Up in Alaska part 1

It was a beautiful day in Alaska, the sun was out, it had finally quit raining after 4 days of drizzle. I was hiking up Sheep Creek for a day of salmon fishing. I was about a mile from the road, and had already caught three nice silver salmon on my fly rod. I released them knowing the deep hole just about a quarter mile upstream usually had some nice King Salmon up to 30 lbs holding in its deep water.

Anticipating the larger fish just up ahead I was in a hurry and forgot one of the cardinal rules of hiking in bear country, make lots of noise as you hike because the bears are here for a salmon dinner too.

I was hurrying through an alder thicket, trees about six feet tall that grow thickly in creek bottoms, when it happened. A very large bear that I had wakened from his snooze in the alders stood up not 20 feet in front of me. Had I been making noise the bear would have heard me and slipped away into the woods before I got there. Now I was in a very dangerous situation, nowhere to run before the bear would be on me.