one of the highlights of
our journey was planned way before we even left texas. we had made one reservation on this entire
trip and that was to visit the salmon eating brown bears (also known as the grizzly
bear) along the brooks river at brooks falls in katmai national park. katmai is nearly 300 miles south of anchorage, around the size of wales and designated mostly wilderness. the worlds largest brown bear population is found here, roughly 2,000 along with 14 active volcanoes.
the day started with an
early 5 mile bike ride from mary and andrew’s to rust’s flying service located
just north of anchorage’s international airport on lake hood, the worlds busiest seaplane base with ~190 flights/day. there we met our pilot, dale, a 38 yr veteran pilot
who hails originally from montana. our
plane mates were astrid and pascal, a young couple on vacation from switzerland, on their way to visit the same bears in katmai. i'll let the photos do the talking....here is our day...
 |
| our plane |
 |
| astrid, pascal and aly |
 |
| heading to katmai |
 |
| our 1st bear...in camp...we hadn't even gotten on the trail |
 |
| our 1st fishing bear |
 |
| this guy is HUGE |
 |
| each has his own spot and is waiting for the salmon to swim upstream |
 |
| that water is COLD! |
 |
| this bear started towards the fishermen as one of them had a fish on his line...he had to release the fish...once the fish was gone, the bear took off towards the falls for fishing himself |
 |
| chasing salmon in the water |
 |
| looking for fish |
 |
| and yet still looking |
 |
| ah ha! finally caught one |
 |
| a little skirmish letting the other know this is his fishing spot |
 |
| needless to say, the bear on the left kept his spot |
 |
| he's had a few fights |
 |
| look at those claws |
 |
| fishing from the top or the bottom of the falls |
 |
| it's better down below |
 |
| the bears behind aly...maybe 30 yards to the middle of the river |
 |
| we had our mosquito nets up for the camera |
 |
| sleeping standing up after a long day of fishing |
 |
| mama comes with her 3 cubs for a bit of fishing |
 |
| look how cute |
 |
| she tells them to stay while she goes out fishing |
 |
| and she means STAY! |
 |
| off she goes |
 |
| they will learn someday |
 |
| so they climb to safety |
 |
| she returns and off they go fish-less |
 |
| that is mom's claw |
 |
| WOW! |
 |
| our plane home after ~3 hours walking through the forest and visiting brooks falls |
 |
| the plane before ours, taking off |
 |
| sights on the way home |
 |
| lots of glaciers |
 |
| and glacial lakes--look at the beautiful water color |
 |
| and rivers |
 |
| and swamps |
 |
| and finally back to anchorage... |
|
|
we had been gone all day...from 8am until 5pm. it was a 2.5 hour trip down, about 3 hours with the bears and about 3 hours back to anchorage...
what a GREAT day! we feel very lucky to have seen so many bears...we probably saw a dozen during the day and will cross this off our bucket list! wow! highly recommended!!
