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. "Grizzly Man".
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 "familiar" 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 "crazy's" 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 "Disney"..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 "jaded" 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!