A decent end to an otherwise bad day. Wildlife sightings in False Pass.

The following is a short photo essay of my evening in False Pass, Alaska on June 08, 2011 around 9:30pm.  I suggest you try and scroll down slowly and take the time to read each caption one at a time, enjoying each photo before proceeding on the next.  Thanks for looking and please leave a comment if you feel so inclined.

So yesterday evening I went for a ride to the north edge of town and came across this nice little stream.  Tonight, I decided to go back and check it out hoping to see some wildlife along the way.

Once I turned onto the road that I was searching for, it wasn't long before I saw this Alaskan Red Fox (Vulpes v. alascensis) cruising across the road.

It really looked like it was on a mission...

I'd be surprised if it even noticed me.

This fox really seemed to have it's eyes, or ears, on something else.

I was curious.

All the sudden it crouched down.

It seemed to spot what it had been hunting.

I was surprised with how quick it moved as it pounced on something...



Dinner!!  It looks like a nice juicy rodent.

All of the sudden something else seemed to catch it's attention

Whatever it was, it seemed that it got what it came for then took off in the opposite direction.  Now I was curious again and proceeded down the road.  Until...

  

 

WOW! Awesome..I felt my heart start to race a little.

What an amazing creature!  An Alaskan Brown Bear (Ursus arctos horribilis).

I turned my little Yamaha Rhino buggy around at about 150yds, kept the engine idling and left the door open as I stepped out to start snapping away photos. 

This bear is exactly what I was hoping to see.  And it appeared it really didn't care about me at all, barely lifting his head to even gaze in my direction.

I couldn't tell if it was a sow or a boar but I anxiously looked around for any signs of cubs.

After it made a trip across the road and back, I saw no cubs.

It was hard to estimate how big he was (assuming now that its a boar).  But if I had to guess, I'd say maybe around 6 feet from butt to nose and maybe 4 feet tall at the shoulders.  That would probably be about 8-9 feet tall if he were to stand up on hind legs!!

He walked a little closer toward me but was still over 100yds away off the side of the road, still not paying any attention to me at all.

Just sniffing around for some grub.

Seriously, these 15 minutes was awesome for me even though it maybe felt like like double that time easy.

What a cool beast of an animal.  Even in this vast landscape he proved to be a nice mighty Alaskan Brown Bear.

He meandered up the hill then I lost sight of him as he vanished in the alder bushes.

  

Panoramic view of the False Pass Small Boat Harbor this morning, facing north in Isanotski Strait

A gorgeous sunrise to greet me in False Pass, Alaska

4 shot Panorama of the village of False Pass (Isanax̂ in Aleut)

Spring travels continue

If all goes well, I will travel from Akutan to False Pass via the Alaska Marine Highway System on the MV Tustamena.  Below is a photo I took of the ship when it came into Akutan 2 Saturdays ago.  My trip to False Pass will be this coming Saturday, 5/28 departing at 0545am heading West and arriving at Dutch Harbor at 0915am.  The ferry docks there for the day departing at 1600pm then heads back East back to Akutan for an hour before proceeding to False Pass arriving on Sunday around 0645am.  That will give me the day in Dutch Harbor to do some shopping and have lunch which will be nice.  I've never been on a ship like this so I'm really looking forward to this experience.  I will be in False Pass for 2 weeks then will head to King Cove for 2 weeks before I go home for my R&R.  I anticipate being able to take some decent photos on the ferry of marine wildlife then I should have plenty of time at my next 2 destinations for more photos.  This will be my first time in False Pass and King Cove, adding to the long list of Alaska communities I've been to.  I still hope to get back to Adak at the end of July or August as well.  Gotta love Spring and Summer in Alaska!

MV Tustamena

Pen Air's Grumman Goose coming in for a landing

Goose splash down!

Alaska State Trooper vessel Stimson docked at the Akutan dock

View from Akutan Harbor.  Trident's Safe Harbor Church on the left and the dock in the distance.  

Akutan Island (Akutanax̂ in Aleut) is an island in the Fox Islands group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska

Sea Otter, 10 May 2011

Red Fox at Sunrise, 11 May 2011

Found some fresh water

The following photos were taken in Adak, Alaska in the first few days of March 2011

Please be sure to click on each photo to see the full size high-res image.  I believe it makes for a more pleasurable viewing experience.  Thanks for looking, comments are welcome and please share the link to my site if you wish.  I have some photos that I will post later today that were taken in Akutan, Alaska so check back later.

 

Heart Lake

Heart Lake and Mt. Moffett

Sunrise

Amazing how the colors can change once the sun actually becomes visible.

This photo is the winner of the ADAK TU telephone directory

When viewing the full size photo, you can just see Alaska Airlines 737-400 Flight 160 on it's final approach to the Adak Airport.