Bears, bears, bears

In Adventure, Alaska Travelgram by scott

 

I had lunch in the middle of a blinding snowstorm yesterday here in Anchorage with the folks from AlaskaHDTV. Scott and Kevin just posted a great video on Archangel Valley (see post below). 

We’re planning some bear-viewing trips this summer. There are three great areas. Let’s review.

First, just across Cook Inlet from Kenai is the area around Wolverine Creek. Our friends Carl and Kirsten Dixon (remember Winterlake Lodge??) own and operate Redoubt Bay Lodge as a premier bear-viewing experience in the summer. Fly over with Rust’s from Anchorage’s Lake Hood. Taxi up to the dock. Watch for bears (we had some at the end of the dock last time we visited). Have lunch at the lodge, then take the boat for your two-minute ride over to Wolverine Creek. Heck–the guides have names for the bears. It’s a great experience.

Next, the bears of Katmai are big, big, big. You’ve probably seen pictures of salmon jumping right into the mouths of bears waiting by the falls. Chances are good those photos were taken at Brooks River Falls, in the heart of the Katmai region. Our friends at Katmailand offer one-day trips with PenAir, as well as accommodations for longer stays in the park. If you’re staying more than one day, make time to take the all-day tour to the Valley of the 10,000 Smokes. I had some great pictures, but I dropped my camera in the river. So–I’m going back this year to take some more snapshots. 

Finally, down in Southeast Alaska, Anan Creek offers visitors a chance to see both black bears and brown bears fishing in a stream choked with millions of pink salmon. We took a trip over to Anan Creek with Brenda Schwartz-Yaeger last year. She and her husband Jon run go-fast jetboats from Wrangell to Anan Creek. You get the chance to spend several hours checking out the bears–including getting up close in a camo-draped viewing hut close to the creek. 

The AlaskaHDTV crew already is making plans to return to Wrangell this summer and roll film at Anan Creek with the folks at Alaska Waters. There’s plenty to do in Wrangell, of course. We went with Jim Leslie of Alaska Waters, photographer Ivan Simonek and writer Bonnie Demerjian up the Stikine River to Telegraph Creek over Labor Day. It was a fabulous four-day trip to the Grand Canyon of the Stikine. Here’s a picture I took of a black bear–through my binoculars!

Bonnie and Ivan have written books on Anan Creek (“Anan–Stream of Living Water”) as well as books on Wrangell and the Stikine River. 

Here’s a shot of a brown bear at Anan Creek. Actually, this sow started to follow us down the trail. WHOA!

Enter to win a free copy of Anan–Stream of Living Water. Ivan did the photos. Fabulous. Bonnie explores the history of the region–from Native Alaskan legends, to commercial fishing to bear viewing. 

How to win? Simple. Send me an email ([email protected]) with the name of the national park where Brooks River Falls is located. Simple Simple. Find the answer here: www.katmailand.com . Your email SUBJECT must include: BEARS. The body of your email MUST include:

a. Name

b. Address and phone number

c. The true and actual CORRECT answer!! 

Have fun. Thanks for playing. We’ll pick the winner from the correct entries! 

 

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