Date:         Fri, 11 Feb 2011 17:37:04 -0600
Reply-To:     mcneely4@COX.NET
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@COX.NET>
Subject:      Re: camping amidst bears, safety question
Comments: To: Richard Koerner <rjkinpb@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <311883.44706.qm@web83601.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

---- Richard Koerner <rjkinpb@SBCGLOBAL.NET> wrote: 

> 
> (PS  Was also a weird sensation to be able to read a newspaper at 10:30 at night outdoors with no artificial light during the summer...that's the furthest north I've ever been.)

Camped at Denali in late June one year.  Was able to read inside my tent at midnight without artificial light, though the sun was "down" below the horizon (but not far).  I went from Denali to Barrow, and there there was no night, period.  Sun was visible all "night" long.  "Twas still pretty cold though, with snow everywhere outside of town, and the sea still frozen.

We were taken to a beach far out on the point (in fact, northernmost point in the U.S.), where we saw polar bear tracks, but no bears.  Whale carcasses were dumped on the beach, and polar bears reportedly scavenged them.  Not a good idea to be there when the carcasses were there, I guess.  We only saw some very old bones, partly buried in the beach gravel.  There was a sign in the hotel we stayed in in town that reminded folks that if they saw a polar bear in town, to enter the nearest building, private residence or otherwise, and that it would be open during polar bear time.  I made a joke about it to the clerk, who responded simply, "They WILL eat you."  It being summer, we walked all over town, and on the town beaches, without concern about bears.  Evidently the bears come into town more at other seasons, from what we were told.

mcneely