Our Bear trip to Alaska
 

We just returned from a wonderful 10 days in Alaska. I have always wanted to see brown bears and this was the main purpose of our trip. After a 24 hr delay in Atlanta due to flooding on the East Coast, we arrived in Anchorage. Stayed at the Millenium Hotel near the airport which is located on Lake Hood, a large seaplane base.
The next morning we left for Brooks Lodge at Katmai National Park. Our flight on ERA airlines took us to King Salmon where we connected to a floatplane to the lodge. Within a few minutes of landing, I saw my first mother bear and her cub at the bridge - my first "bear jam". We had to wait until they moved and all traffic was held up until they were so many feet away.
It was so exciting to see them in the wild and see how big they were!
After a good buffet lunch at Brooks, we headed to the waterfalls to see if the salmon has started running yet - it was June 28. After a short hike, we saw a huge bear on the side of the water and another bear at the falls. The salmon run was just beginning and the bears were out! We spent the rest of the day on the platform just watching and taking pictures! Returning for a quick dinner, we came back to find even more bears at night at the falls! While we were there we met several guys from National Geographic filming a documentary.
The next day was spent watching bears everywhere- at the falls, along the trail, in the lake chasing fishermen, along the river and walking thru camp. At 5:00 when the Otter floatplane came to take us back, the last thing I wanted to do was leave.

The next part of our journey was to Denali.We rented a car upon returning to Anchorage and then drove the following day about 6 hrs to Denali - stopping off in Talkeetna for beer and pizza at Mile High Pizza and a few other sights along the way. We stayed in a wonderful B&B called Denali Lakeview Inn, about 10 miles north of the park. Arriving at 10 pm, they packed our lunch for our bus ride into the park the next day. We took the shuttle into the park as far as Fish Creek. It was a cloudy cold day and probably the worst day of our trip. We didn't want to walk, hike and stayed on the shuttle the whole time. We did see a bear and 2 cubs at Denali walking along the road, but most of the other animals - caribou, sheep, moose,ect... were at such a distance it was hard to see even with binoculars. We were glad we went to Denali but probably would not do the ride again.

Returning to Anchorage the following day, we stopped in Talkeetna for the circle tour of Mt. McKinley with Talkeetna Aero. Great trip even though the weather was horrible on the ground, it was gorgeous above the clouds! Spectacular views!

Back in Anchorage, we stayed at The Lake Hood Inn and loved watching all the floatplanes. Great location! Took in the show at Mr. Whitekey's comedy club and hit Koot's for a drink.

Our next adventure took us to Homer. The drive south of Anchorage is breathtaking and the mountains are so majestic. After the turnoff toward the Kenai Peninsula and past the Russian River, the scenery was not as good. In fact, the 5 hours to Homer were very long. But it was so worth it when we looked down on the Homer Spit at the edge of town. The scenery was awesome! Our favorite part of our whole vacation was a day trip with Chris and Ken Day of Emerald Air to see the bears at Katmai. Ken flew us over in his impressive Otter floatplane and then Chris led us right up to the bears. We saw 8 bears up close and personal that day along the coast. We learned so much more about the bears, their behavior, and I was not frightened at all. It was an experience of a lifetime I will never forget!!
We will never forget the bears and Alaska, and hope one day to return - I highly recommend to everyone! Thanks to everyone that gave me advice along the way!

Sounds like you had a great trip. Thanks for your report.

Glad you enjoyed the bear show. Bears are fun to watch when there's a safe distance between them and you, same as sharks I guess!
Years ago when I lived in an Aleutian village, they had a dump close to the boat harbor and a five minute walk from the cannery.
People would walk right up to the sleeping bears figuring they were safe and the bears were too sleepy to care. If I had videos of all the ding-al-ings who nearly met their maker, it would be quite a show.
When the wind blows and you are fairly close to them, they give off quite a strong odor, just rotten as can be.
You are right about the drive between Cooper Landing and Soldotna. We listen to audio books to pass the time, and I continue to press my luck with the trooper's radars:)and the stubby trees are black Spruce.
It is prettier in winter with snow and mountains making a nice landscape. J.

teresa48, sounds like a great trip! Would you have pictures, esp of the bears, Katmai, and Homer, to share? I haven't been to Katmai and Homer and always want to know what a traveler's experience of those places are like. Hope I'll get to go there one day! Thanks.

Is Brooks Falls not one of the most amazing places ever? We were there on July 13th out of Anchorage and all I can say is WOW. How lucky that you were able to spend the night there and get to stay at the falls after all the daytrippers head out.

