KATMAI NATIONAL PARK: The Bears of Brooks Falls

These are just a few of my favorite photographs taken from the Brooks Falls Viewing deck.

Again, just entering this deck makes you feel like a scene from "Jurassic Park", as you walk down a long boardwalk, suspended over 8ft above the ground, while opening and closing a series of very heavy metal gates. Sure, if the Bear's wanted too, they could easily climb and over run the viewing platforms, but they're currently so fat on salmon, they don't pay much attention to the parade of photographers and bear watchers observing their eating habits...

I nickname this one "Grumpy Bear". The park service actually numbers all bears observed within the Brooks Range area, giving most of them nicknames as well. This more easily helps the biologists catalogue their habits and daily on-doings.

All photographs were taken with my Nikon D80, using either the 15-55mm lens, or 70-300mm telephoto lens. Each shot is different, I have spared putting the photo data here, but I don't use a tripod or remote.

I really like the way using a slower shutter speed in this shot makes the water appear as more of a white blanket, while keeping the bears profile vivid.

This was the first time, after hundreds of tries, I was able to capture a Salmon in mid flight.
Mom fishing for her two cubs...
So I really love this photograph, it sort of epitomizes what amateur and professional photographers come to the falls to capture. Nature, at its most raw; Bears, doing what they do.

It also signifies what I think is the most important aspect of photography, being in the right place at the time, forever capturing the image on film.
On any given day during peak season (July and September) during the height of the Salmon run you can have anywhere from 5 - 22 bears at the falls. I give those numbers because that is what we saw over the course of our time here.

Got em!
As all living creatures, Bears don't always get along. The have the say guilty desires to covet they neighbors fish. Here a hungry bear thinks he might be able to win over another Bear's fish, ha, he was wrong.

It wasn't uncommon to see the bears "sparring" or play/fighting, these bouts last from 2-3 minutes, dancing back and forth, while growling and flaring chests.
The photo's above are sort of deceiving with a telephoto lens, making the bears appear closer then they actually are, but here you can see, the bears really are very close.

KATMAI NATIONAL PARK: The Valley of 10,000 Smokes

When you think of Katmai National Park, and the amazing quantity of Grizzly Bears that flock to the falls during the Salmon Run, rarely do you also think of Volcano's. BUT, Katmai National Park was originally formed as Katmai National Monument, specifically to protect the LARGEST VOLCANIC ERUPTION OF THE 20th CENTURY. In 1912 Mount Katmai blew, spewing ash tens of thousands of miles into the air, spreading ash as far away as Chicago and New York, and lowering the overall temperature across the planet by 1.8 degrees F for several days. Over the next decades multiple scientists would travel to the Katmai area to study this catastrophic event. Our journey began with the "Valley Bus", traveling 23 miles along the only road in the park from Brooks Lodge to the Three Forks Overlook Cabin/Visitors Center.

From Three Forks Cabin we set out along Windy Creek, crossed it, then headed south into the Valley of 10,000 smokes. After crossing the creek we found this mark in the sand, reminding us bears are free to roam every corner of the park...

There are technically no marked trails within the back country, but there are several "trail like trails" where people have walked before... Here we are following the awesome Lethe River, dug deep into the ash.

At several points the Lethe River cuts 30-50 feet or more deep into the valley, making it very difficult to cross with shear cliffs on either side.

At a few hard to find spots the river spreads and the cliffs shrink, allowing for a safe crossing at low water. The best time to cross is in the morning, since these waterways are glacier fed. The problem with these rivers is they are zero visibility due to silty waters, and since the soil/rock carves so easily, waterways can quickly drop from ankle deep to above neck deep.

Gretchen pioneered this technique, "why don't we use a tent pole to probe ahead of us as we cross together, ensuring we don't step off into the deep end..."

Here Mount Mageik overlooks the valley, also a Volcano, around 7000 feet in elevation.

Gretchen crossing the Valley enroute to the Baked Mountain cabin, some hikers compare the soil similar to walking across a kitty litter box, the ash is a very gritty sand, hard packed from wind and water over the last 90 years.

Finally after approximately a 14 mile hike-in we reached Baked Mountain Cabin, also an old USGS research camp; it was nice to dry out our clothes still wet from the creek crossing.
The finest Outhouse I have every seen; missing a door it actually opened with a magnificent view of Mount Griggs.

Mount Griggs, 7500 feet.

Sunset from Baked Mountain.

Gretchen inside Baked Mountain Cabin (shack).

As a result of the eruption, Novarupta, a vent alongside Mount Katmai blew millions of chunks of Pumice rocks all over the valley. Ranging from the size of marbles to the size of a suitcase, they are extremely light, and some even float in water.

Overlooking Mount Katmai and the Knife Glaciers.
Novarupta, vent from which the majority of the 1912 Mount Katmai eruption came from.
Our camp on Night Two, alongside the middle Knife Creek, less than a mile from Knife Glaciers. Panoramic view of Mount Katmai and Mount Trident in the background.

Gretchen on day Three, due to our inability to find a efficient crossing of Knife Creek to link up with the Ukak River and head back into Three Forks from the North, we cut back across the Valley and left the way we came in...

Not taking any marked trails or common routes, we think we hiked somewhere between 30-35 miles.

After several days of sunshine in the valley, we awoke to wind and clouds on our Third Day, not nearly as bad as some of the "Ash Storms" people had described to us, killing visibility and making it difficult to breathe without a bandanna across the face...
Gretchen getting organized at camp on our Third Night, nestled alongside Windy Creek, finally back into vegetation.

Our last creek crossing of the trip.

KATMAI NATIONAL PARK: Getting There, Living There, Staying There

As all good tales, ours begins like this; Once upon a time there was this place called Katmai National Park. It is located approximately 340 miles South West of Anchorage, and 25 miles due East of the fishing cannery village of King Salmon, located on the Naknek River just off the Bristol Bay Area.


We took Pen Airways from Anchorage International Airport to King Salmon Airport, where we were shuttled to the Katmai Float plane dock located on the Naknek River, just south east of King Salmon downtown (a whopping 5 buildings).


It was about a 25 minute flight from King Salmon into Brooks Camp in the heart of Katmai, there we were greeted by a very nice and polite Grizzly Bear Concierge service...
Gretchen giving off the cheesy "welcome to another national park" shot.
This shot was taken from Dumpling Mountain, the closest ridge overlooking Brooks Camp. Note Brooks Lake on the right, Naknek Lake on the left, Brooks River running from right to left in between.
In the style of "Jurassic Park", there is a nice 2,000,000 Kilowatt Electric Fence surrounding the Campground, keeping us safe while we sleep, (no seriously, you could cook your dinner with the wattage coming off this thing...).

Our home away from home for 8 days.
This is a shot of the Brooks Lodge Cabins (Mom, I knew you would want to see this), they cost approximately 100 times more expensive then our quaint little campground (Campsite, $8 per night; Cabin for 2, $800 a night).So this is the reason for anglers flocking to Brooks Camp for the last 60 years, and the reason Grizzly Bears have flocked here for thousands of years...
Katmai bear, doing what they do...
Mom and Cub.
Solo Bear on the Spit into Naknek Lake.
Little Cub enjoying a fisherman's life jacket...
Sometimes you need to share the trails, a lot of times the bridge across the river would be "closed"...
Posing on the platform overlooking "The Lagoon" with Dumpling Mountain in the background.Final parting shot of our plane leaving That was an AWESOME summer vacation!!!
Back at the Katmai Air Float plane dock (note, that isn't my keg they are offloading, and at $10 a pint, I didn't drink that many cold ones...)