Katmai: Oh, My! - Wednesday-Thursday, August 10-11, 2022

Bear viewing in Katmai National Park, Alaska, with Sasquatch Alaska Adventure Company was our adventure on Wednesday. And what an adventure it was! Upon arrival at the office, we were all fitted for hip waders to wear while we walked in the wilderness to look for wildlife.

Pat, Kevin, Lorraine, Mary Jane,
Tom, me, Bob.

To begin, our group boarded Cessna 206 planes outfitted with fat tires so they could land on the beach! Three small planes ferried sightseers across Cook Inlet to a beach an hour and ten minutes away. During the bumpy flight, we saw magnificent volcanic peaks (some with glaciers), lakes, rivers, and bogs. 

Pat and Lorraine boarding the 
Cessna 206. You can see what a 
beautiful day we had!

This was the view at our RV park before we left on the tour at 2:30 pm.

The view from our RV park at 2 pm.

The view from our RV park at 2 pm.
We are camped on the Homer Spit.

And, now, back to our flight to Katmai National Park.

Volcanic mountain ranges.

Large glaciers.

As we flew to the park, the weather got stormier and stormier. The little planes bounced in some of the wind gusts closer to the shore.

Here is the landscape below the plane.
We landed on the beach to the left.

We made it to the beach!

When we climbed out of the plane, we were surprised by how much colder it was on this beach in Katmai than it was at our RV park in Homer. Brr. I had on layers, but my coat wasn't warm enough, and I didn't take my shearling gloves so my hands were very cold. 

We had just set foot on the beach, when our guide, Zack, pointed out a white wolf loping along the edge of the beach! No one had mentioned we'd see wolves today, so we were pleasantly surprised!

A white wolf came by to say "hi"
when we landed on the beach.

Right off the bat, our guide asked if any of us needed to "use the facilities." I raised my hand and three more ladies followed suit. He led us up a little hill into a field of grasses, checked for bears, and left. Those were the facilities.

After that, he called us into a group to hear safety instructions for our walk.  We had to stay in a tight-knit group behind him, with the shortest people in front. The logic is that when we see wildlife, the people in front can see, and the taller people in the back can see over the people in front. If a bear got aggressive, we could spread out from behind him to make our group look bigger. Fine by me!

He led our group up over a rise off the beach and through some grasses onto a gravel river bank. It was only a couple of minutes before he had us at a full stop. Up ahead, was a sow bear with a cub. The bears looked us over and continued eating. The cub was so curious. He kept standing up on his hind legs to look at us or would peek at us through the grass.

Mama bear with cub (standing up
to check us out).

The cub peeking at us through the
grasses.

Mama was very worried about 
something. She kept looking upriver.

In a minute, a big male bear came
downriver.

The male brown bear.

Mama bear turned tail and ran away.
The cub followed her.

Now, the male bear headed into
the river.

He spent quite a bit of time fishing, 
but didn't catch anything.

We watched him fish for quite some time. Then, another big male bear came out of the woods. 

You can now see two bears. The one
in the back already caught a fish. 

The white wolf was never far away 
from us.

A bald eagle sitting on driftwood.

Two bears in close proximity.

Looking hungry! 

The river is full of fish, not the
gravel bar!

This particular bear had a hard time
catching fish. He ran and jumped in the 
river, spun around, but couldn't seem to 
catch one.

Then, he finally caught a fish. You can hear us cheering in the video below.

We continued walking along the river. Two bears (one male, and one female) hunted downstream. Many times they ran into the river after the fish. It was amazing how much ground they could cover in a short amount of time. Soon, we had crested a gravel bank and were overlooking the mouth of the river out to the ocean. The female bear was fishing there. 

Narrowleaf arnica (Arnica
angustifolia).

The white wolf was never far away.

Two bears fishing.

Walking along a gravel bar
overlooking the ocean.

On a gravel bar looking toward
the ocean.

Bob and Zack, our guide.

Tom, Pat, Lorraine.

Female bear hunting on the beach.

The seagulls aren't afraid.

While we were watching her, and the male bear farther upstream, we saw two more wolves going along a bluff above the river. So far, we've seen four bears and three wolves. Score! It was very cold, and windy, and started to rain when we ate lunch.

This is the third wolf we've seen.

It was time to eat the meal we brought. We sat on a large piece of driftwood and watched the wolves and bear while we ate. Bob and I brought peanut butter and jam sandwiches, an apple, and Bob had a few Peanut M&Ms, which he shared with me. The rain pelted our backs. I'm glad I had a waterproof coat with a hood on it!

My hands were very cold and Pat offered me a spare pair of gloves. That was sweet and helped keep my hands warm.

When we finished eating, we walked upriver back toward the planes. An adolescent bear came out of the woods and hunted in the river near us. We enjoyed watching his enthusiasm.

We were back at the area where we started this morning. The mother bear and her cub came back. The white wolf was nearby. The sow put on a show fishing in the river and caught a huge salmon. She took it to shore for the cub. 

The adolescent bear decided to fish on her side of the river and she took umbrage. We got to watch her bluff charge him a couple of times. He got the message and moved away. I have a great video of her catching a fish and feeding it to her cub, but the video file is too big for Blogger.

Here are some still photos... In the first photo below, you can see a salmon from her earlier catch. It is to the far right of the photo. In the second photo, she is fishing again.

Mama and cub with the previous catch.

Mama bear is fishing again.

She brought in a large sockeye salmon.

The white wolf is still hanging around.

You can see the earlier catch of the day.

The cub is heading to the other fish.

At this point, the sow was in the river bluff-charging the adolescent bear who encroached on her side of the river. Meanwhile, the wayward cub ran over to the fish on the bank, grabbed it, and took off running. Mama bear took off in hot pursuit of the little thief. 

When we walked back to the planes, we could see the footprints of the cub and the deeper footprints of the running mama bear. They ran a long way down the beach.

The wildlife we saw today: four wolves, six bears, seagulls, three bald eagles, and lots of fish!!

It's time to fly back to civilization.

As we were flying away from the beach, Bob indicated that he saw the sow, cub, and a wolf on the beach. Later, he told me that he heard the pilot mention that a second wolf was circling around behind the cub. We flew away and do not know what happened in that confrontation. We hope the story ended well for the bear family.

Our flight back to Homer was very smooth, but it was freezing cold on the plane. I shivered most of the way back!

When we returned to the airport, we returned our hip waders and ear protection. Then the tour company staff invited everyone out to the picnic table where they had a charcuterie board and baguette slices with pico de gallo. What a nice end to a very interesting day. 

Bob and I highly recommend this tour! 

Thursday, August 11: Today, it was very rainy all day long. I did ten loads of laundry. It has been 12 days since our last laundry and we've hiked a lot since then. Plus, I did all our towels and bedding. Whew! 

It's nice to have a day off once in a while. (If you consider doing 10 loads of laundry a day off!)

I can only imagine what the views would be like from here if the clouds went away. We have a few more days to see the spectacular views, so here's hoping we get some clear, warm weather!

View from the Homer Spit.

View from the Homer Spit.

View from the Homer Spit.

Another busy day is planned for tomorrow. More on that in my next blog. 

Good night, all!