them.

I don't think I'm being overly dramatic. (If you disagree, please click on the above link; I refrained from reprinting details here) I know that risk-taking is something we all do, at one level or another, it's the spice of life, but yikes—1,600 gigantic bears, the densest brown bear population in North America. Protecting you: a tent and a flimsy electric fence. (One positive review of the fence says, "I didn't get eaten!")

I would love to visit Admiralty again some day; I'm hoping to take my boat up the Inside Passage when I retire. But I won't be sleeping ashore unless it's in a sturdy Forest Service cabin; I'll be buttoned up in my C-Dory.
 
Andy I agree with you. I have not slept ashore in AK where there were high incidents of Brown bears. I have slept in a Bivy bag, or small backpacking tent in the Sierra and Rockies--and had very close encounters there with Black bears (had one give me a little shove and sniffs when sleeping alone 20 miles from the nearest other human when I was 20.--that is my closest encounter. ) Many more with bears in camp when back packing. I did have a few encounters in AK--where we took our dogs ashore at least to 4 times a day. We used all precautions--making a lot of noise, and at night both noise and high intensity spotlight. Even then there were the occasional surprise. When I met a bear on a stream where I was fishing (for example a bend in the stream or river), a bend in a trail, or dense brush, despite both of us being aware. In each case we slowly disengaged--and the bear did also. But we are fully aware that could not always be the case. There are signs of aggressive behavior, which any one should be aware of, in case of an encounter.

Even at Pack Creek, where there has never been an injury despite many bears and many people, I believe the staff sleeps on the Windfall Island, which is a few hundred yards out in the bay. I agree that living on a boat sure beats camping. But we know of several attempts of Brown bears attempting to board boats where salmon grill was not properly cleaned or garbage was left out in the open.

Be safe.
 
We had lots of bear trouble trying to maintain a camp. We cooked in a cabin, and slept in tents, behind an electric fence, and well armed. We stored our food hung in trees and in a couple bearproof containers. But we largely subsisted off the land.

Storing pee in a bottle and dumping it out in one spot in great volume did help some in high traffic areas. Bears that made daybeds near our camp had to be run off. The only way to discourage a bear from using a day bed was to adopt the site as your personal toilet. This was pretty nerve wracking, but that's all that got them to give up a spot.

Admiralty bears on Pack Creek do not have any people staying there. There is an elevated boardwalk, and USFS staff all live on Windfall Island. Most people fly in and out from Juneau visiting for a short time. Others stay on boats, and a few camp, but they camp elsewhere. You can't camp on Pack Creek.

DNA evidence suggests these bears are more closely related to Polar bears than other AK coastal brown bears.

All my time was spent around the Seymour Canal, and largely on the north side. I've seen some cool things there, including some epic herring schools, with whales chasing viewed at night taking advantage of bioluminescence.
 
Bob Austin said:
"... But we know of several attempts of Brown bears attempting to board boats where salmon grill was not properly cleaned or garbage was left out in the open."
Click to expand...

OK, we all know that bears swim. I have seen one in the water, coming out onto a rocky beach, but have no idea how long on where it went into the water at, or how long it had been in there. I have never heard of one trying to board, but certainly could be an issue although in absence of a swim step it seems successful boarding would be highly unlikely.

There was recently a report of a boat following a cougar as it swam across a bay, close to a mile IIRC.

I have been withing about 30 yards of a black bear. Close enough for me. There was about 10 yards of steep beach from the bear to the waters edge, and about 20 yards of water from the boat to the shore line. I was not at anchor, and was able to drift in that close with one motor idling, and was not noticed by the bear (a large black), before I opted to move out. That decision was made when it probably caught wind of me or the exhaust, turned and fixed a stare towards me.

I don't mind if they glance and then go back to their previous activity, but kind of don't like that stinkeye look.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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From what I've read concerning the DNA link of polar & brown bears, it's not just the Admiralty Island brown bears that are related to the polar bear, but all the bears in the so called ABC Islands of SE Alaska, which includes Baranof & Chichagof Islands & most likely Yakobi too. These Island areas & the mainland to the east of Admiralty Island are my favorite cruising areas in SE Alaska. The research on the DNA relationship with Polar bears also suggest it came about during the retreat of the ice from the last ice age, when polar bears where left stranded on the ABC Islands & Brown Bears from the mainland visited & mixed with them.

When tenting in grizzly & black bear areas, I have always peed on the ground around the tent as a territorial marker. Never had a bear try to come inside, so perhaps it helps. On three different occasions, I've heard a bear outside the tent at night with tracks showing in the morning. On one early morning while camped on Promatory Point on Yellowstone Lake, which is one of the places a bear was out side my tent, I was glassing across the channel to the lake side meadow on Park Point & watched a very large grizzly come out of the tree line to the water edge. On both going & coming back from the water it passed directly besde a tent in which a person was still sleeping. The bear totally ignored the tent as it made its passes. I like most others don't particularly like sleeping in a tent in bear country anymore, though it doesn't bother me to let the boat ground itself on the low tide, when anchored in the ABC Islands of SE Alaska.
 
One of the episodes of a bear trying to board a boat was a salmon troller. He had grilled salmon, and left the skins on the grill--may have not done some other housekeeping. the trollers are fairly low freeboard, and he awoke as the bear was attempting to climb aboard. He finally fended the bear off by beating it on the head/snout with a 10 foot oar. He felt that the bear's weight on the side of the boat would have allowed it to get aboard. We talked to him the day after it happened, and he was still upset!

Bears can swim at 4 to 6 MPH (the latter being the polar bears).

One time when we were at Pack Creek, there was a group from some university studying the interaction of the bears and humans. They stayed on Windfall Island. They would come over very early, get set up in their blind and stay all day. They were photographing the bears and people--but the people (for the most part) never knew that they were there.

When we visited PackCreek, we were encouraged to have our bear spray, and no problem keeping our personal weapons. The rangers were always armed, and also had the Bear Spray.
 
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