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June
Our tours leave Homer's Beluga Lake every day at around 9 a.m. for a spectacular flight across Cook Inlet. We pass Cape Douglas, a group of volcanic mountains which protrude into the mouth of Cook Inlet and is the start of Shelikof Strait (it's the body of water that separates Kodiak Island from the mainland). These mountains have glaciers that come all the way to the beach and beautiful blue-green lakes filled with giant icebergs that have calved from the icefields. There are dozens of streams, and estuaries.

It's a great place to take photos with the 7,000 ft. snow-covered volcanic mountains as a backdrop. There's quite a lot of interaction going on among the bears because of the breeding season. The older breeding boars will be checking the sows to see if they're receptive. This is also the time of year that the sows chase the two-year-old cubs away. If the cubs were to be around when the sows come into estrus, it could be fatal. The cubs might be killed by the dominant boars.

We'll eat lunch at the airplane and then store everything back in the plane so the bears don't tear up our gear. They're really curious, and they inspect anything new that doesn't belong in their territory. We ask that you bring your own lunch and plenty to drink. Please bring insect repellent, warm clothes and rain gear — both jacket, pants, a hat and gloves, if you've got them. If not, we have some rain gear. We provide hip boots for this trip. If you're traveling around the rest of Alaska, you might want to buy your own. The weather could be hot and dry to cold and rainy. Like my grandfather used to say: "One thing for sure, you never know."

From the plane, it's an easy walk of about 15 or 20 minutes to where we'll sit for the day taking pictures. That's if we aren't held up along the way by bears. This area often has tundra swans and many nesting ducks. Last year, we had a den of red fox right behind where we set up. The baby fox have no fear of us at all. We usually sit in the same place every trip. This lets the bears and other animals get used to us easier than if we were moving around or advancing towards them. After the first couple of days, they don't seem to notice us at all. We ask everyone to stay together as a group so we don't disturb the animals. If you look on a map, this is the body of land that eventually ends up in the Aluetian Islands. It is the southern coast of the Alaska Penninsula and Katmai National Park. [ top ]

July
Around the first of July, depending on the timing of the salmon run coming from Bristol Bay, we go to the Brooks River Falls. Brooks is in the middle of Katmai. The flight takes about an hour and a half to get across Cook Inlet past McNeil River, (that's the other famous place to watch bears), then through the mountains and past all the huge interior lakes of Katmai and on to Brooks. We'll fly over six and seven thousand foot mountains, beautiful mountain lakes and often, we see moose and caribou along the way. It gives you the feeling of how big the country really is. Sometimes, we have to wait in the airplane for a few minutes to let the bears clear the beach. Then, off to the visitors center for a 15-minute briefing from the National Park Service. We suggest that you eat lunch here before going to the river. Next to the visitors center is a cache to store your food and things. There are also some picnic tables.

Brooks is the most famous place in Katmai to see the bears. It's the place you've probably seen videos of bears lined up to catch fish as they're jumping up the falls. There have been some changes at Brooks in the last couple of years with the construction of a new viewing platform being built just below the falls and an elevated walkway. It’s a great addition and has solved most of the delays. Its not unusual though for bears to fall asleep next to or on some of the trails. If this happens, then there is a possibility that the trail could be closed. Brooks has a 50 yard rule that prevents people from getting too close unless you are on a viewing platform. We tell our people that most likely bears will get in the way of your bear viewing at some point at Brooks. There's another viewing platform at the mouth of the river. Most of the time, there are bears along the trail and the lake and river … I guess there can be bears almost anywhere at Brooks, even at the picnic tables. Just remember, bears have the right of way.

The walk to the falls from where we land is about a mile and half. The trail is easy walking and you shouldn't be in a hurry. Most of the time, there are bears on the trail and this can cause a delay. Of course, our trip may be longer if one of them decides to go to sleep on the beach next to our plane! [ top ]

Late July, early August
Occasionally when the bears leave the Brooks River at the end of July, we will access Moraine Creek. Remember we said timing is everything? Since this place is farther from the ocean, it takes until the end of July for the fish to make it this far up. By late July, the fish will start to arrive. Bright red schools of salmon flood into this part of the country and along with their arrival comes the bears. These snow fed rivers are shallow, swift and clear and the bears start feeding with a frenzy. Its not unusual to see 15 or 20 different bears throughout the course of the day and literally tens of thousands of spawning red salmon. Last year was a great run and the bears were able to literally herd big schools of fish completely out of the water and up on shallow sand bars! By then, the fish were in their bright red spawning colors, it was an awesome sight!

This trip has some of the world's best bear viewing opportunities, but it comes with a price. You have to do a little walking. We have a couple of options of access. One is a short mountain lake that takes the right wind to get into. From this spot its about a mile of fairly easy going to get to the river where the bears are. If the wind isn't favorable, we go to Crosswind Lake. From there, the best viewing is about a mile and a half away, down a steep cutbank and across the river. Here, bears can be almost anywhere. We stop along the way and take pictures and hone our wildflower identification skills. With folks in average condition, we make the trip in about 45 minutes to an hour. The terrain is open tundra with creek bottoms filled with alder gently sloping to glacier capped mountains. And there's lots of bears and its not to unusual to see caribou from time-to-time. We guarantee you'll see bears and have a good appetite by the end of the day! [ top ]

August
As soon as the pink salmon show up around the 3rd or 4th of August, our trips to see the bears finds us at one of our favorite spots on the southern coast of Katmai National Park just across from Kodiak Island. The scenery is outrageous! We pass Cape Douglas, which is the start of the Aleutian Mountain Range and you’ll see beautiful blue-green glacial lakes. We go to a bay called Geographic Harbor named after the National Geographic Society who did the first exploration of Katmai Volcano from there. We land next to our open boat and take a short ride to shore then walk about 1/2 mile to get to one of our favorite spots, just back from the banks of a beautiful little river where we sit quietly.

The river is full of pink and chum salmon and it’s not uncommon to see 10 or 15 bears on the river right in front of us. The beach is full of clams and bears are excellent clam diggers. If you were to choose a place in all of Alaska to watch bears, this is the place. Words cannot describe how beautiful it is here! [ top ]

September
If your schedule allows, we think this is the best time to visit Alaska. The weather is in a transition from summer to fall and can cause some delays but the colors and fragrances can be breathtaking. Everything has a feeling of urgency, the salmon are spawning before the rivers freeze, the moose are gathering their harems and the caribou are starting their migrations. The bears are fat and have time to play with each other, Its just a splendid time of year. We try to stay on the coast as long as the bears stick around and the weather allows but sometime in the middle of September we head back to the Interior of the park to the red salmon streams. About this time of year, bears start another distinct phase called "hypophasia." They "powerfeed" as much fish as they can before true winter sets in. [ top ]