Brandy and Her Cubs,
Watching Chico & Biscuit
(Image from July 18, 1999
- Diary Entry)
Helicopter Hovers to Unload
(Image from June 24, 1999 - Diary Entry)
(Click on any Image to see a higher resolution version)
My son, Anthony, who is a warden in Banff Park usually signs off his e-mail letters to me with "Be safe." I think he sees my adventures in Russia as pushing my luck and indeed with the health problems I have had during the past three years, I do feel that a great deal of luck and some perseverance play a big part in my being able to come back each year. But as my brother John points out, anyone who can remove automobiles from his everyday life is actually increasing their chances of survival. Once I leave the city of Petropavlovsk, drivers and cars are no longer a threat but few would see that trading them for flying a small aircraft in the wilderness as much of a leap towards security.
Ironically, I got an e-mail since I arrived in Kamchatka from Anthony telling me of a harrowing experience he and his wife, Chris, had when a deer leapt out onto the highway and came right through the windshield of their car to lie dying in their laps. Anthony got a deep cut on his chin where he got hit by one of the deer’s hooves. They are still picking out pieces of glass from their faces.
A couple days ago, I made a misstep that could have broken my neck. Maureen and I are always conscious of how careful one must be when you are in the wilderness with help several days away rather then a few minutes as we are accustom to expect at home if one has a mishap. Tatiana, Igor and I were with Chico and Biscuit on a mountain side above the lake which faces south and therefore greens up before most other places. There are some steep ledges and I followed the bears out on them to see what they were eating and to get some pictures of them from the elevated perspective looking down on the patch work of melting ice on the lake. It was here that I stepped onto a slippery piece of grass and my foot slipped just enough to through me off balance. I had a hold of a rock on the ledge above me but that pulled out and I then slipped off the ledge. It was about a six foot drop to the next ledge which was steeply sloped and only served like a ski jump. I bounced off three such ledges and the last one cartwheeled me out onto a very steep snow bank that went all the way down to the lake. On about my third flip on the snow, I was able to get to my feet orientated downhill and eventually dug my heels in enough to get stopped.
I had the digital camera and my binoculars around my neck but the centrifugal force of my ass over tea-kettle tumble flung them off and they were both bouncing towards the lake. There was a crevasse in the snow about five feet wide at the top and about ten feet deep. The binoculars, which are waterproof, went safely into the crevasse but the camera bounced over it and continued into the lake. It floated for a few seconds and then sank into about two feet of water. I ran down and jumped in to grab it but of course it was as about as wet as it was going to get.
From the start of the fall, I was holding my 35 mm camera in my hand by its grip and after all the tumbling I managed to hang onto it for the 100 or so feet I had fallen. When I finally looked up there were three sets of eyes looking down at me to see how I had fared in what must have looked like a spectacular fall. Tatiana and Igor were both very aware of how Biscuit had also come over to the edge of the ledge where it had all started and watched the whole thing. She was still watching. They couldn’t make out whether she was interested out of concern or amusement but whatever it was it held their attention for some time. Chico was up the mountain a ways and missed out on the excitement.
I was a bit shaken up and it took me a while to realize that my glasses were missing. By then Tatiana and Igor had slid down to join me and knocked a lot of snow into the crevasse which was the likely place that my glasses had gone. Without them I wasn't much good at being able to see such a transparent item, but after 20 minutes Igor spotted them at the bottom of the cleft and squeezed down and retrieved them. I was also aware that I had done something to a rib but it didn’t hurt very much at first because I think it was only cracked.
We went back to the cabin and I drained the camera as much as I could and rigged it up on top of the oil stove where it dried for 24 hours in a slow warmth but to no avail. Therefore, these entries will be without new illustrations until Maureen comes with a replacement camera.
Two mornings after the event, I was reaching into the stove to light it, just as I sneezed. There was a sudden and severe pain in my rib. It seems that the crack must have been on the rib that my diaphragm is attached to and the sneeze was enough of a jar to brake it the rest of the way. I was tormented for a couple days and I am still not comfortable sleeping in any position other than flat on my back. I can tell it is on the mend though so please don’t worry. It is not about to break loose and stab my lung or anything like that. I was sure glad, however, that I did not get the hiccups.
Last night, I was able to walk to the relief of my partners. The weather has been bad and the helicopter which was to come take us back to the city is overdue by a couple of days. There were some openings in the fog so we walked around the lake for a couple miles. Coming around a corner we saw a female bear with two large cubs. They were on the lake ice and coming our way. We were hidden by pines but the wind was on the back of my neck so I knew we would probably be detected soon and the bears would run away. Instead, they all stopped and put up there noses at once, took a good smell and then kept coming. Tatiana who is used to having a gun as backup in situations like this was real nervous and said so. However, I told her to relax, it had to be Brandy. She came right to us and I stepped out to say hello.
Her cubs are very big two year olds and they too acted the same as Chico and Biscuit had done after not seeing anyone for over seven months. Just then Chico and Biscuit, who must have heard me talking to Brandy came over the hill also. True to form, Brandy decided to chase them away and in doing so, left her big cubs behind with us. This happen several times last year when they were much smaller. It was like a replay. Tatiana thought we were in a terrible situation with the cubs within a few yards of us and Brandy away up the mountain. Just as I got my two excited companions settled down about the situation, Brandy came leaping and sliding down a big snowdrift back towards us, but there was no concern at all about us being with her cubs. She joined them and walked right by us again on her way around the lake.
The helicopter is due this afternoon at about 4pm. It’s a good thing the weather cleared because we are out of both food and fuel for the stove. I think I forgot to mention it before but we located two orphaned cubs in northern Kamchatka which are supposed to be waiting for us in Petropavlovsk when we get back there. I am looking forward to seeing them and I have been nervous about not going to get them myself because we are now finally able to look after these animals at our new orphanage at Golyginsky Lake. I will write again when I am back in the city.
- Charlie