Alaska Day #7 Brooks Falls

Today we were scheduled to return to fish for King Salmon on the Nushagak River. However the weather report today at the Nushagak was dense fog meaning that we would run the risk of being able to land on the river but not take off. None of the float planes have any kind of radar notification system to let them know if another aircraft is nearby - everything is done visually by the pilot so flying in fog is very dangerous - especially in an area where lots of aircraft are present. So the general rule is that if the pilot can't see for at least a mile they don't fly. The prospect of having to stay overnight at "King Camp" and missing our flights home wasn't met with much enthusiasm so we went to plan B which was to go to Brooks Falls in the Katmai National Park.

Brooks Falls is a famous place in Alaska because it is where bears come to catch Sockeye Salmon as they travel up the Brooks River. Almost any picture you have ever seen of bears catching salmon - especially on a river or near a waterfall has been taken at Brooks Falls or the Brooks River. The falls are located in the Katmai National Park and the only way to get there is a 35 mile boat ride up the Brooks River from the ocean or by a float plane. Most people come by plane - in fact I have have included a photo of the airplane "parking lot". The cost for a round trip ticket to Brooks Falls on a charter float plane from Anchorage and back is around $600 a person so we felt quite fortunate to have seen the park and the bears for no additional cost.

We saw literally 25-30 bears - some quite close up. Before we could enter the park we had to watch a video telling us about the dangers of bears and how to act around them. However after watching them for awhile and being close to them they started to look more like pets - or big loveable teddy bears. However every once in a while we would see a bear with a wound from a fight - something that happens quite often as the bears fight for food or their favorite spot on the river. In fact when we first got to the park we heard several bears growling at each other - it was pretty intense.

After bear watching for several hours we jumped back into our float plane and flew back to the lodge and started packing for the return trip home - a grueling all nighter on the "red eye" from Anchorage to SLC. One thing I will miss from this trip is having an airplane always at my disposal. It has been fun being able to travel by private plane wherever we want whenever we want.

Enjoy the photos