Off to Brooks Camp

Robert, Monday, July 7

Ouch! 5:00 a.m. hurts even when it is an hour and a half after sunrise. We had the trailer pretty well straightened up and we loaded all of the gear we were taking to Brooks Camp in the truck last night. We were on the road to Anchorage by 6:00 so that we could drop Cody and Molly off at the vet clinic when they opened at 7:00. We told Cody and Molly that they were going to camp where they could meet some new friends but I don’t think they thought it was a great idea. They told us so on the way. We got to the clinic right at 7:00 and were on the way to the airport in 15 minutes. The airport wasn’t far but we were to check in for our 9:20 flight at 7:50. We got to the airport, parked the truck, caught the shuttle bus, and made it to the check-in right on time. We were concerned because there were signs saying if your bag weighed more than 50 pounds, they would charge extra. We had both of our backpacks packed in duffels so that the straps would not get torn off in the airport baggage handling. We had packed most of the weigh in my duffle and it was heavy. Leslie’s weighed in at 30 pounds and mine weighed a hair less than 50 pounds. Whew! Later we saw that the overweight charge was only 50 cents per pound. Even if I had been 10 pounds overweight, it would not have been a big deal to pay but carrying such a load is a killer. Well, I always say, “Time to spare, go by air.” Our flight was almost an hour late. We flew to King Salmon and were met by the driver of the shuttle bus to take us to the float plane. The mosquitoes were out in force in King Salmon. Without bug repellant, long sleeves and pants, thin gloves, and mosquito head nets, they can eat you alive. In short order, we got ourselves and our bags on a float plane for the 20 minute flight to Brooks Camp. The camp sets on Naknek lake, which is the third largest lake in Alaska. About a mile and a half from Naknek lake is Brooks Lake. The two lakes are joined by Brooks River; probably one of the shortest rivers in the world. Halfway between the two lakes is a five foot water fall. If the wind is blowing hard, the float planes land on Brooks Lake. Then they use a shuttle bus to take you the mile and a half to the float bridge to get to the camp. The bridge closes frequently when there are bears within 50 yards of the bridge. We got to the bridge and quickly got across. This was good as by this time it was raining and our rain gear was in our duffels that were in a truck following the bus. The truck made it to the bridge a few minutes later and they loaded all the luggage into a trailer behind an ATV. They closed the bridge before they got the luggage across. The bridge wouldn’t support anything larger than an ATV as it is really just a footbridge. So while we could make it to the lodge and shelter from the rain, our luggage was sitting in the trailer in the rain. There wasn’t much we could do but sit and wait for the bridge to reopen. About a hour later thay got the luggage to the lodge and we loaded it up and headed to the campground which is about a half mile away. We picked a site and set up the tent as quickly as possible. The campground is nice and as someone described it, “The Hilton of campgrounds.” There are shelters for cooking and eating, a building to store all food and extra gear, a fuel locker, vault toilets, and numerous fire rings with free firewood. The campground is surrounded by an electric fence but as the campground information sheets says, “The electric fence does not guarantee that bears cannot enter the campground.” This is the reason that all food is kept in a separate building and you can only cook and eat in the shelters. Once were we set up and all of our gear out of the rain, we set out to see the bears. The weather had cleared to the point it was not raining but it was overcast. We made it to the waterfall, which was about two miles from the campsite and watched the bears waiting for salmon. There weren’t many salmon trying to jump the falls but there were multiple bears there fishing. When we walked back to the campground, we stopped at the lodge to see what they were serving for dinner at $34 per person and we decided that the food didn’t look like something we wanted to eat. We went back to the campground, had diner, and crashed.