I am not going to bore you with what my accommodation was like at King Salmon over night and how I didn’t get breakfast when it was advertised as a B & B, because I know you all want to see what I have been promising and that is salmon and bears.
Having completed my bear orientation the day before, I was allowed to jump off the float and plane and hit the trail. It was not 8am yet and I wanted to get up to the falls before the crowds arrived. Remember in my last entry I talked about the rules at Brooks Falls and one of the rules is that you only get 1 hour at a time at the Falls platform and then you have to leave and go to the back of the queue. Remember this because later I will have something to say about it.
Walking down the main trail, I was doing my best to overtake any one in front of me but that came to a grinding halt when a ranger appeared ahead on the trail and told everyone to back up and do it quickly as a bear was coming our way.
By now I had seen a lot of bears on this trip so seeing one on the trail didn’t get me that excited. I was far more eager to get to the Falls. As soon as the ranger gave the go head, I was off. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a fast walker but today I was nearly running. On the trail I over-took everyone and I passed a few photographers who were coming back from the falls that I had met the day before. They let me know that nothing was happening up there yet, and they would be back soon. I stepped up the pace even more, I wanted to get a good position before everyone got there.
When I reached the entrance to the platform there was no rangers on duty…………so no-one to give my name too. I didn’t think anything of it at the time and walking onto the platform, the first thing I saw made me let out a squeal of delight. The salmon were on the run. This is what I had travelled so far to see.
I think I must have stopped breathing for some time trying to take it all in. I knew what to expect, I’d seen this on tv but nothing can prepare you for the moment when you witness it with your own eyes in the wilderness. It is the most amazing scene I think I will every witness. I have witnessed the Migration of the Wildebeest in East Africa and people say that is the ultimate experience but to me seeing these salmon jumping up the falls was absolutely phenomenal and has changed the way I think of salmon now.
These salmon were returning to their exact place of birth, up to 5 years after they had been born to spawn and then die so that the cycle of life will continue. When a salmon is born is spends time in the rivers growing up, then as they mature they move out to the ocean where they gain most of their body mass. This prepares them for their long journey home. This is what these salmon were born to do. How absolutely incredible.
While I waited for the bears to arrive, I positioned myself in the front row of the platform with 3 or 4 other photographers from around the world. The woman photographers that I had passed on the trail returned to their waiting camera gear and as the morning progressed so did the action at the falls.
I have over 1600 photos from this day and I have tried to cut them back but I still have in excess of 400 to share. I really want you to see exactly what I experienced because I believe that most of you will want to go to Brooks Falls or even Katmai Wilderness Lodge once you have finished seeing my photos.
A lot of the photos will run in a sequence so you can get a feel of what was unfolding before my eyes.
Bears chasing salmon hopeful that when they come back up, they may have a salmon in their paw.
And yes, they are lucky some times.
This bear was amazing to watch, he was not going to give up till he had had his full.
Look closely and you will see this bear is trying to carry the two salmon it has caught. Now that is one skilled bear. Some bears will catch and eat the salmon where it was caught, others will take their catch out of water into the long grasses and feed, other’s will stay near the falls and feed on rocks or an island and some will run away with their catch in fear another bear will take it.
Our first bear to walk above the falls.
Bears not only fish with different techniques but how they eat a salmon and what they eat of the salmon also differs.
Rear paw
Front paw
Some bears don’t even try to fish, they wait till the left overs wash up some where.
By now you must be thinking, this is a lot more than 1 hours worth of photos and you would be right. At the beginning I told you that there was no ranger on duty when I had arrived at the falls. Myself and a number of other photographers had enjoyed many hours at the falls without being told to leave and join the queue again. It was at 11am that one of the photographers brought it to my attention that we hadn’t been asked to leave he had to depart very reluctantly as his float plane was scheduled to leave. I moved further into the corner and truly it is not hard to get lost in what you are experiencing and photographing and it wasn’t until 2pm, 6 hours after I arrived at the falls that morning, when a girl said to me, do you have special privileges? Naturally I said no, but it was then I started to feel a little guilty as this girl had queued a number of times.
