Daily life
The month of June was fairly uneventful, I had settled into a routine; work, sleep, eat repeat. Every couple of days I would finish a book, there was nothing else to do in between my shifts.
We ended up being 1 person short for the season so we were all working 7 days a week except for Maurice. Maurice had 1 day off a week and I covered his camp support shift that day. Working 7 days a week didn’t bother me, I think I would have gone a little stir crazy with a full day off. Thanks to Alaska’s labor laws I was making a ton of money. If you work more than 8 hours a day it’s overtime and anything over 40 hours was overtime as well. My weeks were averaging about 90 hours, close to 60 of that was overtime so I wasn’t complaining.
The tour groups had started at the beginning of June, it was actually really nice to see new faces regularly. I can be a fairly a social person so having guests to interact with made the weeks a bit easier for me. The guests were fascinated with how we managed to live up there and why we had all ended up there. I’m not sure I had the answers they were looking for but I didn’t have them. They were hoping for some profound reason or a crazy story but I had basically just decided why not?
I really enjoyed the job itself. I had complete freedom to bake whatever I wanted so long as there was a dessert. How cool is that? It was basically any bakers dream come true, whatever you want so long as you make something!
The breakfast part of the job was super easy. The guys pretty much came down in the same order every morning and ate the same things. I could of had their breakfasts lined up in order waiting for them if I had wanted. I had perfected my omelet skills to the point where I could make a single egg omelet without breaking a sweat. What had once scared me was now something I enjoyed.
The one excitement we did have up there was wildlife sightings. Up until this point the wildlife had consisted of Muskox, a couple of foxes and hundreds of birds. Then one evening out of nowhere a mother Grizzly Bear with 2 cubs arrived to liven it up.
June 24th: the First Grizzly Bear Sighting
A group of guests had just arrived, they were all huddled around the window so I took a look. A huge Grizzly Bear with 2 cubs was right across the street. I quickly ran to grab Courtney, I knew she would want to see this. Momma bear was digging up the tundra looking for ground squirrels. The cubs were running around wrestling in the background, they were tiny definitely born that year.
Courtney and I took the van across the street to get a better look, Momma was incredible to watch. She was so powerful. Watching her dig up the tundra made it abundantly clear what she could do to a human if she felt it was necessary.
The cubs were so playful and goofy, tumbling and tripping all over each other. The only thing that would stop them from their play was the occasional call from Momma. The cubs were too young to be eating solid food but they were still quite interested in the squirrels their mother had found.
I could have watched them for hours. I didn’t expect to see grizzly bears so far north just another surprise the arctic had in store for me. Over the next few weeks, we had daily sightings of Momma and the 2 cubs. Usually around 2 or 3 in the morning, she would walk through the camp. At first, she left camp alone, she would occasionally use the building to scratch her back but that was it. Until a group of travelers were outside watching her, they let her get too close before going inside. That was the first night she tried to break in. Luckily she didn’t get in, but it certainly gave us all a good scare.
July 14th, 2017
I swam in the Arctic Ocean! It had been on my list since I had arrived in Deadhorse but I was waiting for the perfect day. It was unusually warm that week, in the mid-70s so I figured that would be the best time to do it.
The water was cold, as I had expected but it wasn’t unbearable. I grew up swimming in the Atlantic Ocean I was used to cold water. What I did not realize was how far out you have to walk in order for the water to be deep enough to swim in. The anticipation made me impatient, I only made it up to my knees before I gave up and dove in. The water stung as I dove head first into the chilly arctic water but after the initial shock, it almost felt refreshing.
The worst part was being swarmed by mosquitos as soon as I stood up. The mosquitos were awful in Deadhorse. Because the tundra is frozen just a few inches below the surface water just sits on top, never really soaking in making it the perfect breeding ground for mosquitos. At times the mosquitos were so thick it looked like a cloud. Another unexpected surprise the arctic had for me.
Too Close for Comfort
It was my day as camp support and we just so happened to have 2 people who had booked an arctic ocean tour but were not staying at our camp. I went to go pick them up at Prudhoe Bay Hotel where they were staying. As I was waiting for them to get in out of the corner of my eye I saw movement behind me. I turned to look and there was Momma Grizzly Bear coming around the corner of the building.
Oh shit, ok I told my guests to remain calm but to quickly get in the vehicle. At this point she was maybe 15 feet away, I knew if she decided to charge us we wouldn’t have a chance. Momma had stopped to look at me but continued on toward the street.
The guests were nearly in the car, I turned to see where Momma was and the cubs came running out from behind the building. They stopped as soon as they saw me and just stared at me. I looked to Momma, she was near the end of the van in the road. The cubs were closer to me that they were to her. Is this how I die? She watched me for a minute, to date it was one of the most unnerving moments of my life. She continued on her way and grunted for the cubs to follow her. I had never felt more relieved. It was an amazing experience and one of my favorite travel stories now but being so close to a wild animal with no barrier was heart-stoppingly frightening.
Grizzly Bear Wake Up Call
It’s noon, I’m startled awake by a pounding at my door. What the hell? I mutter, Courtney yells back to me “The Bear is here!!” What?! “She’s here! Hurry!!” Where is she?? No answer. Fuck, of course, I had decided to sleep in the nude so I’m scrambling to throw clothes on wondering what I’m about to open my door too. I cautiously walk outside, I don’t see or hear anyone hmm. I walk around the corner and see Courtney and Maurice, Momma Grizzly Bear is breaking into the storeroom.
She’s on the back steps with the cubs the door is wide open, she popped the latch. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. She was opening and closing the storeroom door with no difficulty. The storeroome door had the same exact latch that was on my bedroom door. That made me feel safe.
Thankfully Charlie had seen her coming and was able to get everyone out of the building. We had lost power a few minutes before which is why Charlie was looking out the window. If the power hadn’t gone out Charlie or Maurice could have easily opened the storeroom door to check out the noise or to get an ingredient for lunch. We were lucky nobody got hurt and she didn’t do a ton of damage. She made a bit of a mess, she knocked over a container of used oil from the frier but that was all.
Having a bear around so often made day to day activities slightly more dangerous. I was constantly nervous that I would open my bedroom door to a Grizzly Bear. I went to work at midnight nobody would even notice if something happened to me until 5 am. None of us did much for outdoor activities either. The Franklin Bluffs were only a few miles down the road but none of us wanted to come across Momma when we were out hiking. Every morning as I cooked pans of bacon and sausage I wondered if that would be the morning she decided she wanted some.
Thankfully we all managed to make it through the season unharmed and with countless memories of Momma and her cubs.
If you haven’t been reading the blog you may be wondering how I eneded up on the edge of the world cooking breakfast for a bunch of guys. Not to worry this post will catch you up to speed! And be sure to read about my first full month in Deadhorse while you’re at it, there’s nothing quite like seeing the tundra in all it’s frozen glory.
