My number one bucket list ticked – watching bears catch Salmon jumping upstream at Brooks Falls. Seeing baby bears was a bonus and too cute not to share!
Located in Katmai National Park lies one of the best wildlife viewing that we have ever experienced. Every summer, sockeye salmon swim up the Brooks River to their spawning spot but unknowingly land straight into the mouth of a brown bear who’s perched themselves at the top of the rivers waterfall awaiting their arrival.
As easy as this fishing style appears, it’s not always the case as we learnt how territorial brown bears really are as they fight over their food. It’s not easy for fishermen either, who somehow thought fly fishing in such close proximity to grizzlies would be a good idea. Watching from the upper falls lookout, we could see a bear charge at three men, one who still had a fish on their line.
Day Trip to Brooks Lodge
Our day trip was booked through Katmailand and included flights from Anchorage to Brooks Lodge and lunch.
Two flights take you to Brooks Lodge. The first, a small 9-passenger plane where Wade was the co-pilot, departed Anchorage and took us across Cook Inlet, past Mt. Augustine and Mt. Iliamna before landing in King Salmon. Here, we swapped to a float plane for our second short but very scenic flight to Brooks Lodge. As we came in for landing on Naknek Lake, you could see grizzly bears swimming in the waters below. The lake is tinted in this remarkable aquamarine colour as a result of volcanic ash and glacial particles in the water.
Arriving on shore with no bears in sight, we walked up to the Park Service Visitor Centre for our orientation at “bear school” where we were inducted to the area, learnt bear safety and what to do when we encounter one, as well as information about walks and viewing areas from the friendly national park service rangers.
The rest of the day was ours for the making and we head straight to the Brooks Falls viewing platform.
Best places to view the bears
The bears at Brooks Falls are completely wild and there is no limit to where you may see them. There are three viewing platforms that are thankfully gated so you can view them safely but chances of encountering them outside gated safety is very high too.
Brooks Falls Bear Viewing Platform
The most iconic place to view them from, the Brooks Falls bear viewing platform overlooks the top of the waterfall at Lake Brooks and grizzlies love to perch at the top awaiting the salmon to jump into their mouth. They do limit the number of visitors at one time but this is actually a good thing, as it means less crowds.
It is the furthest platform away from the lodges and the walk is in completely un-caged bear country but it added to the adventure. We were lucky to not encounter any bears on the path but many do.
Riffles platform
The second closest viewing area to Brooks Falls, the Riffles platform was a great spot to view bears as we waited our turn and the action was still plentiful.
The Lower River Platform
Closest to the lodges, the lower river viewing area is the bridge that runs across Brooks River that leads out to the Brooks Falls viewing platforms. Bears swum, fished and walked right underneath us.
The shores of Naknek Lake
On the shores of Naknek Lake, where the sea planes parked, was actually the best and closest encounters we had. As we strolled up the beach, we looked ahead at a mother grizzly & her three baby bear cubs walking straight our way. The ranger warned those relaxing on the beach to move back as they moseyed on past, some pilots trapped in their seaplanes until they safely passed.
Baby Bears
The bear cubs explored and played as they followed mum down the shore.
Scarily, a rogue bear turned to anger as he seemed to be on the hunt for the mum & her cubs. For a moment there was tension in the air as the grizzly growled angrily, chasing the cubs before running down the main road towards bystanders who luckily made it into the caged areas in time.
Once the angry grizzly was gone, the cubs were back safely with mum.
There are plenty of activities that you can do in Brooks Falls, including Dumpling Mountain Hike and the Cultural Trail. We thought we’d check them out but weren’t brave enough to venture out in bear country alone. There are guided tours like the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, a journey through Katmai’s spectacular backcountry to visit the most violent volcanic eruption in recorded history. Other activities included fishing, canoeing & kayaking but unfortunately we were only there for the day so we opted out.
Boarding the plane to return back to Anchorage, but not before our last bear encounter, we waved goodbye to Brooks Falls and the unbelievable day we just had.
Day trip: www.katmailand.com
Price: $895 per person including flights and lunch.
ONLY HAPPY WHEN I TRAVEL 