We woke to a cold, snowy morning

Stan and I got up early and geared up for the days' hunt. It had snowed overnight, was cold and overcast. There was a considerable amount of snow still on the hillsides, especially the North Facing spruce forests.

We hiked down the banks of the ice-choked Johnson River for five miles before the banks of the river turned steep - forcing us up into the alder tangles and steep, snow covered hillsides. Eventually after becoming super-heated and sweaty we reached a height where the tangles gave way to sparsely populated spruce trees. It was hear that we found our first bear sign - a marker tree - which is where a bear will stop to rub its coat.

Stan points out a marker tree where a bear has left his scent and some of its coat.

There was less bear sign than we hoped so we switched gears and climbed to the top of a high bluff to glass the large basin for bears. It began snowing and after a short while we were piling on more clothes again. After a few hours of glassing we spotted several moose and caribou, dozens of dall sheep including some nice rams and some various small game - but no bears. We hiked out at got back to the plane camp shortly before midnight. It was a long, tough day.

We were seeing more caribou at camp than anywhere else