Katmai alternative to Brooks River Camp

If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).

Amasaback

Member
Supporting Member
Marketplace
We are very interested in a return trip to Alaska and since getting to Brooks Camp other than a day trip seems impossible, I was wondering if anyone had their favorite alternative bear viewing and photographing location, lodge or outfitter in Katmai or greater Alaska. We were looking for the one known as Bear Camp, but apparently that has closed.
 
There are a couple of other alternatives although I think they're all day trips instead of overnighters…but the cost is a lot cheaper. We flew out of Homer down to Katmai…small bush plane with 6 including the pilot. You land on the beach…well, beach is really a misnomer since it's rocks around golfball to softball size…and you have to leave before high tide because the landing strip is gone when the tide comes in. It was about a 6 or 7 hour trip at a cost of $600ish in 2015. The bad thing is that it's a shorter trip…the good things are that it costs much less, there are basically no people there (it's still in Katmai NP and you can only fly in) , and that you get a lot closer to the bears although you won't see them grabbing the salmon out of the air as the fish try to leap the falls…but you will get them digging them out of streams instead. Distance wise…we actually got within about 12 feet of one big brownie…or actually he got within 12 feet of us. The rule is that in the NP you can't approach the bears closer than 75 yards and the pilot who is also the tour leader enforces that pretty well. However…nobody told the bears about the rule so they just go where they want. We were standing by the edge of one of the streams and this fella got up from his nap and walked down the bank looking for lunch…and walked between us and the bank, we measured that distance later and it was 12 feet from the little 2 foot high 8 feet diameter hummock we were all standing on and the edge of the water. I had an 18-300 on a DX body at the time and my closeups as he went by were down around the double digit mm range. I wish we could have gone to Brooks…but we were on an RV caravan and my wife didn't want to go camping overnight…but the real problem was not enough time for the overnight 2 or 3 day trip given the caravan schedule. Would like to go back…but you need reservations at least a year out and unless the salmon run is happening there aren't many bears at Brooks…and with the short length and unknown start date of the run it's hard to guess right…and it's a pretty expensive trip if you don't guess right…lot of $$ for not much. The scenery in AK is great anytime in the summer…but the bears are what makes Brooks worth it…and that's a lot of expense for perhaps no photos. The same is true for the day trips out of Homer…but there are 2 or 3 companies flying out of there and probably others flying out of other nearby places…and the cost of a busted trip is a lot less.

If you're more interested in bears in general rather than bears fishing for salmon…they're pretty much a dime a dozen in most of AK in our experience. Denali of course as well as all the other NPs…but we saw a couple dozen on the side of the road just driving on the major roads as well. Denali had the most after the trip down to Katmai…but again there you're on a tour bus so having an extended visit with them is harder…although the Denali bus will drop you off and pick you up on the way back out of the park but it might be some hours before they get back your way depending on how early they drop you off.
 
We were in AK in 2018. Like Neil, we flew out of Homer over to Katmai on a peninsula. It was a really nice trip but it rained all day. Photos were not spectacular but getting out and walking in a flood plain with several dozen bears was quite the experience. Here are a couple shots from that day. The one laying down was quite the surprise. We climbed up out of one of the little streams criss crossing the field and there he was laying down. Guide said it was a first year away from mama male. We stopped, backed off to a safer distance, I shot a couple shots and we moved on. The bear could not have cared less that we were there. In fact, he seemed a little surprised to see us interrupting his afternoon nap.

I forget the cost. My brother-in-law made the arrangements. Neil's $600ish sounds about right.

We only saw a couple bear in Denali but we did see a lot of moose and a golden eagle. (lifer for me on the golden eagle).

_1JS7338.jpeg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
_1JS7369.jpeg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
 
Back
Top