More bears and other things

 Thursday July 24

We dodged an incoming storm system yet again, and flew to Brooks Falls for another day watching bears and salmon. The float planes (de Haviland Beavers) seat 7 guests. The ones we flew in have been updated repeatedly but were originally built between 1954 and 1964.  Most of our pilots were born long after the planes were built!  We flew between 500 and 650 feet of altitude, depending on the “ceiling” of the cloud banks. At the end of the day we boarded a conventional Beechcraft King Air 100 for the 30 minute return flight to Homer and the final dinner of the trip. We amused ourselves totaling up the modes of transportation on this trip. Leaving aside getting to Fairbanks for the start of the trip and vans belonging to various lodges and short transfers, we rode in: 3 vans, 2 helicopters, 1 train, 7 boats, 3 float planes models  (4 rides) and 2 charter planes. 

Today we could be a bit more relaxed in our bear viewing and really study particular individuals and their fishing methods. There are three formal viewing areas— the lower river where it widens out and flows into Naknek Lake, the famous falls, and the “riffles” slightly below the falls. Today the lower river was quite active, as a safe space for mothers with cubs or young inexperienced adults that don’t want to compete with the big boys up at the falls. The inexperienced bears were fun to watch, as they missed as much as they caught. When we arrived, we saw 10 bears in this area.

At the riffles, we watched one of the “celebrity bears” named Walker (151). Every bear is assigned a number and there are webcams set up by the falls that people log in to watch. Walker is a large, dark male with facial scars and a dominating personality, so he is easy to identify. As for fishing style, Walker is a “snorkeler”. 

We did have to stop a few times to let bears pass by the trails, and on one occasion we got to hear bears vocalize as they chased each other. This is unusual, as bears normally use body language and facial expressions to avoid conflicts and preserve the hierarchy. We also saw a few bears sleeping off their food coma to be ready to fish some more.

A few other notes about bears. Alaska has three species of bears: black, brown and polar. Both “grizzlies” and “coastal brown bears” are the same species. Grizzlies are brown bears who live more than 500 miles from the coastline. While grizzlies are omnivores, their access to protein rich foods is limited, and the largest males weigh about 800 pounds. Coastal brown bears have the opportunity to gorge on salmon, allowing the largest males to weigh well over 1200 pounds, even up to 1400 pounds, which rivals the size of polar bears. Black bears are smaller than grizzlies and while also omnivores, the proteins in their diet are things like insects and frogs. 

As with a number of other national parks in Alaska, Katmai National Park was established in 1980— but not because of the bears.  In 1912 there was the Novarupta volcanic eruption which caused the collapse of Mt Katmai’s summit. It was the largest eruption of the 20th century and estimated to be 30 times larger than Mount Saint Helens. It coated the area in ash. It also created a valley (“the valley of ten thousand smokes”) full of fumaroles. It was hoped that this would be a second Yellowstone, and the area was created a National Monument in 1918 to protect these features. The fumaroles have gradually petered out, but of course the bears and salmon have become the new attraction. We saw pumice “stones” on the beach as well as places where bears have dug down to the ash layer. Apparently the ash helps them with digestive issues if they’ve really overdone the gorging. 

Pictured: snowshoe hare, today’s bear-on-the-trail, Walker in deep water, Walker with his tongue out, the abundance of salmon even in the lower river, sleeping bear (look at those claws!)