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Published: August 3rd 2008
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Flying north from San Francisco to Anchorage during the summer, one never encounters darkness. Until, that is, descending below a layer of rain clouds on approach to Anchorage at 11:30 pm. Even then, it's only dusky out. I would get used to this very quickly.
After planning this trip since January, and contracting with Tim Stallard of Out in Alaska for his brand-new Katmai National Preserve and Park camping and hiking trip, I was finally arriving. Saturday, July 26 was my free day before connecting with Tim and the one other client, so I took advantage of waking up early, being one time zone ahead, and headed off on the Alaska Railroad for a short rafting trip from Spencer Lake. Standing between the cars for most of the trip, watching the amazing Alaskan landscapes and wildflowers roll by, was a great way to start the trip. The rafting (actually, floating; the guide did all the work) was beautiful though cold and rainy. We started in Spencer Lake, which is formed by a glacier melting into it, and it's studded with dozens of small icebergs.
Saturday night was time to meet up with Tim and Brian, the other client, for
a salmon dinner before heading to bed. We flew out Sundayt for Katmai National Preserve and Park, founded around the site of a 1912 volcanic eruption (the largest of the 20th century) and expanded after Brooks Lodge (and campground) was built in 1950 to accommodate fishermen. Katmai is accessible only by float plane and is the only place in the world to get up close and personal with brown bears in their natural habitat. Brooks Lake, Naknek Lake and the Brooks River that connects the two are spawning grounds for sockeye salmon, which turn a bright red as they swim upstream to their birthplaces to lay their own eggs. The salmon are protein rich meals for the bears as they prepare for their winter hibernation. It's not possible to go more than 5 seconds without seeing a salmon jump out of the lake or river after a bug, and it's not possible to walk more than 20 feet or so without seeing many, many bears.
The National Park Service and Katmailand, the private concessionaire that runs the lodge, work hard to ensure that bears don't come to associate humans with food, so strict rules are in place: food must
Boys in front of Spencer Lake Glacier
The glacier is in the far left of the photo, the flow down to the lake.be placed in storage lockers in the campground and never carried outside the specific cooking areas, including on the trails. Humans must keep a minimum of 50 feet away from bears, 100 feet away from sows with cubs. Campers sleep behind an electric fence and you're always on the lookout when walking through the area, making noise so as not to take anything by surprise. Close encounters are common: walking around a bend brings you closer than the 50 foot minimum, but you learn in "bear school" to back away while talking to the bear so he or she knows you're there. Bear jams are common as rangers hold guests when bears are crossing at "the corner" or near the bridge that carries guests between the lodge and the bear viewing area at Brooks Falls. We saw many spring cubs, born this past April and May, and yearlings, born last spring. We saw them fish, nurse, fight, amble, sit, sleep, explore, watch us...you name it.
Happily, we also saw eagles (a fledgling and several adults), a lynx (as it stalked, treed and ate a squirrel), two wolves and, in Anchorage on my last day with cousin Sherrill, a moose.
We spent several hours at the viewing platform at Brooks Falls, a day hiking in the Valley of 10,000 Smokes (where the Novarupta volcano erupted), hiked up part of Dumpling Mountain at 9pm for the 300-degree views of lakes and mountains, and kayaked to an island for lunch in the sun.
Enjoy the photos! There is also a short video of the bears I shot with my digi-cam; it should be at the very top of this page, above my text.
The Park Service web site for Katmai is at http://www.nps.gov/katm/index.htm.
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Wow! Wonderful stuff! Many thanks for putting all this together. Amazing...