When are you making plans to come see the polar bears? :)

Sounds like you had a great trip - thanks for sharing. I'm curious - when you returned to Katmai did you return to Brooks Camp or did you go elsewhere to view bears. Were the prices for the two trips comparable (outside of lodging)? I'm still trying to decide if we should put forth the expense to go see the bears or just take our chances on seeing them in our travels in Denali and on our trip south to Girdwood, Seward and Homer.

alaskafan,
We went to Brooks Lodge at the beginning of the trip but our day trip with Emerald air went to another part of Katmai- close to Hallo Bay. It was a totally different area and experience. To really see the bears you have to get off the beaten path. You might by chance see some at Denali but not like you will at Katmai.
The difference in price :
Brooks Lodge for 2 days/ 1 night was $826.00 per person.
Emerald Air day trip was $540(cash) per person.
It is expensive, but the experience is priceless!

Thanks for the great trip report and all the information about bear viewing. I think many, many travellers will find this thread most helpful! :) Glad you had such a wonderful time in Alaska!

Teresa,

We are going with Emerald Air the 4th of Sept. I'd love to ask you some specific questions about the trip. Would you mind an e-mail? My e-mail is [email protected]

Thanks
jfmkem

Teresa, thanks for a nice report.

jfmkem, please ask your questions here. We went with Emerald at least 8 times and are going again this year. Although I don't want to do this any more. As much as it is a wonderful experience and so very different each time. I made a deal with my husband, I 'll go this year, last time, if he agrees to go to Alaska in March.

Anyway, if you have any questions please ask them here. I bet those who consider bear watching trips in any future would benefit from knowing more details.

Hi Teresa,

Nice report, although at the same time words cannot express the magical experience of an Emerald Air beartrip. We just happened to be on the same trip as you guys (we're part of the Dutch group who were there that day).
Wasn't it just awesome to be able to visit the bears at their home turf! Chris has so much knowledge about bears and it was a truly unforgettable day in our lives.
We never once felt uncomfortable being that close to the bears.
If you'd like to see some photos I made on the bear viewing trip, click on this link: http://www.pbase.com/chamook/alaska__june_2006

Say hi to Brad (Brett?) for us, will you.

Take care!

Hélène & René

You've made me want to return to Alaska just to see the bears! We decided that we could not justify the expense of flying in to see bears when we were in Alaska in July. We saw several (10-12) on the Denali bus ride to Wonderlake, and 4-5 on the Kenai Fjords boat tour--2 on the beach, but we really wanted to see bears fishing for salmon. In fact we even took a picture of a poster of a bear holding a salmon in his mouth as a consolation prize. When we show that picture to friends, they ask why it looks so strange. Then, we have to confess our trick! Thanks for sharing the cost. I'll have to build in that cost on our next trip.

I agree with Wannabe, I wanna go back for the bears . . .

and the icebergs, and the glaciers, and the silence, and the stars, and the whales, and the beauty, and the puffin, and the summer temps, and the blue skies, and the moose, and the blue ice, and I could go on and on! :-D

BayouGal~ are you sure you aren't forgetting something:'( I'm kidding silly.. one week from yesterday, the wait will be over((*)) now, if only I could recapture the rock hard abs from 1984:)) J.

Yes, I forgot . . .

<b><font color="green">JETSET, DH, AND SONS!!!!:)</font></b>

And I think I was pregnant in '84, so don't want those abs . . . what I have now are bad enough! LoL ;-)

[-X back to bear talk(as our bare talk is a bore)..
((P))the Russian River area is not allowing tent camping due to the recent amount of increased bear activity.. today's ADN had a front page photo of a grizzly next to a fisherman in Bird Creek, outside of Anchorage off the Sterling.. the day before, a guy with a baby in a front pack and the bear was across the river.:-O egads, even Steve Irwin might have bolted!

When we did the Russian River trail, we saw a mother grizzley with 2 cubs up ahead of us. We immediately went back to our car. I can't imagine fishing or hiking and one walking up on &quot;us.&quot; In Valdez, we were escorted off of one trail because they were closing it down due to so many bears in the area. I was thankful for the escort if there were so many that the trail had to be closed! :)

HeleneD, you have amazing pictures of wildlife! How did you manage to see so many, esp. of the babies? And of wildlife in action--bald eagle catching fish, moose jumping over a highway rail, etc. Wow. You should start your old trip report, and let us know where you went. Not all your photos had captions so I wasn't sure where you took them.

Thanks JC98!

It's just luck to see a lot of animals. You have to be at the right place at the right time. :-)

You can save a bunch of money on the trip to Brooks Lodge by staying at the NPS campsite instead of the lodge. The campsite is pretty cheap and you can book online at the NPS reservation website. You can also save by bringing groceries and doing your own cooking.

When I went a few years back, the campsite had an electrified fence running around the perimeter. I did my own cooking for breakfast and lunch, and bought dinner at the lodge.

