We were on the Sheenjek River, whose source begins with a glacier in the Brooks Mountain Range.  The
plane ride just getting to the Sheenjek was amazing. 

	First was a 747 from Chicago to Anchorage – then another jet to Fairbanks.  From Fairbanks the rel fun
began.  We boarded a Cessna Caravan, a 10 passenger plane, and flew to the gravel runway at Alaska
Village, a village of 225 Gwinch’n Indians.  From Arctic Village, we boarded a Cessna 180, a 4 passenger
plane for the final flight to the Sheenjek.  

	Because of the size of the Cessna, we had to make 5 flights to get all the gear and people to the site.  The runway
was just a somewhat level spot along the side of the river and below the mountains.  

First order of business was to transport the gear about ¼ mile to the campsite along the river.  

After camp was set-up, the main guide, David, gave us instructions on how to deal with grizzly bears.  

They usually frequent the river,particularly the willow thickets along the edges. 

Each of us was issued a can of bear spray and was told to carry it with us at all times.  

After the brief meeting we were told that supper would be reading about an hour so we could do what ever we wanted.  All
of us opted to take a walk just a little farther downstream in the hopes of seeing something.  The view
of the river from the plateau we were walking on was awesome.  

After about 20 minutes we headed back to camp.  As we were coming upon a small rise on the
plateau a grizzly bear was coming from the opposite side.  The distance between the two of us was, perhaps
50 yards.  When the “grizz” spotted us, he turned tail and ran away as fast as he could.  In fact he ran up
the mountain and over the cress.  When we got back to camp we told everyone of our experience and they
wished they would have continued the hike with us. But our little incident was nothing compared to what
happened to Tom Bartlett the next morning.
 
Tom was up before anyone else and decided to walk the river bank downstream in the hopes of seeing some
interesting birds or wildlife.  He was walking with the wind at his back, which was a smart idea. 
However, that was the only smart thing he did!  He forgot to take his bear spray.  As he approached a
willow thicket – dumb thing #2 – he walked around it watching birds feeding on the old river bank.  Once
past the thicket, he noticed that on the plateau Kristi and Scott were up.  He figured everyone must be
awake and it was probably time for breakfast.  He turned around, started walking back to camp, which was
only about one hundred yards away.  Suddenly, all the birds took off in a frenzy.  Tom stopped and turned
around towards the thicket to see what had startled them.  Coming at him in a full charge was a grizzly
bear.  Tom stood and faced the bear, waving his arms, and shouting, “Bear, bear, bear!”.  The bear stopped
about 30 feet from him, stood on its hind legs, sniffed the air for scent, dropped back down, and ran
back to the thicket as fast as he came out.  Tom hustled back to camp.  His face as white as a sheet,
and amazingly, his pants were DRY!  What a way to begin our 9 day raft trip!
 
The agenda for the rest of the trip was, six to seven hours of rafting one day and six or seven hours of
mountain hiking the next.  Unbelievable scenery, every day!