Alaska Day 9: Bear Viewing
Taking a day trip to see bears feasting on salmon was not on my itinerary when I had left New York, but once I arrived in Alaska several people told me that it was something that should not be missed. I don’t like having regrets, so I booked myself a last minute bear viewing experience online with Talon Air.
98% of the entire population of brown bears in the United States reside in Alaska. There are over 30,000 of them there. Brown bears that are found inland are referred to as grizzlies, while those on the coasts are called coastal brown bears. The distinction between the two is not only regional, but also in their physical appearance and diet. Kodiak bears are also subspecies of brown bear that can only be found on Kodiak Island.
I understood why bear viewing would be a cool thing to do in Alaska, but it is not cheap. Day trips can easily run north of $1K per person. Luckily I had met an incredible photographer named David Shaw during my stay at Camp Denali, who spent lots of time in Alaska and he recommended I use a company called Talon Air, that was considerably less expensive than the others. It just meant I would have to get myself to Soldotna, which was a few hours southwest of where I was staying in Anchorage. Since it would save me a few hundred bucks, I decided to make the drive.
I had booked a day trip to Crescent Lake to see the brown bears. Check in was at 12:30pm. It was a beautiful, sunny day with very few clouds in the sky. It seemed like perfect weather for this type of experience, but when I arrived at Talon Air’s floatplane base in Soldotna, they informed me that the water conditions at Crescent Lake were not ideal and that we would be going to Big River Lakes instead. I didn’t know the difference, but I was fine with it. Plus I got another $100 back due to the change.
We soon boarded a 10 seat Cessna Caravan floatplane and began the 30 minute flight to Big River Lakes. We flew over the Cook inlet, past Redoubt Bay, and then over Double Glacier on the way into Lake Clark National Park.
The turquoise waters of the Kenai River
Lake Clark National Park
Double Glacier
Lake Clark National Park
Landing on Big River Lakes
Fishing boats
BIG RIVER LAKES
Big River Lakes is a popular area to fish for sockeye salmon, so quite a few boats were out there on fishing excursions. The other boats were full of bear “viewers” like me and photographers. We all made our way over to Wolverine Creek. There were maybe 6 or 7 boats out there. I think in peak summer there would be more, but with 6 or 7 others, it didn’t feel too crowded.
Wolverine Creek
Mama & Cubs at the Creek
Other boats
brown bears, dry hair
There were a bunch of brown bears in the water by the creek bobbing for salmon. I say bobbing, because they would only stick their faces in the water. The tops of their heads would stay dry. Observing this was quite entertaining. It made them seem kind of silly and less scary. I explain why they were doing this later in this post.
My Talon Air guide’s name was Haley but she went by the nickname “Red.” She was the only female guide in the bunch. She appeared to be the youngest one out there and I liked her rough around the edges style. I got the sense that some of the guys liked to give her a hard time, but she could hold her own. You could tell she cared about her job and the experience for her guests.
At one point she got our her fishing rod, caught a sockeye salmon and filleted in on the back of the boat for us. She seasoned it, fired up this little propane grill and cooked it right there. There was no food included in the excursion so it was really nice of her to do that. I had never had fish that had been caught and cooked within 5 minutes before!
STAY OVER THERE, BEAR
While bear viewing, you really just sit and watch bears for hours in their natural habitat. I never realized how expressive they can be. One of them i got to see too closely though. He came extremely close to the boat. Probably within 4 feet of me. It made me a bit nervous, but Red didn’t so much as flinch, so I figured I shouldn’t panic. I didn’t understand how these bears were so unphased by people. She then explained that since there is an abundance of salmon there for them to eat, they aren’t desperate for food, nor do they associate people with it, which helps. Plus the boats keep their distance so the bears don’t feel threatened. The guides respect the wildlife and land and expect their guests to do the same.
Bear Brothers
Bear Side Eye
The smile on this one!
CIRCLE OF LIFE: sockeye edition
Something I dig so much about these excursions is how much you learn. I’m like a sponge on these trips. I’m such a nerd that I take notes on my phone. I didn’t need to know about the life cycle of a sockeye salmon, but I was definitely fascinated learning about it.
Sockeye Life Cycle
The life cycle of a sockeye salmon is
only around 4 years.
They are born in fresh water streams, rivers and lakes, but migrate to the ocean as adults
They return to the same location where they were born to then spawn and die providing nutrients in the water for new life
It’s not exactly the nicest send off by mother nature. Their heads turn green and bodies turn red and they drop dead naturally within days of spawning, but what a treat for those bears! They had an endless feast at their feet. Hence the bobbing I mentioned earlier. Since there was all this freshly deceased salmon at the bottom of the lake, the bears just had to stick their faces in the water to see where it was and scoop the fish off the bottom with their claws. Very little effort needed for a meal!
Note: The sockeye that Red caught for us still had silver skin, which meant it was okay to consume. There were a lot of red and green ones swimming around like the photo above, which humans would not want to consume, but are okay for the bears to eat.
BEAR 101
I think we got to see over 20 bears out by the creek. They were all coastal brown bears out but I was told you can see black bears there as well. In all species, adult male bears are called boars and adult females are called sows. There were quite a few cubs out there too. Everyone enjoyed watching the babies interacting with their Mom. From stealing her salmon to using her back as a dining table, it was all very cute.
Adorable bear family
Keeping an eye out for boars
As much as I love feeling like I’m in the middle of a Nat Geo documentary learning all these fascinating things about nature and wildlife, sometimes the realities of it are tough to swallow. One of those not-so-great things I learned is that boars will kill cubs – including their own – because the death of a cub will immediately put the sow into heat. I truly had no desire to witness such a thing. Fortunately, no cubs were harmed in my presence, but I did get to watch mama face off with a boar who would have tried to harm her babies if he was able to get any closer. It made for some good photos, but it must have been exhausting for her.
A sow faces off with a boar to protect her young as they look on
She told him to leave and he wouldn’t…
This went on for a while…
She was not having it.
We were out there for around 5 hours total. If you need to use the bathroom, they take you to an area with bushes and trees where you can drop trou semi-privately. After some people took care of business, we boated back to the plane and flew back to Soldotna. I was tired, but glad I went. Outside of my guide Red, I wouldn’t say the people were very warm at Talon Air so don’t expect much in the congeniality department. I would absolutely use them again though. I wanted to see bears and they delivered that experience in a safe and efficient way.
bear viewing from anchorage
Another option for bear viewing is a company called Rusts that is based in Anchorage. It came highly recommended to me by some of the locals. They offer quite a few fly-in experiences around South Central Alaska including one to Katmai National Park where you can capture an iconic shot of the bears catching salmon in Brooks Falls. It will run you $1295 per person though. If you’re looking for a nice, no frills experience for half the price, Talon Air is a great alternative.