Tales from Exit 22 by Al Batt

 

If I am what I eat, I ate some happy food for breakfast.

I came in on a small airplane older than its pilot and was thrust into the gaping maw of southeast Alaska.

Haines can be difficult getting in and out of during difficult weather thanks to budget cuts that have gutted the ferry system in southeast Alaska. That adds to its charm. The best stories come from difficulties.

Thanks to my involvement with the American Bald Eagle Foundation, I visit Haines each November. I look, smile and repeat. I got up too early each morning and lugged my stuff around. It helped that I’d been eating delicious pickled garlic, cherry pie, baked French toast and a bisque made from shrimp, crab, halibut, and salmon made by friends. My job was to empty friends’ refrigerators.

Wednesday’s weather report had said that it wouldn’t snow before Saturday. As I’d expect in Minnesota, it snowed Wednesday. I dressed like an onion — in layers. According to USA.com, Haines gets 98 inches of snow and 49 inches of rain annually, is rarely below 0 or above 75 degrees, has an average temperature of 41, and 173 growing days.

I watched a brown bear catch a fish with the greatest of ease, climb out of the water, shake like a big dog shedding water and eat the fish while hidden in the grass. The bear hid because it didn’t have enough food to share with everyone. A brown bear biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game told me Thanksgiving was the median date for the start of hibernation for brown bears in the Haines area. A bear’s eyesight is comparable to ours, but their sense of smell is remarkable. Is it a brown bear or a grizzly? All grizzlies are brown bears, but not all brown bears are grizzlies. The correct scientific name for a grizzly is “brown bear,” but only coastal bears in Alaska and Canada are generally referred to as such, while inland and Arctic bears, and those found in the lower 48 states are called grizzly bears. Coastal bears have access to salmon and can consume 90 pounds of food per day in anticipation of hibernation. A bear might eat parts from more than 100 different salmon and salmon carcasses in one day. Bears reach heights of 6 to 7 feet when standing on their hind legs. The largest of the brown bears, the Kodiak bear, is found only in the Kodiak archipelago islands along the southeastern coast of Alaska. Kodiaks can stand over 10 feet tall.

It’s easy to find a bear in Alaska. I just look for a group of tourists with cameras and cellphones all pointing the same direction.

A bear biologist said when encountering a brown bear, don’t run. Speak in a soft monotone voice and wave your arms to let the animal know you’re human. If the animal makes contact, curl into a ball on your side or lie flat on your stomach and hope for an understanding bear. That biologist showed a video of a bald eagle feeding at 1:15 in the morning. I didn’t think eagles worked the late shift.

The bear I watched waddled away to sleep off the salmon. I looked for another. “There’s one flying,” said a photographer from Dubai with heaps of enthusiasm.

I looked up excitedly. No flying bear. It was an eagle. The audience was stunned.

People wave cheerfully in Haines. That sounds like a little thing, but it’s welcoming and comforting. Friends have witnessed two thunderstorms in 18 years there. They grabbed beverages and sat on their deck and watched the storms with amazement.

Folks come to Haines in an attempt to wear out cameras. A man from Colorado showed me photos of bald eagles he’d taken one morning along the Chilkat River. They were extraordinary. He was so happy with the beauty of Haines, he told me that if his camera broke and he was unable to take another photo on his trip, he’d be OK with that.

Haines is a place to come to your senses. People desert normal lives and familiar surroundings with the same joy as opening Christmas gifts.

The clock in the vehicle said 2:17. That meant it was 11:36. I’d been fixing to correct that. Time slows when I’m in Haines. That’s a wonderful thing. Yet, at the end of my stay, it had passed too quickly.

I’ve learned I should never go anywhere in Haines without the company of a camera.

It’s a picture postcard place.

Al Batt’s columns appear every Wednesday and Saturday.