Katmai National Park and Preserve — 18 August 2022

This was a one day visit to Katmai as part of a 6 week, 6700km, road trip of Alaska and the Yukon. The day had been booked for 17 Aug but was postponed to the next day due to weather. We ended up having great weather with little to no rain.

On the day I used mostly a Canon 300mm f2.8 prime lens with a 1dx2 body (24-70mm F2.8 lens for a few shots and  took tripod but never used it). Left the iPhone at base but had a Sony compact Rx100 iv as backup.

We were kitted out with waterproof thigh waders for crossing streams and marsh areas. This was of great help. Kitting out and briefing took 1-2 hours. The flights were just over an hour each way and we spent 6 hours on the ground on Katmai peninsula.

The De Havilland Otter took off from the Emerald Air base in Homer and landed smoothly on “Just Enough” lake (so nicknamed because the lake was adequate for landing with a load but takeoff needed to be a much lighter load). The flight to Katmai was smooth and conditions allowed an altitude of about 3000 feet and the lake was at about 1000 feet. There were great view of St Augustine Island and over the coast and mountain views on route.

I spent much of the day talking with the guide about the bear habits and trying to get to grips with the ecosystem. The day’s guiding took us along the Funnel Creek tributaries to Morraine Creek near to where we took off again on returning to Homer.

By definition grizzly bears are brown bears living in the mountains and feeding mostly off berries and carrion whilst other brown bears are more of a coastal variety feeding mostly off fish.

The closest we came to bears was about 15-20 meters and in those cases there was usually some form of “barrier” between us, usually water, and the bears seemed comfortable with that although we got some wary side glances at times. When moving close to the bears we would move without hesitation. We stuck together as a group and I would try to kneel whenever the opportunity arose to get eye-level shots.

The sockeye salmon were near the end of their lifespan and the bears were selective in their hunting and feeding habits with mature bears feeding off the protein and energy rich portions of the salmon body.

Bear interaction was great to see and how families and fellow bears tolerated each other. The flightpath back took us to 3000 feet as we avoided some clouds.

A really memorable day.

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