Saturday, Aug. 13th, Afternoon - The Bears of Anan Creek

We got back to Wrangell around 1PM from our morning trip. After a quick lunch in the Stik Café (part of Stikine Inn) we boarded the 2PM Alaska Waters jet boat tour to Anan Creek which we booked yesterday.

It was a bigger group this time (~15). Alaska Waters boat was much newer and more comfortable (including an on-deck restroom) though to my unprofessional eyes it seemed a bit slower. The crew includes a captain and 2 'bear guides', all of them were very professional, courteous and knowledgeable. It was cloudy but no rain that whole afternoon.

The boat ride took about 75 minutes each way. On the way there the captain slowed down and showed us a group of seal harbors resting on the edge of the water… very nice.

Finally we reached the Anan Creek trail head where we disembarked and received a short briefing by the forest rangers. Then ~40min of pleasant walk on the trail to the observatory. This was our first Alaskan rain forest experience and it was very different and interesting.

Already after few minutes on the trail we could see a large black bear on the remote side of the lagoon, and a large Bold Eagle on a tree top. Great start!

Getting closer to the observatory we were warned by our guides that we may encounter bears any minute now. And indeed - just before reaching the viewing platform we were signaled to wait and a large black bear passed between us and the observatory and disappeared into the forest.

Then when reaching the deck the rangers showed us a huge black bear napping just below the deck with his large rear end sticking out… incredible!

There was a fair amount of black bear action on that afternoon. I think we saw 6-10 different black bears (hard to say exactly since they were disappearing into the forest and reappearing so not sure which was which).

The rangers and guides kept us alert preventing unnecessary interactions. We didn't see any brown bears on that afternoon, which was a pity, but no worry! we will see plenty of those later on...

We did witness some very cool 'National Geographic' moments: A cub was hiding up on a tree and his mamma came to call him down. He started to climb down but got stuck and started to cry loudly for her help until she came to the rescue and showed him the safe way down. That was amazing to see (and hear!).

Another bear was lurking almost unseen during the whole time in a little cave on the edge of the stream and waiting patiently for fish to come his way – we saw him catching and eating several salmons this way, without moving from this spot!.

We signed up for the photo blind (at the creek level) but there was very little action going there so we gave it up.

All and all. we were on the deck for 2 hours which is probably too short, but this was our only option following the mishap of the previous day. Overall we had a great first-time bear experience and we were sorry it was time to go.

We walked down to the trail to the boat and sailed back to Wrangell. We got back in time for another good dinner and excellent beer in the Stikine Inn. (their kitchen closes at 8PM and after that dining options in town are very limited, so tours make a point to be back in town no later than 7:30). From there back to the B&B for packing and the conclusion of an action-filled day!