Prince William Sound, 1997

Hiking Prince William Sound, 1997

Dennis and I had a five-day "second honeymoon" in the summer of 1997. Just the two of us and the dog on Prince William Sound. We floated in the sunshine near the face of a glacier until skyscraper-sized chunks of ice crashed into the sea. We anchored at the mouths of isolated bays and canoed for miles. Sea lions and otters played alongside at times. We hiked to the most spectacular and remote places we've ever been. In retrospect, the year was a blur of frantic activity with those days suspended in sharp relief.

The following week we spent on the water with a couple Dennis has known since high school. On that trip, Dennis and I camped on shore and our friends stayed in the boat. One night as Dennis was in the tent arranging the sleeping bags, I heard a loud noise to my right. I turned quickly and saw a large black bear running as fast as he could back along the trail. He was gone before Dennis could back out of the tent to see him. He'd been coming our way when he saw us and we must have scared him half to death. We camped there that night and slept well. He had acted just like a bear should act!

The fishing was mediocre, but the fish were amazing. In places, there were dozens of pink salmon in the air at a time, popping out of the water like popcorn and doing flips in the air. They were tormenting us! They refused to bite.