Bernie,

I really enjoyed your Alaska trip travelogue and superb images! Makes me want to get out my Mukluks and head Nawth to Alaska!

Your detailed information on your preparation leading up to this fabulous trip should be very helpful to anyone considering a similar expedition. When you are away from any sort of resources, careful planning is the key to a successful venture. It reminds me of the planning my buddies and I go through when going on a week-long bluewater sailing trip. No 7-11 markets or Roadside Assistance offshore!!

The equipment list and itinerary plan is important but what really makes such a trip happen is the friendships and associations you had already formed with that great group of photographer/friends. The photographs are superb but the truth is, I'll bet the best part was just enjoying the wildlife and glories of nature in the company of good companions.

I am intrigued by how close you were to the bears. If one of them had decided "photographer" tastes better than salmon, you really had no where to run or hide from a 30mph half-ton Grizzly! That fisherman was lucky that he was able to get out of the way of the bear that charged up the river after his catch!

A grand adventure and thank you for sharing it with us.

Best regards,

Dick:)

Dick,
You are absolutely correct on all counts. I do really enjoy the comraderie of the six guys I went to Alaska with and we are stay in touch via email and our participation on the DPReview Nikon D100/D1/D2 Forum. From time to time we get together and go somewhere to shoot. Joe is planning some upcoming adventures for us.
Regarding the near proximity to the bears you make a very good point. Our guide, John Hohl did not carry any weapon or spray of any kind. Had one of the bears decided to do us in, he could have done so without much resistance from us. As long as the other guys were around I probably was pretty safe as I figured I was near the top of the group as far as instant speed was concerned, but when it was just John and I the 20+ year difference in age probably meant I would have been the meal and John would have lived to tell the story.

"It's not necessary to outrun the bear; just run faster than the other guy"! LOL!

Interesting that John doesn't carry any kind of emergency 'bear repellant'. I'm just as much an advocate of preserving our wildlife as anyone but there is great potential for death and serious injury from those magnificent creatures that a tripod or fast legs just wouldn't handle.

I've made some great friends through the DPReview forums and have visited with and gone on photo excursions with several. Some folks are leery of making friends on the internet but I haven't met an axe-murderer yet!

Best regards,

Dick:)

"Interesting that John doesn't carry any kind of emergency 'bear repellant'. I'm just as much an advocate of preserving our wildlife as anyone but there is great potential for death and serious injury from those magnificent creatures that a tripod or fast legs just wouldn't handle."

Amen. Having said that, I am not sure how much bear repellant will do except make an already upset bear really angry.

"I've made some great friends through the DPReview forums and have visited with and gone on photo excursions with several. Some folks are leery of making friends on the internet but I haven't met an axe-murderer yet! "

Nor have I. We actually tried to meet up with one of our forum members when I was out west last. Someday I really want to get to Glacier and meet Final Shot. I also want to meet Ron Reznick (who lives about 15 minutes from my brother Patrick, apparantly).

However, I do have some anxieties about meeting people over the net...and I am of the internet generation. I just think that a lot of people seem very different than how they come off on-line. I know I have discomfort for my friends who are meeting people on-line.

-JM

BTW, Bernie, as I mentioned in the DPReview forums...I am glad that you did not get eaten...for personal and professional reasons. I am not sure you would have been able to write this great story had you wound up in the pit of the belly of the bear.

-JM