Day 81, August 24th
We made it to the Anan Bear Observatory and it's so worth the 910+ miles of paddling. We pulled into the bay yesterday, sorted out the cabin option and then paddled into the lagoon. We saw one black bear and lots of spawning salmon. We were lucky that the cabin wasn't reserved for the night. We set up camp in the cabin - putting our therm-a-rests on the perfectly sized bunk and cooked ourselves rice and black bean burritos. We paddled back into the lagoon and watched a black bear devour a salmon. Things were looking promising for the next morning at the viewing platform. We arrived just in time to be the first group in at 8am. As we listened to the safety talk, a black bear with a huge, gross tapeworm wandered by and than someone spotted a brown bear fishing in the lagoon. What an incredible spot. We got some amazing close-ups in the photo blind and from the platform. It's interesting to watch the bears fish as their ears flatten back and they look so focused at the task. Yet also appearing lazy as they don't want to get too wet in the river. They're incredibly beautiful and fat! Of course, there's the gruesomeness of watching them crunch on the fish as the fish continues to flap around. I sure don't feel like eating salmon tonight. (Sonja)
