27th August, 2026
Bears, Weenies, and Glaciers, Oh My!
Alaska, Part One
The Smith and Wesson came out, along with bear spray, and I felt a little bit better. We were preparing to fly over the Chugach Mountain Range and land in a field where we could hike to Lake George. This was familiar territory for our hosts, Russ and Rhonda. The Alaskan wilderness was new to Jay and me. My excitement was tempered by trepidation.
From the moment we landed at the Anchorage airport, we were warned. This is bear country. This is their home. A mounted brown bear stood ten feet tall and three feet wide as we walked through the corridor to baggage claim. Its claws long and sharp. On one hand, it is highly unlikely that we will ever run into a bear. On the other hand, it is a very real possibility. Just days before we arrived, a woman was mauled by a brown bear. She was running on a path she had traversed many times before. Only this time it was different. She did not go into the details of the event, just that she would be recovering for some time and that “bear spray works.” Hence my relief we were bringing both bear spray and a gun on our forthcoming adventure.
Jay and I were in Palmer, Alaska at the invitation of Russ and Rhonda, whom we met in Mexico. Their sailboat, Matanuska, is docked just three slips from ours. Eileen and Peter, from sv/Appleseeds also in our marina, joined us. The six of us have become friends while cruising in the Pacific waters along Mexico. For the past couple of years, we have been talking about a get together in Alaska. August 2026 was the year we finally committed.
Alaska has always been somewhere I have wanted to go. When Jay asked me why, it took me a moment to come up with an answer. I think it was the raw, rugged, wild beauty I wanted to witness for myself. I wasn’t disappointed.
Russ has a Cessna 180. It seats four. There were six of us so it was going to take him two trips for all of us to get in to where we could hike to Lake George. Two or three of us would have to wait in the wilderness while Russ picked up the others. I was already quietly nervous about flying in a small plane. Once I get up in the air, I do love it. That doesn’t mean I don’t think of all the things that could go wrong. Add to that, the thought of standing out in the wilderness, being vulnerable to bears…well, my stomach was churning with a mixture of excitement and fear.
Meanwhile, this was just another day in Alaska for our hosts.
When the girls met the boys at the hanger, we got good news. Really good news. Russ and Rhonda’s dear friend Jim (whose Airbnb house we were staying at as a gift) was going to join us with his Cessna 175. We decided to split up. The girls in one plane and the boys in the other plane. That way, if one plane went down, our children were left with one parent. (That was reassuring. LOL.)
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All strapped in and ready to go, we took off on a once in a lifetime experience.
Palmer sits in the Matanuska Valley which is known to be the “agricultural heartland” of the state. As we rose up to 5,000 feet to fly safely over the mountains, I looked down to see the acres and acres of farmland and watched as we passed over the Matanuska River. The river runs 75 miles and is called a glacial river because it is formed by the melting ice of a once powerful and steadfast glacier. The dark gray patches that weave through the water are actually made of silt; crushed rock that flows down the mountain as the glacier melts. The melting of glaciers is an all too familiar site to the Alaskans. But for me, to see such dramatic results of climate change in person was a stark reminder of what the future holds. The thought was sobering and fell heavy on the moment.
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And yet…
There in front of me stood an incredible sight. I was not prepared for the magnificence and stature of the glaciers (one being Knik Glacier) that lay before me as we flew over the snow-capped mountains. I struggle to find the words that can aptly describe the awe I was feeling about nature and this wonderous world we live in.
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At first, the sky was covered with a haze but soon cleared up to a brilliant blue. Clear enough to see how close we were as we flew in between mountain tops. I trusted Russ knew what he was doing but that didn’t stop me from closing my eyes and saying a quiet prayer. Fortunately, I was distracted.
“Look. Down on that glacier. See the camp site?” Russ said, pointing to the opposite direction. I saw several people on the ice, who looked very tiny, walking away from a helicopter and toward some tents. He told us it was either a tour or private group who were camping out on the glacier for a few days, hiking the area. Hmm, and I thought we were adventurous.
Russ banked to the right and I saw an open area.
“That’s where we are going to land,” he said. “On the mud flats.”
Down below us was a wide-open space with short grasses and cracked mud. Somewhere down there was a safe landing strip known only to the eyes of our fine pilots. Russ landed with a few bumps and Jim shortly thereafter. We exited the planes and looked all around us. We turned toward each other and all I could see were smiles. Big, fat smiles on every face. We grabbed our gear – a cooler and a few backpacks – and started on our way.
The trek was only about a half mile. We crossed the mud flat into knee-high grasses that led to a hill. The hill was covered with thick brush and if we were to run into a bear, unaware, it would probably be there. We weren’t the first persons to visit and so we found something like a trail, and we followed our hosts to the lake. All the while making noise, hoping we wouldn’t run into any bears. We reached the beach and continued along the shore until we heard Russ holler, “I found the rock!”
Apparently, they have a certain rock they go to every time they fly into Lake George. This is where we were to have our weenie roast. I had never been to a weenie roast. I wasn’t sure what to expect. They didn’t bring a grill or any cooking utensils. It’s not like I haven’t camped before. Or been on a hike. I guess you could say my camping experiences have been more like city camping. Camping with the comforts of home. This was the old-fashioned way of making use of nature and the things at hand.
Russ and Rhonda started gathering sticks and piling them up. Jim collected rocks to put a circle around the wood. The fire was started while Russ took individual sticks and carved them to have sharp pointed ends. These we would use to put our hot dogs on to roast over the fire. Within minutes we were sitting on rocks, eating our lunch, while enjoying the view.
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It was quiet but for the sound of our voices. Once we thought we might have heard some calving. Not sure. Suddenly we noticed some movement down the shore.
“Look,” someone said. “We’re no longer alone.”
Way down the beach, several people appeared out of the bush where we had seen two kayaks. (It couldn’t have been easy to get the kayaks to the lake as the only way in is by plane or helicopter.) They pulled out the kayaks, climbed in and proceeded to cross the lake. Probably to explore one of the two icebergs that had broken off from a glacier and were drifting on the water.
We stayed for about an hour and then headed back to the planes. This time the boys went with Russ and us girls went with Jim.
We flew at an altitude of 500 feet as Jim followed the river, banking left and right. Woohoo! What a fun ride. We passed icebergs that looked like sharp teeth rising out of the water. Some were shiny white, of course, and some were sprinkled with dirt and others the color of light blue. Fascinating to see up close.
Eileen, thrilled and excited by the entire day, asked if she could take the yoke. Jim promptly handed it over. She did great, but I must be honest, I had a moment or two when I got frightened. We were flying so low. What if she made a mistake and inadvertently turned us downward? We didn’t have that far to go before we would hit something. She must have heard me gasp because she handed it back to Jim.
“I did okay,” she said.
“You did great!” Jim replied.
And she did.
How blessed we were to have this experience. And it was only day one of our Alaska vacation.
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