Bears of Katmai, Brooks River

Harv

An absolutely wonderful and thoroughly enjoyable series. Thanks so much for sharing these. Gorgeous images.

Froggy

PrescottPhotog wrote:

Hi Steve,

Fabulous shots. I check out all shots on your web site.. incredible.

This is my kind of action. I have actually been looking into a trip up there. I saw a couple Discovery Channel specials which got me interested and saw that the Salmon spawn July and September. Your eagle shot is wonderful also, and I'm not sure if I would be more excited by the bears or the eagles. We have a nesting pair down here Arizona but the Forest Service blocks the whole area off for the winter with very stiff fines and jail time if you get caught in the nesting area so the chance of getting a shot are few.

My question (if you don't mind) is did you plan your own trip, which I normally do, or did you use a service or agent or both. I have been reading how crowded it gets up there and that the lodges are few and hard to get rooms in.

Since your trip seems to have worked perfect for you, point me in the right direction if you could. Thanks.

Hi Chris,

I started planning this trip a year ago, Like you I was inspired by others that have been there.

The cheapest way to do it is to camp, $8 per person per day, the lodge at Brooks is expensive something like $300 per person per day, the cabins are dives....lol.

The lottery for the camp ground opens MAY 1ST get on the phone early to the national park service, this year July sold out in one hour, the best time to go is from the 10th-20th of July then again in September ,the bears are not there any other times or very few.

My suggestion would be to get a hold of KATMAILAND and book a flight on Penair from Anchorage to Brooks lodge, you'll fly into King Salmon then float plane to Brooks, that is a fun ride.

You can get meals at the lodge if you camp, beware they are expensive but very good and being buffet style lots of it, the deserts were deadly.

Hope this helps, if you need anymore help call me or P.M me, my number is on my site.

Steve

Froggy

sskoutas wrote:

Incredible series here! Number 4 is particularly powerful and impressive, but the leaping fish perfectly captured in many of the river shots are awesome!

Thanks Stephen, #4 was a scary bear

Steve

Froggy

Harv wrote:

An absolutely wonderful and thoroughly enjoyable series. Thanks so much for sharing these. Gorgeous images.

Thanks so much for taking the time to look and comment, very much appreciated

Steve

Shima

Those are some pretty impressive shots, nice job!

sskoutas

Geez!

Folks, when you are done drolling over Froggy's post here, do yourself a favor and check out the gallery... there is SO much to be amazed at you won't believe it.

Froggy, if I were wearing a hat, I'd take it off and tip it to you. Great job!

riddim_maker

Wow!!!!!!!!
Absolutely Stunning images Steve
I guess this experience was well worth the effort.
Looking forward to seeing you at the Basin so I can pick your brain a little
Glad you're back

Skippy

Froggy wrote:

My wife and I spent 5 days in Katmai National Park photographing Brown bears on the Brooks river, these are a few of the many captures I aquired there.
You can see many more on my site if you like, lots still to process

OMG :jawdrop Awesome! WOW Wow and WOW again :wow
Man you must have been incrediably close.

I had a look at all the other shots and saw that one of the Grizzly running straight past the photographer..... ohhhh that is just way too close.

What an amazing experience and dangerous one that trip was for all of you....... you got yourself some excellent images there Steve :ivar

..... Skippy .... still saying WOW
.

Froggy

sskoutas wrote:

Incredible series here! Number 4 is particularly powerful and impressive, but the leaping fish perfectly captured in many of the river shots are awesome!

Thanks so much for taking the time to look and comment, I'm glad you liked them

Steve

Froggy

Shima wrote:

Those are some pretty impressive shots, nice job!

Thank you so much for the kind comments

Steve

Froggy

Harv wrote:

An absolutely wonderful and thoroughly enjoyable series. Thanks so much for sharing these. Gorgeous images.

Thank you Harry

Steve

Froggy

riddim_maker wrote:

Absolutely Stunning images Steve
I guess this experience was well worth the effort.
Looking forward to seeing you at the Basin so I can pick your brain a little
Glad you're back

Thanks Russ, the trip took a year to plan, a week to enjoy and a lifetime to remember, wow!! what an experience,

I highly reccommend this trip, next time I'll go in September when the bears are fatter.

