Wrangell and Tongass National Forest

Our second paid for excursion, we are in Wrangell and have a local excursion to the hide in the Tongass National Forest. Access to this park is very limited, only 60 permits are available daily in August and you have to be accompanied by a local guide.
An amazing experience, starting with a jet boat ride at just under 30 knots. Wrangell island is roughly bird shaped with Wrangell at the north most point (the beak), we had to go around the headland to travel south, the island on our right the main land our left. After just over an hour and 30 miles south, we saw the ranger station cabin for the area on the shore, 50 yds further on was a small beach which our boat ran up and we disembarked and walked up the beach to the trail head.
We organised into a line with a guide at the front and rear of the column, both guides had guns as a precaution as the bears also use this trail to go up to the hide and for the final 100yds you need one of the park rangers at the hide to confirm it is safe to cross this section. Progress along the trail was slow, as several companions in the party with paparazzi length lenses on their cameras continual stopped to take photos (was even worse on the way back, the guide at the rear had to keep telling them to move on and close up!). The hide has been built over the lower falls, we are here at the time of the main salmon run as they swim back upstream, for the salmon jumping up these falls against the fast moving river is a major effort, for the bears it is a wonderful opportunity to feast.
It seems to take the bears so little effort they come to the edge of the river, wade in and only a second or two later leave with a large salmon in their mouths. They appeared to eat very little of the fish they caught, we asked one of the rangers about it and he said this was like phase 2 of their feeding. Phase 1 they eat everything to gain weight, phase 2 they are eating for the oil, so they focus on eating brains, roes and some skin of the salmon, still the bald eagles and other birds are always ready to help finish the plentiful leftovers. Not sure how many black bear pictures/videos we have just a few here, visit if you want to see the full set. Otherwise the eagles were everywhere watching and soaring between the various tree perches around. A brown bear and her cub appeared a short distance downstream where there is a small lake, but the distance does make them difficult to spot against the fallen trees at the point where the stream enters the lake.
Like all these Alaskan photos, the picture never full captures the view or the experience. On the return trip in the jet boat we passed an island of harbour seals sunning themselves. Again we have been lucky with the weather, although misty and dull early on when we were at the observation centre apart from a few sprinkles of rain on one occasion visibility was good, but once we had passed the seals the rain came back more intense this time and a cloudy mist descended into the trees along the shoreline and is continuing like this as we slowly leave Wrangell.Read more