Woman Down in the Russian River...

Having so much fun I forget to write!!  On Wednesday we went back to the Russian River for more salmon fishing.  We decided to get up early and beat the long lines at the gate.  Five o'clock in the morning arrives just as early in Alaska as it does in the lower forty-eight states.  The sun was brightly shining, we each grabbed a granola bar and steaming cups of coffee to hit the road.  Four miles from our cabin we determine that our folding lawn chairs are at the cabin in the garage.  We return to the cabin for the chairs! The 43 mile drive is peppered with Shari asleep in the back seat, me reading a book, and Leo asking random questions.  Shari has car induced narcolepsy, after five minutes in the car she falls asleep!  I have watched her try to resist the sleep that passes over her, but it never works.  She falls fast asleep after five minutes. The drive goes quickly and we arrive at the Russian River gate at 6:30 am.
 
Our trek to the prized fishing spot has been streamlined! We have all made sacrifices so we can carry our tackle, wear the waders, and only bring one bag of snacks. The bag of snacks is small but tied in plastic with the hopes that the bears in the area will not smell our cantaloupe, fruit, and granola bars.

Bears are the talk of the trail today.  We hear a female grizzly was on the opposite shore last night and chased all the salmon fishermen away.  We also hear about a couple of black bears in the area, one of which was running down the very board walk we will walk on to arrive at our favorite fishing spot.  Truthfully we all say "Oh, I hope we see a bear." This is our human nature, we want to see a bear, but not too close.  We want to encounter a bear, but not encounter a bear!  The desire to see a bear is like we think this is a zoo.  The zoo where we can look closely behind a special fence and say things like "Wow, he's huge," or "Look at those paws."  In Alaska this is not a zoo and we should all want to stay far away from bear.  Doug and Paul both caution us that seeing a bear is not and should not be a desire in our minds. "Well, I say I am a runner so I can out run all of you!"  Doug advises against even joking about running and chastises me because has spent a week telling our 16 year old that running from a bear is the worst idea.

We reach the river and set up our area.  Shari settles into her lawn chair and I grab my book.  Doug and Leo decide that they are crossing the river today.  The river is so much higher than in years past and it literally lifts a person's feet off the bottom of the river.

Crossing the river is a balancing act, feeling for the bottom of river with waders and neoprene wrapped tightly around your feet testing rocks to see if they move when you put your foot on them, and hoping that you have at least one foot solidly on the bottom.  We have been using the buddie system every time we enter the river.  Cautiously the team of two take a step, grip, balance, step, grip, balance.  To say this river is dangerous would be an understatement especially if the person crossing the river is in experienced or alone.  Experience and safety make the difference in a successful crossing and a crossing failure.  Monday, a woman was a crossing failure and when she went down she could not get herself up.  She was being pushed down steam and her waders were filling with glacier water.  Two men fishing grab her by the waders and drag her to the shore.  Tragedy averted!  Doug watched this happen and explained how challenging difficult it was for the two grown men to drag her to shore.  I get the shivers just thinking about how cold the water is...I tested it several times, by putting my bare feet into the water and counting the seconds before my feet ached from the icy water.  If you have ever jumped in a cold lake or turned the shower dial the wrong way to cold, you have a glimpse into the icy river.  The river takes your breath away, the short gasping breaths that one tries to take, trying to fill your lungs with air as your body temperature is immediately dropping!
A simple misstep is serious. 
Funny, I want to see a bear and I know it's serious, but I do not want to see anyone go down in the river! Both of these thoughts are in my mind as I curl up in my chair to read my book.  A few hooked fish and several moments of rushing over with the net only to have the salmon elude our plans for dinner.  I walk dispiritedly back to my chair for the third time.

Right before I sit down I notice a robust man in his fifties and a woman, I feel like she is his wife, entering the Russian River.  They have a young guy (guide) with them and all three are going to fish for salmon on the same gravel bar Leo and Doug are on.  No one is helping each other, not one person of this trio is leaning on our offering to help the other.  The robust man is 2/3 of the way across and doesn't even look behind him at the lady, the guide (young guy) already has his line in the water and he's casting his second time.  The woman is struggling, I am standing on the bank watching!  I know what's going to happen, but I can not look away.  She slips and tries to regain her balance but I can see the river current is too much for her by herself.  She is falling, gasping, and rolling around in the glacial water before she can even say the word "help!"  The guide sees her struggling and begins crossing in her direction.  The husband throws his line toward then river and begins salmon fishing.  We stand helpless on the bank! We can only watch and pray she makes it out of the river.  She is grabbing onto the guide and just grasping and gasping at solid surface she can.  The guide drags her and her filled waders out of the swift current to a calmer section of the river.  Her teeth are already chattering! She is soaked.  I am glad she is alive!
I cast a few disgusted looks across the river at the man, I think he is her husband;  he fishes, he could care less about this woman's safety! My eyes are trying to convey disgust from across a river...it's clearly not working!
Near miss!  Everyone has returned to casting and the leisure of our day has resumed.  I am back to reading and Shari is back to snoozing.  The guys are casting and everyone is relieved.  "Bear," someone yells from the opposite bank.  We all stop what we are doing and look for the bear, nothing!  It appears we missed it, darn.  "Bear," shouts a man across the bank and he is looking up on the ridge.  Shari grabs the video camera and I grab the digital camera and we both search for the bear with our zoom lens. 

This is the perfect bear sighting, he is far away and not interested in us at all.  He is ambling along a high ridge above us and on the opposite side of the river.  He is a nice looking bear, not meaning he was friendly or cuddly, but healthy and strong. 

 

I have seen a bear and a woman floating down the river! One sighting was perfect the other moment was horrible.  Seeing another person in that kind of distress is not something I want to see again. 

We fished until 2pm and although we hooked several salmon we did not land one.  A sad day of salmon fishing.

 

Thursday... We saw several moose today, a moose with her calves and a couple of single moose. 

Shari is getting quite good at spotting moose along the roads.  She still can't quite form the word moose when she spots them though.  The words come out "oh, oh, I saw something, oh it's a moose,"

She has great eyes when she's not in the narcoleptic state.  

At 4am on Thursday Shari, Paul, and Doug head out to go Halibut fishing.  They had a spectacular day and caught their limit. The ocean was so smooth and the fishing was rockin! They could not even take pictures until they came back to shore because their lines were in the water for the whole fishing trip.  We had a delicious dinner of packet steamed root vegetable and halibut fillets.  The halibut was swimming in the morning in the inlet surrounded by salt water and by early evening it was swimming in butter and spices! The fresh Halibut was delicious.

 

As you can see this was a good day of fishing!

      

The flowers here seem so bright and unique.  I could not resist taking pictures of the perky flowers that I see.

We had a moose walk through the yard last night and this morning we have an eagle circling overhead.  We are given many moments to ponder how small we are as people and how few things we control.  I love Alaska.