Looking forward to seeing you at the Basin some time, let me know when you going again.

Thanks for looking Russ, take care man

Steve

Froggy

Skippy wrote:

OMG :jawdrop Awesome! WOW Wow and WOW again :wow
Man you must have been incrediably close.

I had a look at all the other shots and saw that one of the Grizzly running straight past the photographer..... ohhhh that is just way too close.

What an amazing experience and dangerous one that trip was for all of you....... you got yourself some excellent images there Steve :ivar

..... Skippy .... still saying WOW
.

Hi Skippy thanks for looking, that Photographer in the picture is me, one of the photographers from New Zealand swung that shot and captured me in it,

Yep that was what you call an encounter at Katmai, we had four of them, not for the faint at heart, I;m still having night mares......lol.

At times we were ten feet away from bears, you never know where they will pop out, when they do you have to remain calm and stand your ground, it's not easy when a 1000lb Grizzly bear is standing there sizing you up.

The bears for the most part are very tolerant, however Sows with cubs are bad news, they are everywhere, you have to be especially careful if mom has new cubs, that is the most dangerous bear, believe me I saw one in action very close, I'm not kidding about the night mares

Thanks again

kdog

Well done, Froggy. Fantastic action and great photography. I would call that a successful trip. Glad you weren't eaten. I'm going to have nightmares just listening to your stories.

Thanks for all the info too. I wonder how many people are going to get eaten because of your generosity.

-joel

Froggy

kdog wrote:

Well done, Froggy. Fantastic action and great photography. I would call that a successful trip. Glad you weren't eaten. I'm going to have nightmares just listening to your stories.

Thanks for all the info too. I wonder how many people are going to get eaten because of your generosity.

-joel

Thanks Joel,

hopefully no body will get eaten....lol, as long as you obey the rules I think it's pretty safe, however, these are wild animals just pray they are having a good day.

Living in paradise where these bears live and the abundance of food this time of year it's much safer, I would not go when there's not an abundance of food

Steve

LCD

wow! These are AWESOME!! you really had some great timing with these.

And #8 - revenge of the fish??

Thanks for posting these. What a wonderful series.

Lisa

Froggy

LCD wrote:

wow! These are AWESOME!! you really had some great timing with these.

And #8 - revenge of the fish??

Thanks for posting these. What a wonderful series.

Lisa

Thanks so much Lisa, that wasn't the only salmon that got revenge there were quite a few head pokers too....lol Just wasn't fast enough on the trigger

Steve

Osprey Whisperer

Nice behavioral action series , Steve.

PhotoHound

Glorious images, top-notch. #5 especially! Well worth the trip; I will definitely have to go back there again (it's addicting ).

PhotoHound

Oops, I guess that would be 5b (two #5's )...happens to the best I guess . Again, very spectacular shots.

PhotoHound wrote:

Glorious images, top-notch. #5 especially! Well worth the trip; I will definitely have to go back there again (it's addicting ).

PhotoHound

Bear Encounters
But it was worth it, right? Goodness Gracious! :wow

Froggy wrote:

(snip)
Yep that was what you call an encounter at Katmai, we had four of them, not for the faint at heart, I;m still having night mares......lol.
(snip)
The bears for the most part are very tolerant, however Sows with cubs are bad news, they are everywhere, you have to be especially careful if mom has new cubs, that is the most dangerous bear, believe me I saw one in action very close, I'm not kidding about the night mares

Thanks again

Froggy

PhotoHound wrote:

Glorious images, top-notch. #5 especially! Well worth the trip; I will definitely have to go back there again (it's addicting ).

Thanks so much

Steve

Froggy

PhotoHound wrote:

But it was worth it, right? Goodness Gracious! :wow

I would do it again in heart beat, my wife and I are already talking next September

Steve

Harryb

Amazing captures espcially that last shot

Froggy

Harryb wrote:

Amazing captures espcially that last shot

Thanks very much Harry

Steve

Dante

Seriously great shots Steve, just wonderful!! thumb

-D

ABCaptures

wow, awesome set!!! love the babys. you have lots of national geographic quality images there!!! wtg