💯 STORY CHALLENGE
Bears And A Familiar Face, 4000 Miles From Home
Fun in Ketchikan. (86)
“Oh, if you want to see bears, go down to Herring Cove,” Mitch tells me with a big smile. We are on the ferry and he is telling me what to do when we arrive in his hometown of Ketchikan, Alaska. “Drive the road out of town. You’ll see them, they’re always hanging out in the water there.”
Islands are not a big part of my travel experience, so it’s a new delight for me to drive ‘the road’ to the end. The main road in Ketchikan is the Tongass Highway and it dead ends into beautiful rainforest to the north and the south.
Miles before the end, we look for Herring Cove. There’s a wooden boardwalk lining the creek on one side. We find where it begins at the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary. A man in the parking lot tells us the boardwalk is off limits without a guide and all the guides are off for the night. Disappointed, we get back in the car and continue on.
Julia is driving and she is great at ‘following her nose.’ She winds around a few back roads and we discover a small parking area, 50 feet off the creek. We are on the opposite side of the boardwalks, with a great view, though not quite as close up.
There is another man there who says he’s waiting on the bears. Soon, other cars start pulling in and people mill about, chatting and telling tales of previous bear sightings.
After 40 minutes or so, they arrive. Two black bears, walking along the bank and into the water. We watch one fall in and come up with a fish. He walks out into a meadow, beyond the boardwalk and is lost to sight.
Satisfied that we found Herring Cove and saw bears, we ready ourselves to leave. As I walk back to the car, a truck pulls in and a familiar face gets out. Yes, a familiar face in a town 4000 miles from home. Smiles and hugs and exclamations of “Wow! How cool is this?!” are shared.
It’s Mitch!
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