Alaska or Bust: Bears Bears and more Bears!!! Katmai National Park

Day 19… Katmai National Park bear viewing trip J

Today we took a puddle jumper, and this was a serious puddle jumper to Katmai National Park. It took very little water to take off and land. After our orientation to where we were going in Katmai NP; the far northern region of the park/preserve, we geared up in hip boots and rain pants as well as layers of clothing for a day on the tundra.

Our flight over lasted about an hour and a half with Bald Mountain Air and was totally smooth sailing across Cook Inlet, past St Augustine Volcano and over Katmai. We could see Kodiak Island off in the distance. Very cool flight! The area in the park where we were headed was primarily tundra and permafrost. If you’ve never walked on permafrost, it’s like walking on spongy peat moss with a thick layer of moss on top. It is very springy but also very uneven. From a distance it is very bland looking but when looked at up close it is actually very pretty.

We hiked a bit to get down to Moraine Creek and once there we hiked around a bit more but for the most part we sat on the riverbank and just watched the bears. We stayed as a group and the bears pretty much ignored us and went about their business of getting fattened up for winter. Once in awhile when one of them was bringing a salmon out of the stream, they would look at us and think… no way this is my fish and I’m going back in the bush to eat it, but others would walk right in front of us and eat it. When a bear would walk within 10-20 feet of us, Gary our guide called them Alaskan drive-bys. The bears pretty much only eat the eyeballs, the brain, and a fat pad near the tail, then they would strip the skin and eat the fat under the skin and leave the meat of the fish for the sea gulls. The bears were predictable just like our guide said they would be. We were in a remote area, unlike Brooks River Falls that has viewing platforms, etc. We hiked and just parked ourselves on the riverbank and waited for the bears to come to us. They walk and swim up and down the river all day looking for salmon. It’s interesting that all of the bear have different techniques for catching fish, some swim under water and come up with one, others jump at them and still others paw at them.

We got to watch the bears for almost 5 hours then hiked back to the plane for the flight back to Homer. I’m exhausted, very wind-burned but what an adventure!!!

The photos are all taken with my little instamatic camera since my good camera bit the dust last week.