BEAR ON THE CHULITNA

Often all I see of the traces of bears are the tracks they leave in the sand by the river. But still, as I study their movements and gait, their behaviors can be guessed and imagined. With the salmon running or perhaps spawned, while drifting in the shallow waters, a picture comes to mind: The open spaces of filled with deposition of trees, gravel, sand, and dead fish. In some places, piles of twisted trees, torn up from the banks, lie in giant piles. Crossing the far channels, the bear, hungry and getting ready to den up, will travel up and down the river in search of food. On the banks fish carcasses lie inside the brush. And so it goes: a journey of the bear here on the river plain; a movement of one generation from the ancient past til the present.