Happy Happy Birthday to Mike's Mom Joyce!!! We love you and are looking hard for that giant bull moose with antlers you want to see a picture of!
So we don't even know how to begin describing today. On our last bear viewing trip with Mary and Jordan, we used up all the adjectives trying to describe how great the day was. This will be a totally different experience, with the same unbelievable feeling as when we went to Lake Clark National Park by boat.
Today's adventure is my birthday gift to Mike: A Guided Expedition into Katmai Bush (a premier Alaska bear watching trip) with Emerald Air Service. Five hours in Katmai National Park - which spans over 4 million acres, and is one of the world’s top bear
viewing destinations, hosting more than 2,200 majestic brown bears. Wow! We are excited about this one!
We got up early and put our waders and boots on over all our layers. Outside, it was cloudy with temperatures in the low 50s - so quite chilly. We left ER150 in our excellent RV camp spot in the parking lot
and walked over to the office and got our registration and weighing completed, then had a briefing with our guide, Carter, to talk about the day.
He said at Katmai National Park, the temperatures could be around 10 degrees cooler than in Homer, so he made sure we all had enough clothes and extras, along with water and food for lunch. We met our fellow passengers and headed down to the dock to board our float plane. Our pilot was Don (or Honey as Dee Dee called him),
and he assisted us in boarding. One person needed to sit in the cockpit with Don, and they called my name! How cool to be a co-pilot on this exciting trip!
I went smiling to the front and had the best seat in the house! It was so much fun! Mike was just behind me and he stayed glued to the window looking out at all the gorgeous Alaska scenery we would soon be flying over.
Just like everyone else on the plane.
We took-off from a man-made lake in Homer adjacent to Cooks Inlet, with the main road to Homer Spit between them. The lake is only used for float planes - no boating, swimming, or fishing allowed. Don circled around to the end of the lake and pulled the throttle and off we went! He brought one float out of the water at a time, then we were airborne.
The clouds were clearing and we had great views of Mt. Iliamna
and then even Mt. Redoubt as we crossed the inlet, then we flew directly over Augustine Volcano, which erupted last in 2006.
Don said it favors years that end in "6" to erupt, and he's hoping it will do so again this year! One side of the cone had collapsed - it was fascinating to look down and see wisps of steam coming out of the mountain!We continued to Katmai National Park, and flew over beautiful mountains and lakes.
Once we neared our destination, Don flew low over several rivers and creeks so that Carter could decide where we should land. From the cockpit I could see several bears in and around the water below us. We ended up at Moose Point,
where Don expertly landed on the water and floated us over to the beach to disembark. Carter helped us get our backpacks situated, then we headed off to find bears. Don stayed with the airplane.
We walked across very spongy, uneven ground for a while, up hills and through a ditch or two, then were on sort of a high plateau where there were obvious trails for us to walk in.
These trails wound all over the place and were made by the bears over probably hundreds of years. We quickly spotted a beautiful blonde bear.
<click on pictures for larger views>
It was catching salmon and eating them on its own little island on a creek off the main river.
We were totally awed watching this! We walked on and watched a couple of bears across the river trying to fish,
then we saw two grown bears that were chasing each other and play-fighting, we believe. They were right in front of another group that had all huddled close to each other to give the bears space. We descended the hill toward the water and suddenly the two bears came running toward us, swiping at each other and tumbling around like crazy.
Carter told us to circle close and get down low, which we did! The bears didn't pay any attention to us and ran right past us! It happened so fast and was exhilarating and thrilling! After they moved on, Carter asked if anyone was uncomfortable being THAT close to the bears, and we all said no. We trusted that he would keep us safe.We saw more bears napping and fishing and
then we saw another beautiful blonde-tipped momma bear and three precious baby cubs!
They were this season's cubs, born in about January and emerged from their den in mid to late May.
Each was a little different color and they watched as momma swam around looking for fish. Finally they followed her into the water and crossed the river.
They were soooo cute!! We watched another momma and cubs ambling around eating berries across the river, and we saw several more single bears as well. We had to cross creeks, so we would get into the river and cross the creeks where they emptied into the river, where the salmon were congregating. They swam up against us and bumped our legs and splashed water all over us while we crossed.
They were huge and oblivious to us as they just wanted to get to their spawning spot and lay and fertilize their eggs. Once that was done they all die. There were lots of dead fish floating around, but the bears obviously preferred them not dead yet.
We stopped for lunch and had strict instructions about eating directly over and even in our backpacks, and not to lose any crumbs, because they don't want the bears to see humans eating nor to ever touch human food. If the bears associate humans with food at Katmai, they will close the area to visitors for good in order to protect the bears. We were all very careful and mindful of the invaluable opportunity we were experiencing being able to walk among wild bears.
It turned out to be a gorgeous day, and we were able to get photos of the bears in all kinds of light - it was simply amazing.
In total we walked over three (3) miles while we were on the ground with the bears for five hours. The views all around us were gorgeous.
On the way back to the plane we stopped again to see if the blonde bear was there, and she was.
We sat and watched her for our last half hour, enjoying the peace and fulfilling sense of nature. We were all sad to leave and walk back to the plane.
We saw another Emerald Air plane take off before us.
Don took a different route back, and flew over gorgeous beautiful mountains, lakes, and rivers including his favorite Battle River (or Battle Lake). We were all amazed at how incredible the blueish water looked from high above!
We enjoyed having the time to reflect on our day and what we had been fortunate to experience. We were tired and dirty but there were huge smiles all around. Don circled the lake before we landed and we saw three (3) moose quietly feeding in the marshy grasses. We floated to the dock and disembarked and all met in the office to discuss our day.
They had a delicious assortment of snacks waiting for us, and we of course bought a couple of t-shirts as souvenirs! We hobbled, tired and happy, back to ER150 and quickly changed clothes and got everything stowed for driving. We went back to Anchor River State Recreation Area and found a site in the Halibut Campground again (#17), had a snack, and were in bed by 8:30!
We just couldn't believe our day! I don't think Mike ever stopped smiling the entire day - Happy Birthday to my Honey!
Favorite animal: Brown Bear
Favorite street name: Poop Deck Ln.
Favorite bird: Pine grosbeak
Today's journey:
