Compost hole near cabin remains untouched






Wire 8" from the ground discourages bears






Gallagher Portable Fencer B11 protects our boat

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A Welcome Back:
Biscuit walks nonchalantly by the day after our return. Her behavior remains the same so that one would think we had not been away. Approaching the first time, upon our return, is daunting for me, as she is always bigger - this year showing more growth than last. Her claws are the size of any adult grizzly as is also her head. It takes me a day or two around her to realize that this is the same trusting bear I left behind last fall. She continues to be considerate about my early apprehension but does try to initiate some play with me. The "No" is quickly understood and she moves away.

My next stop is Gull Lake. Happily, I see that my favorite gulls are once again nesting on the rock in the middle of this small lake. Last year one chick survived, but the year before none. I am hoping they have finally forgiven me for walking by their nest site with our cubs when they were young. On that occasion, all three cubs tore their nest apart and ate two of their chicks. Yesterday I saw two foxes. A lovely black and white flycatcher is nesting in our shower. A pair of willow ptarmigans are nesting at Char Creek close to where we get water (still no running water in the cabin! Carrying it saves me having to lift weights to stay in shape!)

Continued Success with Electric Fencing:
It is absolutely amazing to me that the bears continue to respect the electric fence with no electric current for the 8 months that we are away. A few feet inside the fence is our compost hole that is full of smelly things from a summer's use when we leave every fall. Almost immediately upon my return, I rush out to see if this year some bear has ventured over the fence and dug up the decaying goodies. Everything is left in pristine condition while we hear stories of other cabins elsewhere with "problem bears". The small electric fence around the toilet is lying on the ground, having been pushed down by the snow's weight. We built this cabin 7 years ago in 1996 and not once have bears done any damage.

Within a few days of our arrival, we have the cabin cleaned and the food put away. Our solar panels are out and the windmill up generating more electricity than we can use. The sun is out and we can't wait to be out on the lake seeing who is about. Our portable boat is holding up well. We collapse it and take it to Petropavlovsk for winter storage along with all our other gear and are relieved to see it make the return trip on the helicopter with no holes. The first run around the lake reveals fewer bears in the vicinity than last year. Perhaps with the deep late snow they moved to the lush territory of the east or West Coast.

Returning to our camp, we pull the boat up and put the portable electric fence unit around it. We have learned that one wire will do the trick. Gallagher has a Portable Fence B11 unit, powered by 2 D-cell batteries that outputs 3,000 volts. The jolt is definitely off-putting but not dangerous. While the voltage is high, the amperage is very low. This is the same set-up we use to protect the airplane when it is not within our larger fenced compound at camp. One wire seems to be adequate when bears are educated to electric fencing as they are in the vicinity of our cabin.

We were pleased to discover this winter that Gallagher has now developed a light-weight portable fence unit that would be good for back-packers. We had thought of developing one but they saved us the trouble.

- Maureen