Day 25 – June 5
Got up to sunshine. Headed out and stopped at Anan Bay and the Bear Observatory. We knew it was too early in the season to see the bears but thought we’d stop in and check it out. There is a nice hike from the anchorage to the observatory along a boardwalk. The observatory is about ½ mile up the trail. They ask that you stay on the boardwalk. The boardwalk trail is crossed by many well used critter (aka bear) trails. We did not see any bear but did see several eagles (bald and golden), seal, and one weasel like animal scurrying across the path. There is a big lagoon and then the rapids and waterfall area. Of course after our walk, Glen took us into the lagoon by dinghy for a waterside view of the area.
We are betting that later in the summer when the fish are coming in that the banks are lined with bear. There was a forest service work crew doing maintenance on the trail and observatory area. They were weed whacking the vegetation from along the boardwalk, and a couple feet on either side. Making the path not only a bit wider but with better visuals at the corners, and clearing the area around the observatory area. One never knows when one might meet a bear head on coming around a corner. We knew that later in the summer you need permits (aka tickets) to come for the viewing but found out that you should buy them either on the internet or at one of the local ranger stations i.e. Wrangle; they sell very few at the site anymore. They limit the number of visitors per day to keep the bears happy. We will check into that in Wrangle.
There is also a small cabin at the anchorage area that can be rented by travelers. There are quite a few of these in Alaska. From what we’ve seen they are all in good repair, have wooden bunks, tables, chairs, and some have heat sources like wood stoves. Little to no graffiti or other damage like we’d find at cabins in Washington/Oregon. These even have guest books for travelers to sign in and give comments about their stay. Seems like the one at Anan was especially popular with the visitors from Japan last summer, as well as travelers from New York. One person was even there in February or March this year.
Oh, Glen mentioned that the books tell you not to take your big boats into the lagoon because of the rapids but what they don’t tell you is it is only 7 feet deep at high tide which means -10 deep at low tide. Very little space to anchor here and if there were a bunch of boats here at the same time it could get interesting. Most suggest to anchor in bays 4-6 miles away and dingy over. Of course we anchored out front as we were the only boat there.
We left there and continued along passing some interesting areas. There appears to have been quite a few snow or rock slides around here in the past couple years, as there are long scar marks from way up on the hills all the way down to the water in some places.
Anchored in Madan Bay for the evening and night.
Got up to sunshine. Headed out and stopped at Anan Bay and the Bear Observatory. We knew it was too early in the season to see the bears but thought we’d stop in and check it out. There is a nice hike from the anchorage to the observatory along a boardwalk. The observatory is about ½ mile up the trail. They ask that you stay on the boardwalk. The boardwalk trail is crossed by many well used critter (aka bear) trails. We did not see any bear but did see several eagles (bald and golden), seal, and one weasel like animal scurrying across the path. There is a big lagoon and then the rapids and waterfall area. Of course after our walk, Glen took us into the lagoon by dinghy for a waterside view of the area.
We are betting that later in the summer when the fish are coming in that the banks are lined with bear. There was a forest service work crew doing maintenance on the trail and observatory area. They were weed whacking the vegetation from along the boardwalk, and a couple feet on either side. Making the path not only a bit wider but with better visuals at the corners, and clearing the area around the observatory area. One never knows when one might meet a bear head on coming around a corner. We knew that later in the summer you need permits (aka tickets) to come for the viewing but found out that you should buy them either on the internet or at one of the local ranger stations i.e. Wrangle; they sell very few at the site anymore. They limit the number of visitors per day to keep the bears happy. We will check into that in Wrangle.
There is also a small cabin at the anchorage area that can be rented by travelers. There are quite a few of these in Alaska. From what we’ve seen they are all in good repair, have wooden bunks, tables, chairs, and some have heat sources like wood stoves. Little to no graffiti or other damage like we’d find at cabins in Washington/Oregon. These even have guest books for travelers to sign in and give comments about their stay. Seems like the one at Anan was especially popular with the visitors from Japan last summer, as well as travelers from New York. One person was even there in February or March this year.
Oh, Glen mentioned that the books tell you not to take your big boats into the lagoon because of the rapids but what they don’t tell you is it is only 7 feet deep at high tide which means -10 deep at low tide. Very little space to anchor here and if there were a bunch of boats here at the same time it could get interesting. Most suggest to anchor in bays 4-6 miles away and dingy over. Of course we anchored out front as we were the only boat there.
We left there and continued along passing some interesting areas. There appears to have been quite a few snow or rock slides around here in the past couple years, as there are long scar marks from way up on the hills all the way down to the water in some places.
Anchored in Madan Bay for the evening and night.
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