September 17, 2009

Joyce and Jim spent a few nights in Wrangell St. Elias National Park while we worked a short week.  Then we were all off for a four day weekend in Katmai National Park. 

Katmai requires an hour and half flight to King Salmon, a small town on the Alaska Peninsula.  From King Salmon, we were shuttled to a dock on the Naknek River where a waiting float plane flew us a half hour into the park to Brooks Camp.  The Brooks River connects Brooks Lake to Naknek Lake through a short winding waterway.  This few miles of river is the route for red and silver salmon to find their spawning grounds in the river and lake.  The massive run of salmon brings an unbelievable number of brown bears.  The bears grow to massive proportions as they feed on the calorie rich salmon.  As we landed on Naknek Lake, we noticed one of these massive critters swimming along the beach a few hundred yards from the plane.

We were ushered to the visitor center where we went through bear orientation.  From there we gathered our luggage in a cart and walked the quarter mile or so down the trail along the beach to the campground.  The trail had large piles of bear droppings along the way.  The campground felt secure with its multiple strands of electric wire separating the campers from the large predators.  We found some suitable locations to set up our tents and stowed our gear in food in the storage buildings.  After a quick lunch, we were off to familiarize ourselves with our surroundings.

Stepping out on the beach convinced us that this was no ordinary location.  Several large bears were visible along the beach and in the water near the mouth of the river.  We hiked to the river and crossed the floating bridge to the viewing platforms on the other side.  We stood there for a long time, mesmerized by the bears that were moving about looking for fish, often coming within a few yards of the elevated platform that we were standing on.  We headed down to the falls, a 20 minute hike up river through the woods.  There we observed big bears holding prime positions at the base of the falls while lesser bears roamed about looking for fishing spots.  Within hours of our arrival, we had seen dozens of massive bears.

After dinner, Kris collapsed in the tent, exhausted from a hard week at work, a late night of packing, a long day of travelling, and a day of outdoor activity.  Jim and I decided to try some fishing along the beach where we could see the bears coming from a long way off.  We fished unsuccessfully for about an hour before calling it quits.  Joyce, Jim, and I walked back to the lodge and had a drink at the bar.

We woke up early on Saturday to get to catch our bus to the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.  The campground was bustling as several groups of campers were packing up to leave.  The park was slowly vacating at the end of the season.  Our bus was waiting for us on the other side of the river, but we couldn’t get there because the bridge was closed due to bear activity.  We waited near the bridge with a couple of rangers, a couple of other tourists, and the bus driver.  We had to back up the trail several times as bears moved all around us.  We waited for over an hour before the bridge was finally opened for us to cross.

The bus took us 23 miles up a dirt road to the location of a massive volcanic eruption in 1912.  We saw several bears in the road along the way.  The valley was a huge wasteland.  Hundreds of feet of ash and rock were deposited in the 15 mile long valley.  The ash was still not supporting any vegetation after almost a hundred years.  Massive eroded canyons cut through the soft ash, an impressive landscape created in a relatively short time period.  We hiked down to the river at the far end of the valley where cliffs of ash towered hundreds of feet above us along the river.  We tossed volcanic rocks into the river and laughed as the lightweight rocks floated away.  We hiked up the valley a little and explored for a couple hours before returning to the bus.  It is an amazing landscape to have so dramatically developed within the life spans of people still alive today.  It was another reminder of the scale of geologic events.  It was another chance to feel small.

We returned to the camp for a shower and dinner.  Jim and I scanned the beach and decided to try fishing closer to the river mouth.  We rigged up our fly rods and headed down the beach, dodging a couple bears along the way.  The bear traffic seemed low so we headed around the corner to the river mouth on a narrow strip of beach.  Joyce joined us on this adventure as a spotter.  We kept casting as huge schools of salmon splashed.  We couldn’t find a rainbow trout or even an aggressive salmon.  Finally our spotter told us to reel in.  A bear was approaching, forcing us around the corner along the river bank.  This put us into a short section of dense brush between the beach and the trail at dusk.  It was a scary stretch.  We quickly realized how late it had gotten while we fished as it was pretty dark in the woods.  We put on headlamps to light our way.  Suddenly bats were flying at us from all directions, whizzing in front of our faces as we ducked and dodged reactively.  Our distraction with the bats ended quickly as a large bear emerged from the woods and crossed the trail only a few yards in front of us.  It disappeared into the dense brush on the other side, causing us to back up and wait to see if the bear was going to reemerge.  It was a terrifying moment.

