The activity I most wanted to do in Alaska was brown bear watching. As my other post described, sadly, my bucket list activity of going to Brooks Falls to watch the bears catch fish swimming upstream didn’t happen. Luckily, we had also planned a trip to see the bears at Lake Clark National Park with Alaska Bear Adventures, and that was a huge success!
We departed from Homer in a Cessna 206, which is a very small aircraft. Our family of four plus one solo traveler squeezed in for the hour-long flight to one of the most remote national parks. On the way there, we circled the Iliamna Volcano, which we saw smoking, and several glaciers. I should point out that my nerves were on edge as we each had to weigh ourselves and bring a very limited amount of extras with us. Not to mention, the pilot looked barely old enough to drive! It felt like the margin of error was very small here. In the end, we came to respect our young pilot and realized a simple summer flight like we had was nothing for this guy!
As cool as the flight was, the best part was the landing. Not only was I glad to be on solid ground again, but also, using the beach as a runway was very exciting. If we didn’t see other planes already lined up on the beach I would not have been certain it was a good idea to land there.
After a short explanation about the dos and don’ts of bear watching, we set off to see what we could find. We were only a few minutes into our trek when we spotted our first bear, grazing in the pasture. Seeing her was just as great as I had imagined. Our guide assured us that we would see more bears much closer the further we walked, so we continued our journey. Sure enough, as we entered the salt marshes, there were at least a dozen bears just hanging around doing what bears do, mostly looking for food and resting. They were not interested in us at all. Our guide assured us that as long as we stayed close to each other in a group, we were perfectly safe. However, our solo traveler kept lagging behind to take pictures, with his amazing camera with a huge lens I was jealous of, which kept me constantly on edge. The one upside of a solo traveler versus bear faceoff would be that I would get to keep his camera and pictures if he was eaten by a bear. That’s me… always looking on the bright side!
We were lucky enough to see two playful cubs with their mom. The mom crossed a little tidal stream and left the cubs on the opposite side. They were hesitant to follow her. She kept going back and forth across the stream, encouraging them to follow her. After about 20 minutes of nudging them, they eventually made it to the other side. She was way more patient than a lot of parents trying to corral their young ones.
It was so much fun watching the cubs play together. When they weren’t tackling each other, they were practicing balancing on their hind legs and sitting up tall. A trick our dog Elvis has mastered as well, I might add.
After spending time in the salt marshes, we walked toward the mud flats to follow some other bears. During low tide, bears use their razor-sharp claws to dig for aquatic mollusks, such as oysters, clams, mussels, and scallops.
In order to walk out onto the mud flats, we had to wear waders, which were waterproof overalls with boots incorporated that went up to our thighs. Regardless of how silly we looked, we were all very happy to have the waders when we’d accidentally step in deep mud and get stuck. If our boots weren’t attached to the legs, we would have definitely lost a few shoes along the way!
We spent about 3 hours on the ground with the bears then headed back to our plane to return to Homer. Using the beach as a runway was just as exciting during take off as it was during the landing. During the return flight, we flew very close to the tops of a couple of the snow-capped mountains which was really amazing up close!
All in all a great day! I highly recommend making bear viewing part of your Alaska adventure.
There are several tour organizations in Alaska offering bear viewing trips. We used Alaska Bear Adventures and were very happy.
Classic Trip Details (as of 2024)
Duration: About 3 Hours with the Bears**, 5-7 Hours out of your day total
Ages: 10+
Cost: $935 per person***, $885 per person (4 or more)***, plus a 7.25% Fuel Surcharge
Dates of Operation: May 15th through mid-September
Departure Time: All coastal trips are tide and weather-dependent, most days offer a morning and afternoon trip.
We were going to use Beryl Air for our Brooks Falls bear watching trip, which unfortunately was canceled due to poor weather. I have heard good things about the company and their trips, but I haven’t experienced them firsthand yet.