Chilkoot Lake State Park, near Haines, AK

 I drove down to Chilkoot Lake State Park, and crossed a bridge briefly parking, to see if I could see bear. But all I saw where a few fishing people. I moved on towards a bear viewing area, the fishing weir, and found parking. I walked along as there were plenty of people, and the sun was bright and warm as I sat on the concrete barricade. For nearly 2 hours I sat there waiting and watching and wondering if I would see bear overhearing tour leaders talk about the area, and how sadly 60 bear were killed during the Covid years, and that they have yet to rebound. Finally, I left at 11:30 am, I headed towards the campsite, and as I pulled in, I was flagged down by someone who was exiting. He asked, “are you wanting to camp here?” I said yes, he said well there’s only a couple spots left in the first and second loop. I quickly drove the area and found a spot on the main drag, which left me a little more space than the loop area, which was tightly packed. Site #20 was perfect, even though it was slanted  I was able to shift the Sylver Gypsy in a way to level myself out. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. I assembled my bike to head back to the fee station about 1/2 mile back, only to learn that there were no pens or pencils to fill out the tag. I made it back-and-forth with my own pen and officially registered. I headed down to the boat dock to set up my chair, and spent a couple of hours, sketching the view here at Chilkoot Lake. There were plenty of people launching their kayaks, canoes, row boats, and small motor boats. There were tours of kayakers providing lessons on how to navigate a tandem kayak. Heck, I know this, I was just there at Humpy Cove. I overheard plenty of conversations and had to navigate plenty of loose dogs to protect Jo Jo. I finally finished my sketch and had enough people time to return to my camp. I decided to take my bike down to the lookout area at about 4:30 PM, and I spent at least an hour and a half to no avail with the elusive bear sighting. I returned back to camp to make dinner and settle in for the evening watching the movie “A River Runs Through It,” narrated by Robert Redford with a top notch cast. It was a quiet and restful evening.
























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