The flight to the camp is expensive, but I found the trip to be one of my most relaxing - just hanging out for 5-6 days watching the bears.

Wow, what a great trip. I would love to see the bears, but I have to say, not without escort. I can't help thinking about that whacko...can't think of his name now, but would go out every year and live with the bears, even petted them etc. He took his girl friend on his last trip...and that was for sure his last trip. A meanm hungry old boar ate him. There was a movie out about him last year or early this year. I also saw a documentary sort of thing about him..can't remember which network. Anyway, the babies look cute but these guys are not to be messed with. I remember in Yellowstone years ago, people getting out of their cars with kids and throwing food to the bears to get them to come closer. Unbelievable.

crefloors~ Timothy Treadwell, along with his girlfriend Amy Hugenaard, were killed in October, 2003. &quot;Grizzly Man&quot;.
He was controversial for being amongst the grizzlies without any experience and w/o the endorsement of any agencies, though a few folks had a soft spot for his well meant protection, and maybe because he was living on his own terms, a guy who didn't quite fit into 9-5 society..
It is an interesting movie and he made the ultimate sacrifice.The shame of it was that normally, they were gone during that part of a the year, howver, an increase in the fare price from Kodiak to California caused him to get angry and choose to return to the area where the bears converged.. a few were not the same ones he was &quot;familiar&quot; with, they think the one who ate him was the one who was stalking him and sick for a long time. eery towards the last thirty minutes of the film.. it's as if he is saying goodbye and knows his fate...J.

jetset...thanks...yea, it was so creepy. I didn't have anything against his not being the 9 to 5 button down shirt kind of guy. I persoanlly think the world needs a few &quot;crazy's&quot; BUT, I really don't know how to come to terms with what happened to him. I appreciate his concerne and love for the animals and their environment, but what he did was so very foolish. And then to put his girl friend in that situation...but then again, she too was an adult and made a choice..a bad choice. The really awful thing was, he had his video camera running during the attack. I think for some reason it didn't film but the sound was recorded. Pretty bad. But, anyway, bears are not to be messed with. They are truly magnificient creatures and the need to be appreciated, as all wild life, and of course human life..but, boy you got to respect those guys. I have seen films of the Polar Bear watching in Churchill, and I mean these bears look just like &quot;Disney&quot;..they are so cute a fluffy, makes you want to just hug 'em. NOT!! And those cubs..not much out there cuter.

crefloors~ yes, the movie caused quite a stir up here, believe me!! Sentiments ecchoed the same as the people interviewed in the film..
I have a good friend who works on the North Slope and sees the polar bears every so often. Last year, a black bear got into a building, one that came around often and was almost a mascot,(if you can imagine such a thing)and they had to shoot him when someone's safety was compromised.
In the Eagle River area, residents are told not to leave their garbage out and every summer, someone has an encounter, or chased or a dog attacked.
My belief is that they were here first, so we have to use more intelligence when we are out in their habitat.((I))
I do remember going to Yellowstone as a kid when we lived in Calif. for a few years, and yes, my Alaskan parents pulled over behind all the other nincompoops and we fed the bears too..
An Australian gal climbed over a security fence at the Anchorage Zoo a few summers ago to get an up-close picture of Binky while he slept. [-X
Binky woke up and grabbed her leg and she ended up in the hospital threatening to sue because she claimed she didn't know it wasn't safe to approach the sleeping giant despite all the signs and heavy fencing.
Except for orphans, I don't like seeing them in zoos, but imo, that goes for most wild animals. J.

I live in Reno, close to Lake Tahoe. They have black bears up there and try as they might they can't get people from actually putting food out for them to attract them!!!! Well, of course, as we know, that's the end for the bear. Sigh....I just don't get it frankly. Anyway, you live in a fabulous place. My brother and family just came back from Alaska about a month ago. They loved it, the pictures were fabulous. My very &quot;jaded&quot; nephew, who knows everything about everything was just in awe of the beauty. I hope to go myself some day in the not too distant future.

I'm trying to decide between a day trip with Emerald Air from Homer to see the bears or a day trip from Anchorage to Brooks. I'm not exactly planning to go as far as Homer but will if it is a much better bear trip. I'll be going about Sept. 10th.
1. Which gives you the best pictures? That's my main agenda
2. Is the scenic flight from Homer especially nicer than the flight from Anchorage?

photog4fu, i went on both and the best pictures i got on a trip with emerald. Not much activity in brooks in september. in brooks you are mostly on your own, with emerald you have guides with you and next to you. one more thing, in september most of fish is laying dead in streams and smell is sometimes overwhelming.

