Camping with the grizzly bears.

Leslie, July 6-13, 2010
Katmai National Park

One of my favorite places on earth is Brooks Camp at Katmai National Park. Katmai is located about 260 miles southwest of Anchorage on north shore of the Cook Inlet (across from Kodiak). Brooks Camp is very remote; access is via float plane or boat.  In early July we returned to Brooks Camp for our third trip to Katmai. We flew a commercial prop plane from Anchorage to King Salmon and then flew on a 7 passenger float plane that landed us on Lake Naknek.

The Brooks River runs slightly over 2 miles from the Brooks Lake to Lake Naknek.  Each summer when the salmon return to spawn in the streams of their birth, grizzly bears gather to fish. There is a waterfall about 1 mile up the Brooks River from Lake Naknek.  The waterfall provides prime salmon fishing resulting in one of the densest concentrations of brown (grizzly) bears in Alaska.

In an effort to not disturb the bears, human visitation to Katmai is strictly controlled. Brooks Camp has basic lodging for 60 people and space in a primitive campground for an additional 60 people.  The basic lodging is in 4 person cabins at a cost of over $325 per person per night!  We stayed in the primitive campground for $12/night.  :-)  Because we planned to camp for 7 nights in a tent, we hauled 140 lbs of gear.

On arrival at Brooks Camp, all visitors are required to attend “Bear School” for a lecture on proper behavior around bears.  The rules are pretty simple:  this is the bears’ home.  People stay 50 yards from all bears and 100 yards from sows with cubs.  After Bear School visitors are permitted to walk throughout the area observing the bears.  If you meet a bear, you get off the trail and let the bear pass.  All food must be stored in a special food locker.  The campground is enclosed by a 12 volt electric fence (solar powered) that is intended to discourage bear from entering.  We’ve heard of bear getting into the campground and we had bear hanging out at the exit gate, but we were never afraid of the bears.  Because the bear have never learned to associate people with food, they really don’t pay much attention to the human visitors.

When the salmon are jumping, the prime bear viewing area is on a platform overlooking the waterfall.  We made several daily hikes to the falls to spend many hours photographing the bears.

The bears utilize different manners of fishing.  Most interesting are the bears who stand on top of the falls and try to catch a fish jumping the falls.

Bears wait for hours (as did we):


   

Many of the visitors at Brooks Camp are like us, repeat visitors who enjoy photographing the bears.  We met and chatted with many professional photographers who had been there for more than 10 years.  It’s an interesting scene on the platform as we all compete for the “prize shot”.

The bears use whatever fishing method their Mamma bear taught them.  Instead of waiting for jumping fish on top of the falls, some bears stand in the rushing waters below the falls and “snorkel” for fish.  They stay underwater for an amazingly long time.



When they re-emerge, they shake like a dog.

Other bears stand and look for the fish below the water line:






Other bears use the splash and dive method:








Lastly, some bears just cheat!  The largest boars sometimes don’t bother fishing; they merely wait for a better fisher-bear to catch a salmon and steal the smaller bear’s catch:




Thievery is actually very common.

The bears have a very complex social order to determine who gets to fish in which spot.  Over the several days it was fascinating to watch as one bear would arrive and another would quickly leave, knowing that the new arrival had higher social status.  While generally it appeared that the larger and older boars had the primo spots, sometimes it appeared that an older boar was “beyond his prime” and a younger boar would challenge and steal the older boar’s prime fishing spot.

I also enjoyed watching the bears social interactions.

One evening as I hiked back from the platform I came across some visitors watching this bear sleep in the weeds.



After we watched for a while, one of the visitors took a picture of the bear with her flash ON.  On NO!  The  bear woke up.



He didn’t seem too happy about being awoken, so I decided to continue on the trail alone leaving the group with the groggy bear.

This bear stopped his fishing for a much needed back scratch:



The boars dominate the falls fishing spot.  The sows with cubs tend to fish down river, closer to the foot bridge because a hungry boar will eat a small cub.  Mama bear tries to teach her cubs to fish while protecting them from the nasty boars.

Mama Sow with two 3 yr old cubs.



During our week at Brook Camp we had particularly miserable weather (many days of cold, wind, and rain) but it is still the most wonderful place I’ve ever been.  I spent more than 2 1/2 hours trapped on a platform, dodging fierce mosquitoes, waiting to cross the river when  “bear jam” closed the bridge.  Despite the hardships, I would spend every day that I can with the bears of Katmai.  We are incredibly fortunate to have visited with them.