Today’s adventure. I was going to ride the public bus out to a bear rescue place. The public bus system in Sitka is owned and operated by the Native Council. I find the bus. Hop on it and ask “do you go to the bear place?” Due to covid, the bus no longer goes to the bear place. The bus gets to within 2 miles of the bear place. Ok, sounds like a plan. I pay my one dollar bus fare and off we go. After about 30 minutes of riding around, I am the only person left on the bus, The bus stops. The driver tells me to just keep walking down the road, about 2 miles, until I get there. And to stay on the road. And there is no cell service. And he will be back at quarter after the hour until 3:15 and that would be it for the day. And finally, he said that it would start raining at 2pm.
A sensible little old lady would have ridden the bus right back to town.
Actually, this is Alaska. There was a sidewalk. And a glorious wonderful sidewalk it was. (Down hill all the way to the bear place)
It was one of the best walks of my life, made all the sweeter by my years. And by last year of lockdown. Eagles flying overhead chattering in their little voices. Fishing boats in the bay. Cool. And, I was told that it would rain at 2pm, so I was safe.
And, I found the bear place. Unlike the eagle rescue place which returns eagles to the wild whenever possible, these bears are stuck in their 3 acre refuge. Because in Alaska it’s against the law to return a bear to the wild. Alaska has plenty of bears. The island that I am on has 1.4 bears per square mile. The refuge does send bears south to zoos in the lower 48.
I make it back to the bus stop two hours after I headed down the road. The driver was surprised to see me. He was sure that I would have gotten a cab back to town. And, the people at the bear place did offer to call me a cab, on their landline. The bus driver told everyone who got on the bus about my trek.
By now I have clocked 7 miles and 15,000 steps so off for a late lunch or early dinner of reindeer mac and cheese. When I left the restaurant it was 2:10 and it was raining. Nap Time!