James Lake Canoe Trip
May 2002

We got back from our camping trip on Wednesday evening, May 29th after spending 5 days at Nancy Lake State Park (about 60 miles north of Anchorage) - and boy were we stinky and all pooped out. I think I must be getting too old to haul 250 lbs of gear and a canoe out into the wilderness and call it fun ??? 

We did have a very exciting adventure. The cabin we rented had a wood stove but no plumbing or electricity and we had to paddle through 5 lakes and carry our gear over 4 portages to get there from the road.

There was a resident porcupine that lived under the cabin and he kept us awake all night as he gnawed away at the boards and fiberglass insulation - I guess he was using it as padding in his den ??? The final night of our trip we could not stand his interruption any longer - so we took turns in what became known as the porcupine dance - jumping - stomping - and pounding on the floor with a piece of firewood to try and scare him away... I'm sure it was very comical.

One morning we thought the fellow had crawled up on the front porch and was walking on a water-bag shower we had left out. I sprang out of bed to scare him off and to my surprise...

...it was a mother bear with a new cub in tow - she must have thought the water-bag shower was worth a close inspection - now the shower has many more holes then it needs... 

The very next morning I decided to go out fishing and Marna stayed in the cabin. The day was warm - so she propped the front door open with a folding chair and was cleaning - when she thought she heard the porcupine again and took a look out the open door to discover the mother bear was back. And she was on the top step and just about to come on inside !!!!!!! The folding chair was quickly tossed out as the door was slammed shut...

...the bear was not amused as her cub scurried up a nearby tree.

The confrontation lasted a few more minutes as the bear huffed and stomped her feet under the tree waiting for junior to come back down. Marna kept watch at the window all the while banging some pans together and calling me on our walkie-talkies to let me know what was going on. By the time I paddled back across the lake the bears were gone and everything was calm.

For the rest of our trip we kept the Bear Repellent handy and took turns standing bear watch whenever one of us had to go out to the privy - and Marna had a little more trouble sleeping at night...

It was a trip to remember - next time we will again take turns standing bear watch whenever we go out to the privy and maybe not take quite so much gear.