Katchemak State Park

Today we took a water taxi across the bay to the Katchemak State Park.  Our plan was to do a shorter hike (about 6 miles) where we would see the Grewingk Glacier.  From our cabin we overlook this beautiful area, it looks mountainous but very remote, so my bear anxiety was already a little high, especially since my bear spray was confiscated on our last flight.  Our water taxi captain was very helpful, he let us borrow his bear spray and bear bells.  About ¼ mile into this hike I was so thankful for this captain, as I soon realized this trail was directly in bear country! Much to Doug’s dismay we did not see any bear (and trust me he tried) but they were definitely all around us as evidence by the 20 or so mounds of bear scat that were on the trail.  The trail was a beautiful walk thru the woods and wasn’t very well traveled.  The trail led us to Grewingk Lake where we could overlook yet another glacier.  While the boys and I looked at the bay and threw rocks to try to sink the floating ice chunks, Doug walked further to the glacier hoping to get a look at a bear, but no such luck.  On our way back in the water taxi, we had a curious friend in the water, these sea otters have quickly become my favorite animal in Alaska, they are so cute and curious!