Brown Bears

mbz

Every July salmon is coming up stream at Brooks Falls (Katmai National Park) to lay the eggs and to die, which means it is the one of the best places to get close and personal with brown bears. It was December, when I first learned about the place. Right away I called to make a reservation for July to see bears. Reservation agent asked me: "What year you'd like to make reservation for?" I could not understand what she was talking about - it was December, I was making reservation for July, why to ask about the year. To make long story short there were no spaces available for the next 2 years. We ended up staying in King Salmon and flying hydro plane every day to Brooks Falls.
Brooks Falls area have 2 viewing platforms. If one reaches a platform, one is safe, but to reach a platform one should walk a trail in the forest. It is only matter of time before one will meat a bear on the trail. We met 2 young bears, but we did what we were told to do, which is: slowly back up, do not make an eye contact with bears and talk to bears to let them know you are humans, not bears. It worked and bears turned into the forest.
The upper viewing platform is the place, to see bears catching salmon. Every bear has his own technic. Some wait just above the falls and salmon goes directly to their mouths, some try to catch salmon below the falls and some simply steal from other bears.
Sometimes trails got closed. Once a male killed a cub. Distressed mother was to dangerous to let people walk around. Other time a mother and a cub were at the bridge for 2 hours. We were at the lower platform and missed our lunch, but it was OK. It was fun to watch a cub trying to catch a salmon that was going just below the bridge.
People could fish salmon too, but they allow to keep only one fish a day. All other must be released.
It is sure the place to visit, but do make reservation well in advance.
The pictures are digital copies of my old film pictures and the quality is not so good. I just like to share with you one cool place to see bears.
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mbz

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Bendr

Cool pics, sounds like a neat place!

Ben

Awais Yaqub

cool series loved them

Skippy

mbz wrote:

Every July salmon is coming up stream at Brooks Falls (Katmai National Park) to lay the eggs and to die, which means it is the one of the best places to get close and personal with brown bears. It was December, when I first learned about the place. Right away I called to make a reservation for July to see bears. Reservation agent asked me: "What year you'd like to make reservation for?" I could not understand what she was talking about - it was December, I was making reservation for July, why to ask about the year. To make long story short there were no spaces available for the next 2 years. We ended up staying in King Salmon and flying hydro plane every day to Brooks Falls.
Brooks Falls area have 2 viewing platforms. If one reaches a platform, one is safe, but to reach a platform one should walk a trail in the forest. It is only matter of time before one will meat a bear on the trail. We met 2 young bears, but we did what we were told to do, which is: slowly back up, do not make an eye contact with bears and talk to bears to let them know you are humans, not bears. It worked and bears turned into the forest.
The upper viewing platform is the place, to see bears catching salmon. Every bear has his own technic. Some wait just above the falls and salmon goes directly to their mouths, some try to catch salmon below the falls and some simply steal from other bears.
Sometimes trails got closed. Once a male killed a cub. Distressed mother was to dangerous to let people walk around. Other time a mother and a cub were at the bridge for 2 hours. We were at the lower platform and missed our lunch, but it was OK. It was fun to watch a cub trying to catch a salmon that was going just below the bridge.
People could fish salmon too, but they allow to keep only one fish a day. All other must be released.
It is sure the place to visit, but do make reservation well in advance.
The pictures are digital copies of my old film pictures and the quality is not so good. I just like to share with you one cool place to see bears.
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Wow.... what an experience that would be!!!
A scary one too if you came across the bears, where there's babies there's mothers, and we all know what mothers are capable of doing to protect their young.

Man you got some cool shots in this lot ....... I can well imagine that the place is booked out so far in advance..... what a sight to see

Thanks for sharing your story and pictures........ Skippy (Australia)

mbz

Thank you, everybody.