Saturday, June 18, 2016

We woke at a decent time to a few scattered high clouds but still quite a bit of sunshine. We started hiking around 9:30AM as the clouds began to build. We got to the bend in the valley when we spotted a blond grizzly bear about a quarter mile away across the river. It was moving fast down to the river where it caught sent of us. It was definitely curious about us and kept air scenting before taking off for good. It was a beautiful bear with blond fur and dark brown pantaloons. Rain started not long afterward and we switched into our rain gear. However, the clouds stayed high and luckily the rain didn't last too long. Our goal was the last split of the headwaters, a nice base to scope out our pass. But first, we came upon a herd of caribou we watched for a bit and spotted a family of golden eagles flying high in the sky.

A threat of rain today

Blonde grizzly bear

We made it to our goal of the last confluence at 1:45PM and found a great flat, open, dry campsite. We set up our tents in the bear fence and our food tarp a little ways away. We ate lunch then half of us settled for a nap while Matt, Krista, and Matthew scouted out the area. Rain came in fiercely for the afternoon until dinner time. We all settled into the cooking shelter for dinner and a wild game of yahtzee while the showers came and went. A small group of caribou moved upriver towards us but decided to go up the west branch to avoid us at the mouth of the east. Off to bed as more rain came in.

Trying to reach the confluence

Krista at a narrowing of the river 

Camp at the confluence

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