I took my leave at the point but before i left I told the ranger of what had happened. He admitted that somehow myself and a few other people had slipped through without being detected and that there was a small loop hole in their system. He was also happy for me that I had such a fantastic time and suggested I didn’t tell everyone how many hours I had had at the falls.
Beaming with satisfaction from all I had witnessed, I walked back to the first platform knowing well that my day was not over yet but what a success it had been.
And so, 6 months after my return from Alaska, I have finally completed my blog. Thank you for coming along on my journey with me, I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I did and I apologise for having taken so long to get to the end.
Tuesday the 30th June, I woke to a near perfect day, it was around 4.30am. Today I was flying from Anchorage to King Salmon, a 1 and 1/2 hour flight with Pen Air on a 30 seater plane then transferring to the Katmai Air terminal on the Naknek river for a 30 minute float plane flight to Brooks Falls
The Naknek River
Brooks Falls is located on the Brooks River equal distance from Brooks Lake and the Naknek Lake.
The falls are famous for watching salmon leap over the 6 foot falls to get to their spawning grounds in Brooks Lake, where they reproduce just once before they ultimately die.
These salmon are the food source for the world’s largest population of brown bears which congregate at the Falls for the month of July. August the bears leave the falls as the salmon have left the river and are now in the lake spawning. September the bears return to the falls to feed on the dead salmon that are washed back down the river.
Obviously July is a very busy month at the falls and more than 40 bears can be seen there at any one time. I took a big risk when I booked my trip, as I booked my visit right at the beginning of the season. I ran the risk of being too early to see the salmon leaping up the falls.
The only way into Brooks Falls is by float plane and all flights go via King Salmon. Most visitors to Brooks Falls are day visitors. Accommodation is limited at Brooks Falls to just 16 cabins with 2 bunk beds in each or one can carry in their own camping gear.
Perry and Angela the managers at Katmai Wilderness Lodge had managed Brooks Falls for 20 years prior to going to Katmai Wilderness Lodge, so prior to booking my trip I consulted with them and they suggested that instead of staying at the cabins which are very basic, that I stay in King Salmon. Taking their advise I decided to book 2 full days at Brooks Falls with a night in between at King Salmon. While I wasn’t going to be at the Falls for the golden hour, I was going to get a great deal of viewing time.
Upon arrival at Brooks Falls everyone must go through a National Parks Bear orientation. This consists of a 30 minute talk, telling what you can and can’t do. I personally felt the rangers were a tad over the top with their rules and regulations but then I am not one of those people who doesn’t have respect for nature and abuses the situation by getting to close to the bears and doing the wrong thing by the bears. I guess some people just don’t have any common sense.
What did spoil my time at Brooks Falls was the amount of rangers telling you where and when you could go somewhere.
The float planes land on Naknek lake and it is just a few metres walk to the National Parks office where the briefings take place.
From there you walk to the left, past the cabins and past the lodge where the meals are served. No food is to be consumed or carried anywhere except in the designated areas, ie the lodge, electric fenced picnic area near the lodge and in the snack shop. Continuing along the path, you will end up at the mouth of the river and to get to the other side of the river is a long floating bridge which can get closed at any moment. National Parks rangers are there to protect the bears, they are not there to protect the humans from the bears. If a bear is approaching, the rangers will divert the humans to another area so that bear can go about it’s daily business without having humans in their way. If a bear comes into the river mouth or down the path, the floating bridge will get closed on both sides so that no-one can go across. On the other side of the river is the first viewing platform. If the bears are in eyes view, then humans have to stay back and that can mean the bridge is closed for hours.
The shot below shows the bridge from platform 1 looking over to the lodge and cabin area. To the right of the tall trees is where the float planes land, weather permitting. They can of course land at Brooks Lake if the winds are blowing in the wrong direction.
This can cause major problems with people trying to get back to the lake for their scheduled float plane. One is supposed to allow ample of time but that is not always possible. Rangers are everywhere, so if you know your plane is about to leave, the rangers can communicate what is unfolding to pilots and ground staff. It is all extremely organised but sometimes people do miss their flights.