We started Sunday with a hike to the other end of the river at Lake Brooks.  As we hiked along the road, we were all surprised when a bear crossed right in front of us.  Employee housing marked our arrival at the lake and we found the mouth of the river.  A huge school of salmon was hanging around the mouth.  We were quickly forced to leave by an approaching bear, but decided to give fishing a try once the bear moved on.  We walked over to the picnic area to rig up and found a float plane full of fishermen heading toward our fishing hole.  We followed them and waited for them to move along so that we could fish.  A ranger came along and checked licenses.  I hooked a red salmon just as the ranger arrived.  The salmon quickly turned downstream into the rapids.  I knew I didn’t stand a chance with my ultralight gear so I tried to force it and broke it off.

Our first bear encounter was a bit of a surprise as a large bear sprinted out of the woods across the river and splashed into the river toward the fishermen downstream from us.  Jim and I headed back along the lake to safety.  We waited for the bear to clear and returned to fishing.  We now had the mouth of the river to ourselves.  We fished for awhile.  Jim landed a red and a couple rainbows.  We received a warning from down the beach that a bear was coming.  We kept looking for it and kept casting.  I hooked a nice rainbow.  I managed to land it quickly and worked to release it without hurting it under the time pressure of an approaching bear.  The rainbow swam away in time for us to clear out of the bear’s path.

After our fun of adventure fishing, we returned to the falls viewing platforms to watch the bears.  We were all mesmerized and the day passed quickly.  The sun provided decent lighting for photography.  It was a perfect day for some of my favorite hobbies.  We were surprised as we returned to the camp area by the sound of wind and waves.  White caps were forming on Naknek Lake as a strong wind was blowing.  We waited at the viewing platforms by the bridge for another long period of time as the river was crawling with bears.  At one point we could see three mothers each with triplets and at least a couple other bears.  One of the family groups lied down right in front of the platform.

Finally an opening appeared and the rangers directed people to cross the bridge.  A large group of people had formed on the platform waiting for the bridge opening so the crowd heading across was pretty large.  Jim and I got stuck in the back of the group.  About half way across, the rangers were shouting for us to turn around.  The group split, with Jim and I getting caught in another bridge closure.  Joyce and Kris made it across with a small group of people, but a bear was blocking the trail.  The small group was routed through the brush along the marsh to avoid the bear.  Jim and I waited another half hour for the bridge to open again, knowing that we would likely find our wives in the bar.  After a reunion and a couple of drinks in the bar, we headed back to the campground for dinner.  The high winds howled and several bears were looking for salmon to wash up in the waves along the beach.

After dinner we headed up Dumpling Mountain, an 800 foot climb over a mile and a half to a viewpoint that provided a spectacular overview of our surroundings.  The two lakes, Brooks and Naknek, are huge.  The small camp and lodge area was the only slightly visible sign of civilization.  The river was full of small brown dots that moved about.  We confirmed them as bears through the binoculars.  We rushed back down to avoid having to descend after dark.  We headed over to the lodge for a shower after dark, leaving us with a scary walk back to the campground.  Another close encounter with glowing yellow eyes had us moving quickly up the trail. 

Monday was our last day.  We had to get up early to pack up our gear to have it to the lodge by nine.  Our plane wasn’t scheduled to depart until one, but they like to fill the earlier flights from a weight standpoint to provide a little cushion for the later flights.  We dropped our gear off and headed across the river and back to the lake.  We fished for a short period of time.  Jim had a hit, but the action was slow and our time was limited.  We hiked quickly back to the lodge to cross the river as requested at least two hours before the plane.  The wind had picked up again and the waves were building.  After waiting at the platform for the bears to clear, the rangers informed us that the flights would leave from Lake Brooks due to the wind.  We headed back to the lake, disappointed that we could have stayed there and fished for a couple of hours had we known, but understanding that these things happen in remote locations.  We were actually grateful that they had two lakes to use since we could have been just stranded until the weather improved.  The return flight was uneventful.

It is difficult to describe the experience in Katmai.  The large bears were almost always in sight.  They moved slowly except for an occasional dash after a fish.  They didn’t seem to mind us or each other, although we did hear a few loud growls indicating some conflict among the animals.  There are reportedly dozens of adult bears and many young cubs accompanied by their mothers frequenting the area.  After awhile, we began to recognize the bears.  Some, like Ted, seemed to follow us from place to place.  Ted was easy to identify by the large patch of missing fur on his left hip and his dash and grab style of fishing.  Other bears snorkeled for fish, holding their breath while they put their eyes underwater to watch for fish, breathing out loudly when they came back up for air.  Still other bears employed patient fishing styles, standing in one place, looking down at the water, and reacting when a fish bumped into their legs.