Leslie Monday, July 7, 2008
We had to get up at 5:00 am to travel the 45 miles to Anchorage. This was our first time in rush hour traffic in a long time. First stop was to drop off Molly and Cody at summer camp. They had a double cat condo that was about 4 ft. high and nearly 5 ft wide. Inside the cage they had a shelf to hold their beds and a litter box below. They bunked together. We had selected this vet in part because it is located fairly close to the airport.
Anchorage airport is small. We were flying Pen Air which is a small Alaskan carrier. The plane was so small that there were two seats on the left and only one seat on the right. I think there were about 14 rows. Each passenger must declare their body weight separate from their baggage weight. Passengers could carry-on only very small packs because the overhead bin was only about 6 inches high. I wore the camera. Even though Pen Air is scheduled air service, they don’t use metal detectors or scanners prior to boarding. You just hand in your ticket and walk across the tarmac to the plane.
We flew from Anchorage to King Salmon, a very tiny town on the western side of Katmai National Park. The terminal in King Salmon looks like a large garage. One good thing about this kind of travel is that the bags are unloaded almost as fast as the passengers can deplane. Katmai Air (own three planes, I think) took us by van to the dock. We were flying by float plane to Brook Camp. The float plane carries 10 passengers.
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There was a history of the plane posted behind the pilot. This particular plane came in to service in 1963 as part of United Nations forces in Palestine. We had flown with the same pilot two years ago. It was pouring rain by the time we got to Katmai. Our luggage got trapped in an open trailer in the rain. Everything was fairly wet by the time it got to the lodge.
The campground is located about a half mile from the lodge. The campground doesn’t have actual sites, rather it is an area behind an electric fence where you can set up a tent. The electric fence doesn’t bear-proof the campground; it is designed to deter the bears from moving in.
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All food and people-smelling things such as chap-stick must be stored in the wooden building. You aren’t allowed to have any food or "people-smelling" things in the tent (or anywhere else in the park). There is a small wooden building with cubbies to store food. On the end of the storage building there is a single potable water tap. This is the place for washing dishes. There is no actual drain; the water runs through a metal grate and lands on the ground. There are three three-sided cooking shelters. All cooking and eating must be done in one of the designated shelters.
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We had the opportunity to set up the tent in the rain. (But of course, does anyone know how to set up a tent when it isn’t raining?) One positive thing about rain is that it keeps the mosquitos down. I took this picture of our tent the next day.
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Katmai National Park is not a nature preserve. It is a remote national park that is home to over 3000 grizzly bears. Some beleive the concentration of grizzly bears is greater at katmai than any other place on earth. During salmon runs the bears congregate to feed around the river where the salmon are swimming upstream. The salmon run is what actually guarantees that the bear will show up. The national park rule is that people are required to stay at least 50 yards away from any bear and 100 yards away from a sow with cubs. Because the bear like to use the trails, it can be difficult to comply with the rule. You may be walking along a trail and have a bear suddenly walk out of the woods in front of you. If a bear is walking towards you, the person is required to get off the trail (i.e., bear gets the trail, person goes into the woods). There are bear, bear everywhere!
The other facilities at Brooks Camp include a lodge and approximately 20 cabins. The cabins which have a bed and bath rent for $300 PER PERSON per night with a two night maximum stay! They serve outrageously expensive (and not very good) meals in the lodge.
Some of the best bear viewing spots are located across the river from the campground and lodge. There is a floating foot bridge that crosses the river. It is quite common for a bear-jam to close the bridge for extended periods of time. A bear jam occurs when bear are within the 50 yard limit of the bridge or the path approaching the bridge.
As soon as we had camp organized we set out to see the bears. At this time of summer the bear are much thinner than they will be after the salmon runs. We had chosen this week to go to Brooks Camp because the King Salmon run usually occurs in early to mid-July. On Monday night the first wave of salmon were at the foot bridge. On the other side of the footbridge there is an observation platform (and safety zone) where people stay when bear close the bridge. The ramps up the observation platform contain a series of latching gates to keep the bear off.
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We continued to walk upstream about a mile and a half, through the woods, to the waterfalls. There are two falls, a lower falls which is just an area of shallow water, an the upper falls which is about 5 ft high. There are observation platforms at both falls; the upper falls is considered the prime viewing area. We watched the bear at the upper falls for several hours but there wasn’t much activity since the salmon hadn’t reached the falls yet. I did capture some interesting bear pictures.
Mom and Cub
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Mom and cub looking for danger
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Resting bear
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Looking for fish
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Different fishing style
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Close up after a treat
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Three bears fishing at the falls
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Fishing in white water
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Eyeballing the fish
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Who Me?
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The photographer is late in posting because it takes a bit of time to go through 1700 pictures of bear. You'll get to enjoy more over hte next few days.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Off to Brooks Camp
Robert, Monday, July 7
Ouch! 5:00 a.m. hurts even when it is an hour and a half after sunrise. We had the trailer pretty well straightened up and we loaded all of the gear we were taking to Brooks Camp in the truck last night. We were on the road to Anchorage by 6:00 so that we could drop Cody and Molly off at the vet clinic when they opened at 7:00. We told Cody and Molly that they were going to camp where they could meet some new friends but I don’t think they thought it was a great idea. They told us so on the way. We got to the clinic right at 7:00 and were on the way to the airport in 15 minutes. The airport wasn’t far but we were to check in for our 9:20 flight at 7:50. We got to the airport, parked the truck, caught the shuttle bus, and made it to the check-in right on time. We were concerned because there were signs saying if your bag weighed more than 50 pounds, they would charge extra. We had both of our backpacks packed in duffels so that the straps would not get torn off in the airport baggage handling. We had packed most of the weigh in my duffle and it was heavy. Leslie’s weighed in at 30 pounds and mine weighed a hair less than 50 pounds. Whew! Later we saw that the overweight charge was only 50 cents per pound. Even if I had been 10 pounds overweight, it would not have been a big deal to pay but carrying such a load is a killer. Well, I always say, “Time to spare, go by air.” Our flight was almost an hour late. We flew to King Salmon and were met by the driver of the shuttle bus to take us to the float plane. The mosquitoes were out in force in King Salmon. Without bug repellant, long sleeves and pants, thin gloves, and mosquito head nets, they can eat you alive. In short order, we got ourselves and our bags on a float plane for the 20 minute flight to Brooks Camp. The camp sets on Naknek lake, which is the third largest lake in Alaska. About a mile and a half from Naknek lake is Brooks Lake. The two lakes are joined by Brooks River; probably one of the shortest rivers in the world. Halfway between the two lakes is a five foot water fall. If the wind is blowing hard, the float planes land on Brooks Lake. Then they use a shuttle bus to take you the mile and a half to the float bridge to get to the camp. The bridge closes frequently when there are bears within 50 yards of the bridge. We got to the bridge and quickly got across. This was good as by this time it was raining and our rain gear was in our duffels that were in a truck following the bus. The truck made it to the bridge a few minutes later and they loaded all the luggage into a trailer behind an ATV. They closed the bridge before they got the luggage across. The bridge wouldn’t support anything larger than an ATV as it is really just a footbridge. So while we could make it to the lodge and shelter from the rain, our luggage was sitting in the trailer in the rain. There wasn’t much we could do but sit and wait for the bridge to reopen. About a hour later thay got the luggage to the lodge and we loaded it up and headed to the campground which is about a half mile away. We picked a site and set up the tent as quickly as possible. The campground is nice and as someone described it, “The Hilton of campgrounds.” There are shelters for cooking and eating, a building to store all food and extra gear, a fuel locker, vault toilets, and numerous fire rings with free firewood. The campground is surrounded by an electric fence but as the campground information sheets says, “The electric fence does not guarantee that bears cannot enter the campground.” This is the reason that all food is kept in a separate building and you can only cook and eat in the shelters. Once were we set up and all of our gear out of the rain, we set out to see the bears. The weather had cleared to the point it was not raining but it was overcast. We made it to the waterfall, which was about two miles from the campsite and watched the bears waiting for salmon. There weren’t many salmon trying to jump the falls but there were multiple bears there fishing. When we walked back to the campground, we stopped at the lodge to see what they were serving for dinner at $34 per person and we decided that the food didn’t look like something we wanted to eat. We went back to the campground, had diner, and crashed.