As you know I was travelling on my own, which must be highly out of the normal because it seemed all the rangers knew of me and knew my plans for the two days. I had 4 float plane trips over the two days, and the pilots and ground staff were all aware that I was the single traveller from Australia.
There are 3 viewing platforms at Brooks Falls. The Lower River Platform where the floating bridge is at the mouth of the river. Then there is the Riffles Platform which overlooks a shallow area of the river near the Falls
and then there is Falls Platform where everyone wants to be.The Falls platform has a ranger at the entry gate taking your name and everyone is limited to 1 hour viewing unless there is no-one in the queue. If your name is called you have to leave the platform and put your name down with the ranger so that you can go back in again.
Naturally as soon as I had been cleared to leave the National Parks Office I hit the trail and headed up to the Falls Platform 1.4 kms away.
And the bears just kept coming.
Some bears didn’t like any others and managed to chase them away. I personally thought there was enough fish for all the bears.
This male bear was showing his dominance and chased an approaching bear away.
A view of the falls from the Riffles platform
With so much activity happening beneath the water, the bears have different technics for catching salmon, some take the diving approach.
Another male bear enters the scene but is not accepted.
It was about now I was thinking stand up and fight but that was not to be.
Bears keep coming and going all day. They are patient, they stand in the river and wait, they are waiting for movement in the water, for a shimmer in the water or better still for a salmon to jump. They know what is going to happen, the salmon are here and they are hungry.
At the mouth of the river (platform 1) there was just as much activity unfolding. The salmon were schooling and the bears were growing in numbers. They had been waiting a whole year for this day to come and they were hungry. The moment there was movement in the water, a bear would appear and looking very ungainly, he would dive on the school of salmon, hoping that when he came back up, he might just have have a salmon in his mouth or claw by chance.
Snorkelling bear
Platform 1, the Lower River platform at the mouth of the river.
Platform 1 with the bridge in the foreground.
At around 2pm, I had gone back to the lodge area and not wanting to waste time, I grabbed a snack bar, ate it in the shop and left. Heading back to the bridge, the ranger stopped a group of people, myself included as a young bear was approaching.
As the bear ummed and arghed about which way he was going, the bridge remained closed and we had to wait until all bears were out of view before it was opened again.
Bears gather at the lower platform area.
Back up at the falls where I preferred to position myself, the bears were still waiting.
Diving for salmon I learnt was a skill that some bears were really good at
while others preferred to sit in the water, every now and then putting their head under the water, to see what was there.
And forever aware that there was other bears close by.
Is there any salmon down there?
A common sight when the bears are snorkelling
but an even better sight when a bear comes up with a salmon.
Shame he had to turn his back on the audience.
He has the taste for it now and back he goes for more.
Fishing is permitted in the river and in the mouth but if a bear is within 50 yards, the fisherman have to leave the area. The bears get the right of way and in my eyes, the right to the salmon first. While I do enjoy fishing, I struggled to come with terms why National Parks would allow fishing in an area where bears are bountiful. I would like to think that there is more visitors there to see the bears but I think the fisherman most probably bring in more money.
The Brooks River is catch and release only, except downstream of the floating bridge. Downstream of the bridge, only one fish per person per day can be retained. Fish hooked elsewhere than in the mouth must be released immediately.
A blond bear
A fishing bear
Towards the end of the day everyone eventually ends up back at platform 1 however there is just as much happening there as there is at the falls.
Day 1 had come to an end, the float plane was ready for my departure back to King Salmon where I was staying at a B&B for the night. Expecting something rather lavish, I was very disappointed and not only did I not get dinner or breakfast the next day, I didn’t even get to have the place on my own. Not quite the B&B’s I know in Australia but the bed was comfortable and I had a good sleep which was just what I needed. I had another day at Brooks Falls and I wanted to be ready for it.
Day 2 to follow and if you thought day 1 was good, wait till you see my next lot of photos.
Sandra Broom 
