This past work stint was a short one, only lasting seven days. The majority of our work included sprucing up trail registers and outhouses with a fresh coat of paint. We also have the privilege of moving a couple of outhouse, that was a crappy job. Our work has been recently dying down as the park's tourist season is just about coming to a close. Recently in the park we saw two bears. One was eating the newly ripe berries within our living area at the ranger station. I saw it pop its head up just 15 yards from the cook shack, then once everyone went outside to check it out, it retreated away from our camp. I expect we'll be seeing more around camp next week for sure. We also had to rescue a coworker, Morgan, while he was fishing. The bear some what snuck up close to him without him knowing. Upon hearing his shouts of "hey bear" we grabbed some bear spray and went to find him. The bear turned back around leaving everyone safely.
We also found the salmon! The King salmon run within the lagoon was very weak and I had lost all hope of catching a salmon in Alaska. While on a trip to do some painting at Humpy Creek, we found plenty of Humpy Salmon. The creek was full of thousands of salmon, it was the type of Alaska salmon scene that I have always pictured in my head. The catching was easy with a snagging hook, we often were catching them on the first pull. That night we cooked up 3 salmon over the fire. Delicious. Although it was difficult to do. Some of the salmon was left raw, however raw salmon can also be eaten, and it tastes good too. A couple of days later we went fishing for Red Salmon in China Poot Bay. The catching here was also decent, locals were at the mouth of the creek dip netting, and we were left in the bay to snag em. Between the six of us on the boat we got eleven fish. A couple of which we cooked up that night, and enjoy every bit of it.
This past weekend we volunteered and attended the local music festival, it was all good music and we all enjoyed a good time.
We are in Homer hanging out for a couple more days before heading back out for our last work period. The packing has began to some degree, and I am not looking forward to leaving, but I am looking forward to getting back home.
NC
