Our day started with our air flight service saying there was a 50% chance we wouldn’t be able to fly from King Salmon to Katmai due to weather…Even with those odds everyone climbed on the plane from Anchorage to King Salmon. The chance to see some of these bears at the falls was well worth the potential cancellation and boring day in King Salmon! Also easy for me to say now – since we did end up getting to go! If not this post would be a lot less exciting. Below is a picture of our plane on the beach in Katmai!
When our flight landed in Katmai – we had to circle around 3 times! Bears kept coming out onto the beach and playing and hanging out. This was so cool to see – and a great indication of the number of bears I would see on this trip! Skip ahead to Brooks Falls! I hiked over and immediately got to capture some of the greatest pictures of my life!
This one above is one of my favorites. Just because he is mid-fish snack, slobber and blood all over his mouth! Man it was incredible to see these bears so close in their natural habitat!
This guy surprised us all by finally nabbing a fish. We figured maybe he was just very hot…choosing to swim neck high in the falls.
There are a few pictures of this blonder bear. He was very active, walking around the lower falls. Clearly hadn’t fought and won a prime spot for fishing, but still got some great shots!
I love this one too – kind of looks like they are both watching this salmon fly through the air!
Best action shot!! Got it right as his mouth clamped down on the fish. The bears were not as good at fishing as I would have expected! But they do catch them sometimes.
Staring right into my soul. If I hadn’t been viewing from a platform I might have been nervous… but fear not, he was quickly distracted by his next catch.
I am almost positive one of these CHUNKY bears won the contest for fattest bears in Katmai this year. These guys were MASSIVE! It was kind of comical watching them climb down the bank.
There was some debate from many people who saw this image – tongue or fish?? I can confirm – tongue.
This little family, hanging out and catching fish together.
This was one of my last shots of the day – but I love the composition. He was out swimming in the bay, then climbed up onto the beach.
Some views from the float plane ride back home. I loved spending the day in Katmai! Great wildlife viewing, always felt safe and well informed by the rangers, and beautiful scenery!
Kelsey's Climb to 59 (+4) 