June 6, 7, and 8
I am writing this in advance. No WiFi in Katmai National Park. Three days to see four parks in that area, and maybe watch brown bears catch salmon at Brooks Falls. Will add comments once I return to Anchorage.
It is now the night of June 8, but too late for me to properly describe the experiences of the last three days. Will see about tomorrow, but the Healy area just north of Denali has spotty WiFi. But at some point I will add comments.
As of June 14 I am back in Anchorage, with WiFi. Below are my comments, with all three days included.
June 6 – I met up with five NPTC members at the Anchorage airport. Humberto, Gerard, Lisa, Martha, and Mike were ready for the King Salmon adventure. Alaska Airlines morning flight to KS was not an issue (only other AA flight is in the afternoon). Brooks River Air met us, and the discussion began on how to get to the four parks on our itinerary; Aniakchak NMon, Aniakchak NPres, Alagnak Wild River, and Katmai NPres. Weather monitors down the Alaskan Peninsula were not feeding promising data to the office. Looked like less than 50% chance to get into the caldera at Aniakchak, so we decided to land on the Alagnak and on a lake in Katmai, for today. This was the first time most of us had stepped on tundra. A slight crunching sound with plenty of mushiness for your feet to experience. Wade, our pilot, gave perfect landings on both bodies of water. The Katmai Preserve lake was Peanut Lake. Yes, it was small. A quick return to King Salmon was followed by the four guys loading their luggage onto the plane, and the two girls waving goodbye as they headed to Antler’s Inn (in KS, next to the airfield) for the night. Branch River was taking us over to Katmai National Park and the famous Brooks Lodge. I had reserved a cabin at the Lodge for two nights, via the lottery which is done 18 months before each new season. If you want to stay in the Lodge, be sure to submit your lottery request on-time. Demand is sky-high for the Lodge. Why you ask? Because of the salmon-catching bears at Brooks Falls.
The wind was too rough to land on Naknek Lake, at the doorstep of the Lodge, so the target became Brooks Lake. Branch River radioed ahead, allowing a shuttle from the Lodge to be waiting for us. A couple miles drive later we were checking-in. And it just so happened to be at dinner time. The Lodge runs a buffet, all-you-can-eat, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The food is EXCELLENT. Lemon-crusted salmon and pork-loin with mushrooms were the entrees for our first night. Remember, all you can eat. I think each of us tried all three desserts. The chef knows what he is doing. And the staff is energetic, courteous, and ready to help you enjoy your time in the park. We sat at a table with Wanda, the associate who runs the camp store. She had plenty of tales to tell, and was interested to hear about our travels.
But first we had to take Bear101 class at the Park’s VC. A ranger spends 15 minutes telling visitors how to act in the park, especially when confronted with a brown bear. A special lapel pin is given to each person at the end of the course.
The cabins are not spacious, especially for four adults. There are two bunk beds, a small toilet room, a small sink area, a stand-up shower, and one small table with a chair. Current rate is $960/night, so split four ways allows one to acceptingly swallow the bill, figuratively speaking. Unless you like camping at the camping area down the path, there is no other lodging option in the Brooks area.
One must hike 1.6 miles from the Lodge area to Brooks Falls. We made the trek after dinner, a good 3.2 miles of effort to work off the huge dinner. We stayed one hour, hoping at least one bear would show up. The next day word was one came 20 minutes after we headed back to camp. You just never know when those furry critters will show themselves.
June 7 - The Valley of 10,000 Smokes tour was cancelled for a couple weeks due to road damage. Katmai National Park was created to preserve this area, from the 1912 Novarupta volcanic explosion, the largest eruption on earth in the 20th century. The whole bear-watching thing came decades later. So, we went to do more bear-watching. No luck for about two hours in the morning. Time for lunch. By now, Lisa and Martha had flown over (they had a cabin for this night). Decision time, post-lunch. I said I was going back to the Falls, so Humberto and Gerard came along. After about 45 minutes, one big male came walking through the river, stopped at the top of the falls, turned towards us, dropped down to the salmon ladder to look for fish, then climbed out of the river. He was no more than six-inches away from us… horizontally speaking that is. The Falls has two viewing platforms which are about six to eight feet off the ground. So, we were safe from a vertical frame of mind, but he plodded along right in front of us. This guy kept eating fresh green grass, stopping enough times that six of the seven people (there was another group of four people at the platform… they had just started to walk away before we saw the bear, and I had to yell at them to return to the platform) on this one platform used up all their gigabytes on their cameras’ SD drives. The bear started to walk along the bank to the other platform. I raced down there and snapped some more images of him. As we started walking back on the boardwalk to access ground level, a ranger came up behind us. He had been down in the grassy area around the end of the one platform, just now stepping up onto the boardwalk. He never saw the bear. Again, all about timing.
So, we had seen our requisite bear at Brooks Falls. July/August is the best time to visit if you want to see 20 to 30 bears standing in the river at once, catching salmon as they try to jump up the falls. But everyone in the camp said the place is a madhouse. The platforms hold only 40 people. Once that quota is filled, it is one-in-one-out via the park rangers. Some days it can take 3 hours waiting in line. Does Disney World come to mind? And the line at the Lodge for the meals can stretch quite some distance. We were satisfied with our situation (platforms to ourselves and no waiting for food). On the way back to the Lodge we saw another bear as we crossed the Brooks River bridge. We lost track of him. An adult porcupine lives under the park’s VC, but we never saw him. A few of us went back to Brooks Lake after dinner to try and see Lynx, but no luck. Plenty of rabbits running around the place, which is why the Lynx were being seen.
June 8 – All six of us boarded a Katmai Airlines plane going to King Salmon at 10:30 AM. Again, be sure to have reservations. All the Katmai Air flights were booked for this day. If one thought they could fly from Anchorage to King Salmon, then get a jump over to the Brooks area “on the fly” for a day-trip, they would have been stranded in King Salmon.
Branch River then took us six trekkers to Aniakchak. The landmark of the Monument is the caldera of the still active volcano. Lenny, our pilot, tried to get through the “Gate” (a “V” shaped entrance to the caldera) but the fog was too low. He flew even closer to get a better look, but no-go. Then he headed around the circumference of the volcano to try getting over the north section. Again, clouds were too low. We were within 100 feet of the slope as we banked counterclockwise. A couple of us thought the wing tip would hit the ground and we would cartwheel. Finally, with no hope, Lenny tried for Meshik Lake, in the Preserve portion. A wall of clouds kept him from seeing the lake with sufficient safety margin for a landing. But what a flight. The land still had plenty of snow, and the clouds were heavy and low. This was one exciting way to experience these two parks.
On a side note, Antler’s Inn is a good place for folks to stay if they want to do an over-and-back to Brooks Camp and not have to worry about catching the Alaska Airlines flight that night. Or come to KS and Antler’s the day before, and get the first flight over to Brooks Camp in the morning to maximize your time in the park.
The flight from King Salmon to Anchorage was practically empty, only 19 people on a 200-passenger B737. That will not be the case in July/August.