Ouch! 5:00 a.m. hurts even when it is an hour and a half after sunrise. We had the trailer pretty well straightened up and we loaded all of the gear we were taking to Brooks Camp in the truck last night. We were on the road to Anchorage by 6:00 so that we could drop Cody and Molly off at the vet clinic when they opened at 7:00. We told Cody and Molly that they were going to camp where they could meet some new friends but I don’t think they thought it was a great idea. They told us so on the way. We got to the clinic right at 7:00 and were on the way to the airport in 15 minutes. The airport wasn’t far but we were to check in for our 9:20 flight at 7:50. We got to the airport, parked the truck, caught the shuttle bus, and made it to the check-in right on time. We were concerned because there were signs saying if your bag weighed more than 50 pounds, they would charge extra. We had both of our backpacks packed in duffels so that the straps would not get torn off in the airport baggage handling. We had packed most of the weigh in my duffle and it was heavy. Leslie’s weighed in at 30 pounds and mine weighed a hair less than 50 pounds. Whew! Later we saw that the overweight charge was only 50 cents per pound. Even if I had been 10 pounds overweight, it would not have been a big deal to pay but carrying such a load is a killer. Well, I always say, “Time to spare, go by air.” Our flight was almost an hour late. We flew to King Salmon and were met by the driver of the shuttle bus to take us to the float plane. The mosquitoes were out in force in King Salmon. Without bug repellant, long sleeves and pants, thin gloves, and mosquito head nets, they can eat you alive. In short order, we got ourselves and our bags on a float plane for the 20 minute flight to Brooks Camp. The camp sets on Naknek lake, which is the third largest lake in Alaska. About a mile and a half from Naknek lake is Brooks Lake. The two lakes are joined by Brooks River; probably one of the shortest rivers in the world. Halfway between the two lakes is a five foot water fall. If the wind is blowing hard, the float planes land on Brooks Lake. Then they use a shuttle bus to take you the mile and a half to the float bridge to get to the camp. The bridge closes frequently when there are bears within 50 yards of the bridge. We got to the bridge and quickly got across. This was good as by this time it was raining and our rain gear was in our duffels that were in a truck following the bus. The truck made it to the bridge a few minutes later and they loaded all the luggage into a trailer behind an ATV. They closed the bridge before they got the luggage across. The bridge wouldn’t support anything larger than an ATV as it is really just a footbridge. So while we could make it to the lodge and shelter from the rain, our luggage was sitting in the trailer in the rain. There wasn’t much we could do but sit and wait for the bridge to reopen. About a hour later thay got the luggage to the lodge and we loaded it up and headed to the campground which is about a half mile away. We picked a site and set up the tent as quickly as possible. The campground is nice and as someone described it, “The Hilton of campgrounds.” There are shelters for cooking and eating, a building to store all food and extra gear, a fuel locker, vault toilets, and numerous fire rings with free firewood. The campground is surrounded by an electric fence but as the campground information sheets says, “The electric fence does not guarantee that bears cannot enter the campground.” This is the reason that all food is kept in a separate building and you can only cook and eat in the shelters. Once were we set up and all of our gear out of the rain, we set out to see the bears. The weather had cleared to the point it was not raining but it was overcast. We made it to the waterfall, which was about two miles from the campsite and watched the bears waiting for salmon. There weren’t many salmon trying to jump the falls but there were multiple bears there fishing. When we walked back to the campground, we stopped at the lodge to see what they were serving for dinner at $34 per person and we decided that the food didn’t look like something we wanted to eat. We went back to the campground, had diner, and crashed.
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