Earlier in this thread I asked Teresa48 if she would answer a few questions for me. Pat2003 asked me to post my questions here on the board. Since I had already sent an e-mail to Teresa and she responded, I figured I'd post them here.

Question - My wife tends to get motion sickness, was the plane ride very bumpy? Are the seats arranged facing forward or into the center of the plane (facing each other?)

Answer - The plane ride was fine. In fact I went to sleep on the way back. Seats are facing forward – one seat on each side with a center aisle.

Question - How long was the plane ride?

Answer - About an hour. Depends too on where you land. We saw where she usually goes but the tides were so high Ken couldn’t land so we flew another 10 minutes or so to a different area. The first area had lots of bears we could see from the area and was more level ground. The second area had more rugged terrain and brush so we stayed along the coast line.



Question - How close did you get? How much walking did you do? Did you see any other wildlife on that day trip?

Answer - Walking total could not have been more than 1 -2 miles at the most. It was not the distance – just the rugged terrain thru the brush and also along the coast. It was very rocky and we had to maneuver thru the water and mud and walk on rocks. We walked right up the bears – 10 to 20 feet away. Methodically that is. We kinda formed a formation and then took a step and stopped, waited for bear’s reaction then stepped again. As far as other animals, we saw birds – bald eagles a lot. Not really saw anything but brown bears which is what we went to see .



Question - How much time did you have on the ground viewing the bears ?

Answer - Probably from about 11- 4. We arrived at 9 and had an info session and got our boots on. We left at 4 or 4:30 and back in Homer around 5 or so. The flight over and back was very scenic. Saw volcanoes, glaciers, other bears, ect.……

HeleneD
What a nice suprise to hear from you and Rene!!! Loved seeing your pictures!
Thanks for sharing with us! Brad and I enjoyed our trip with Emerald Air and you guys made it so much fun!!
We are thinking about going back next year and taking a boat based tour with John Rogers on the MV Waters (Katmai Coastal tours). Chris was telling me that was a great way to see alot more. Want to join us??
Anyway thanks again for the nice message and pictures!

I have been on the Tundra trip from Churchill, Mannitoba, to see the Polar bears - a wonderful experience, and you get to see them quite close up. They are threatened by global warming, as each year the sea-ice forms later, and they can't get out to feed as early as before.
Should you go, it would be worth the extra cost to stay overnight on the ice at least one night - allowing much more opportunity to watch the bears.

Carrabella, could you tell us more about your polar bear trip to Churchill. I've seen photographs from there in galleries. Where did you start and how did you get there? How long did you stay and what did you do? Start another thread if needs be. Thanks.

Carrabella, I hope you'll start a new thread and tell us all about your polar bear trip. How you arranged it, transportation, who it was with, etc. The reason I suggest a new thread, with the words Alaska and polar bears in the title, is because this is a topic that MANY people would like to read about and the title would make it easier to do a search. Also, folks wouldn't have to read through this great, but long, thread looking for the polar bear info.

Thanks, and looking forward to hearing about the polar bears! :)

Polar Bears out of Churchill, Manitoba ? see

www.tundrabuggy.com
www.wildlifeadventures.com

I am dreaming to go there, too !!
October-november is the best period. Bears wait for the pack-ice to go north !

other place for polar bears is Svalbard Islands, north of Norway, but in summer !

www.spitsbergentravel.no
www.wildlife.no
www.svalbard.net

but what a lot of money for our family of 4.. !

fabio

Teresa,

What a fabulous trip. You mentioned some of the costs but can you give a ballpark figure of what your 10 day trip would cost for two people (excluding airfare)?

Raleighgirl
Really don't want to say online but if you will email me at [email protected] I will be glad to share with you.

Teresa48,

I'm very late to this post.

Re Brooks: Did you get a sense of whether the salmon run beginning in time for good bear viewing June 28 was typical or unusual? Just wondering about pre-July bear viewing. Thanks for any info.

I don't know if this link will open, but thought you might enjoy some of our Alaskan bear photos.
What a place!
http://alaska.woodenpropeller.com/Route.html

atravelynn,
We just spent a couple of days at Brooks Falls this past July. Because of that, I was researching how the salmon run was going all through the beginning of the summer.

I think that the salmon started running in Brooks area around July 20th--but if I remember right, that was actually a bit late. (I think they said it had been a cold spring, and that had delayed them a bit).

It also seems that even during the main part of the run--there can be good and bad days for salmon. One day they can be running in really huge numbers, and the next day it can be much more sparse.

We were there during a few days where the run was slower. But it was still amazing. Lots of bears--mothers with cubs--big males. And despite the sparse salmon run, we still managed to see several bears catch salmon in the falls and devour them.

Truly amazing!

whoops! meant to say June 20th, NOT July 20th in the post above!