...the porcupines, bears, and moose of Skilak Loop Road

Whilst camping at Russian River Campground it’s easy to make the short drive to Skilak Loop Road in the evening in hopes of spotting wildlife. As we pulled onto the gravel we saw a porcupine which scampered into the woods as we got closer. We got a good look at it but had no time for photos. So, down the road we continued past Hideout Trail head where we saw some very fresh bear scat smack dab in the middle of the road. Then, just 100 hundred yards further we saw a black spot in the bushes on the road’s edge. We crept forward in the car and came up to the side of a small black bear which was busy grazing on the fresh grass of spring. We were no more than twenty feet from it as it alternated between mouthfuls of grass and gazing at us in our car. We took a rapid succession of pictures and then I looked in the rear view mirror as another bear about the same size stepped out on the road behind us. Suddenly we were surrounded by bears and in total bear watching bliss! Eventually we sallied forth to Hidden Lake Campground and as we were driving through the campground loops we saw a cow moose with three calves. They had staked out a campsite from which the cow was quickly devouring branches of willow. The calves wandered around on their spindly legs as their ears flipped and flopped back and forth. We got lots of pictures of them too. After watching them for a good long time we drove back toward Russian River Campground and as we neared Hideout Trail head we saw one of the bears again! We also spotted something else very unusual as someone had left a broken electric guitar and a gig bag in the parking area. We wondered what the story was before we left the bears, moose, porcupines, and guitars and returned to our trailer where will fell quickly asleep to dream of…the porcupines, bears, and moose of Skilak Loop Road.