After six days in British Columbia, seven days cruising the Alaskan Inner Passage, and an overnight in Seward, AK, we had failed to see a single bear despite numerous warnings to be vigilant when walking about. We finally encountered one on our last full day in Alaska.

We watched the bear above feast on salmon while safely ensconced in a canoe about 25 yards offshore. It was some show, with his powerful jaws easily biting through the bones of the large fish. Not to fear, with all that food in easy reach the bear had no interest in us as silent observers.

Our bear encounter concluded our stay at the sublime Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge, which is the only lodge in the 700,000-acre Kenai Fjords National Park. The lodge is operated by Alaska Wildlands Adventures (AWA), which owns two other properties. The lodge is located on privately held land owned by a native Alaskan tribe. The tribe partnered with AWA to build the lodge and takes part of the profits.

All the lodges are geared to people like us who want to enjoy a wilderness setting without giving up creature comforts. Each guest stays in cozy individual cabins, with porches that in our case offered a water view. Meals and all guided activities — we went on a couple of hikes and two canoe trips— are included in the stay. The food was uniformly good. The only extras were beer and wine that were available for purchase.

The only difficulty was getting to the lodge. We generally enjoyed good weather throughout our cruise itinerary, with warm enough temps and much sunshine, rarities in this part of the world. The famously fickle Alaska weather finally conspired to throw a wrench in our plans of spending three nights at the glacier lodge. We were warned in advance that weather disruptions were possible.

While the lodge is only about 25 miles from Seward “as the crow flies,” it’s only reachable by boat by us humans. I suppose a helicopter could whisk people there, but that option isn’t offered. By boat it is about three hours without detours for nature stops and an onboard lunch on the way. With those additions it is a four hour trip through Redemption Bay from Seward, around the Aialik Point and up Aialik Bay to the starred point on the map above.

Our planned arrival day was disrupted by a storm that churned up the seas in the Bay of Alaska, a portion of which the boat must traverse en route. As you round the point the boat crew likes to note that the next land of any consequence due south is Hawaii and beyond that Antarctica. In short, there’s a lot ocean to get riled up out there.

We did set out earlier than originally scheduled on our planned arrival day in the hope the wind would diminish and the voyage could be completed, but it quickly became apparent that wasn’t going to happen. We did get a rainy and bouncy tour of Redemption Bay along with a group that was out for a day tour, but rounding the point was out of the question.

Fortunately AWA was able to put us up for the night in its Riverside Lodge, reachable by car from Seward, upon our return to the dock. The next day brought clear skies and calm conditions, and our second attempt at reaching the glacier lodge was a success.

The Riverside property was also comfortable, but it appeared geared more towards fisherman as it sits alongside a rushing glacial river.

We’re now waiting for the overnight flight home. It is quite a trek to get there, but we won’t rule out another trip to Alaska.