ok, where to begin. i was having a really good day yesterday, mapping some rhyolite domes and some glacial morains. It was going well and I was covering a lot of ground. It was starting to get late, and I wanted to check out another potential rhyolite or rhyodacite dome to the west of where I was by about a mile. However, there was a sea of alder brush between me and the hill. I decided to give it a go because I wanted to do a good job on my map. It's not all fun and games up here you know.

So alder brush is probably the scariest stuff to go through in Alaska because it is so thick. You have about 3 feet of visibility in every direction. The obvious worry is coming upon sleeping bears. That's the other thing I should mention. The new area we began mapping in, called Cone, is absolutely thick with bears. We'd already seen a bunch, Jasper had seen a bear den, and the hillslopes were all dug up (from bears digging for ground squirrals). Thus the area was sort of dangerous. As a consequence, I was periodicly shouting HEY! and OUT OF MY WAY! to make sure I didn't startle one. Unfortunatley, that is exactly what I did. In the middle of the alder ocean, alders began to shake violiently in front of me, and in a matter of about 3 seconds an enormous grizzley bear head emerges in front of me. During the previous two seconds I had taken the shotgun off my shoulder and started to load the slug into the chamber, but when I saw the bear about 4 feet in front of me, coming at me really, really fast I realized the futitlity in the action and just turned around. Wham! The bear knocked me to the ground, stood on me for about 2 or 3 seconds then climbed off me and ran away. I got up with blood dripping all over the ground, coming from my face. I felt around with my tongue and realized part of my cheek was drooping out. Loaded the shotgun, called for a helicopter pickup, and got the hell out of there.

Brain's prediction of me getting eaten by bears has not yet turned out to be true, but it was close. I think the slice in my cheeck was from the bear walking over my face. If his claw was 4 inches higher it would have taken out my eye, and if I hadn't been wearing a backpack, I probably would have been killed. Pretty close call actually. Apparently I should get a pretty sweet scar from the deal, which could be a good thing or could be a bad thing. Only time will tell.

I'm staying out of the field for two days to let the sweeling in my cheek go down, then it'll be back out there. Six stitches to sew me up. Next time though, I will be carrying the shotgun with a slug in the chamber when I wade through the brush. He learns!

If you have not been to Alaska, you should. It's absolutely wild up here - at least the Alaskan bush, away from the cities. It's the real deal. Nature governs the world up here, not man. You end up with an appreciation for the grizzely bear too.

ed