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| 5 Day Basecamp Bear Viewing & Hiking Combo |
| Bear Viewing at Chinitna Bay, Brook Falls and Moraine Creek |
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Our annual grizzly bear viewing camp returns for this year. This once in a lifetime trip is truly a multi-sensory experience for the adventurer looking to view, photograph and admire North America’s most magnificent big game animal. From our comfortable camp (one that we’ve made bear resistant by surrounding with an electric fence), we spend 3 full days searching for bears. Whether we’re viewing 20 different bruins feeding on sedges along the Lake Clark coast, watching them roam the tundra near Moraine Creek in Katmai, or admiring a large boar catching spawning Sockeye Salmon at the world famous Brooks Falls, these venues are some of the most spectacular, remote and pristine areas in southwest Alaska to view these majestic creatures.
Which location we choose will strictly be based on the time of the summer and which particular habitats are active. Our June trips visit the remote Lake Clark National Park coastline, where mating pairs and family groups gather to feed on nourishing sedges. In July, we spend our time at Brooks Camp near the famous Brooks River and falls. Here a multitude of bears converge each year to partake in a feast of Bristol Bay salmon. And finally, our August trips will visit Moraine Creek – also in Katmai National Park. This area is frequented by numerous bears who gather in the area to fatten up on spawning fish. |
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| Day |
Itinerary |
| 1 |
Anchorage - Port Alsworth
Scenic Flight in the morning from Anchorage over the Cook Inlet to Port Alsworth in Lake Clark National Park. Check into local accommodations. Orientation dinner at the Farm Lodge. |
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| 2 - 4 |
Port Alsworth - Chinitna Bay, Brooks Falls or Moraine Creek
Fly by floatplane from Port Alsworth to Chinitna Bay, Brooks Camp or Moraine Creek - depending on the season. We set up our basecamp for two nights and spend the entire days to view the bears and hike the area.
Chinitna Bay: Chinitna Bay is located on the West shore of Cook Inlet, Alaska. The bears at Chinitna Bay roam uninhibited over a 20 mile area. There are no public viewing platforms and no park rangers. These bears are wild, unaccustomed to constant human presence. They are magnificent examples of wild natural wonder, that can be experienced without harm to them, you, or the environment when done properly. We strive to maintain an unintrusive presence so that we can enjoy observing the bears for years to come. The first two weeks of June is bear mating season and by late June the boars have seperated themselves from the sows. At this time the sows and cubs take over the grass flats and it is not uncommon to fly over and count 50 bears grazing on the grasses of this unique section of land along Chinitna Bay. Sows with twins and even triplets are not uncommon. The bears feed on grasses early in the spring and progress to berries and fish in the fall. From our camp you can watch bears crossing the grass flats on trails beaten into the ground from years of bear traffic. Bears frolicking and chasing each other up the valleys and fishing in the creek is not unusual. You can be sure that the photography opportunities will be plentiful.
Brooks Camp: Katmai National Park is located on the northeast coast of the Alaska Peninsula. It boasts the largest population of protected brown bears in the world. During the July salmon runs, Katmai's Brooks River & Falls is the focus of bears feeding in the park, providing visitors with unparalleled views of Alaskan brown bears. Brown bears are very active in Katmai. The number of brown bears in the Park has grown to over 2,000, making them the world's largest protected population of these bigger cousins of the grizzly. Calorie rich seafood is the reason they get so big. During the peak of the world's largest sockeye salmon run each July, and during return of the "spawned out" salmon in September, forty to sixty bears congregate along the Brooks River near Brooks Camp. Brooks Camp Campground is the only established campground in the Park.
Moraine Creek: Most every year to the beginning of August, we leave the Brooks River and move to a high mountain stream called Moraine Creek. Since this place is farther from the ocean, it takes until the end of July for the fish to make it this far up. By late July, the fish will start to arrive. Bright red schools of salmon flood into this part of the country and along with their arrival comes the Bears. These snow fed rivers are shallow, swift and clear and the bears start feeding with a frenzy. It’s not unusual to see 15 or 20 different bears throughout the course of the day and literally tens of thousands of spawning red salmon. Last year was a great run and the bears were able to literally heard big schools of fish completely out of the water and up on shallow sand bars! By then, the fish were in their bright red spawning colors, it was an awesome sight! |
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| 5 |
Return to Port Alsworth - Anchorage
Return to Port Alsworth by early afternoon and finally back to Anchorage. Please schedule your flight home from Anchorage for after 9pm. |
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| Month |
Departure Dates |
| June |
12, 19, 26 - Chinitna Bay |
| July |
03, 10, 17, 24 - Brooks Camp |
| August |
07, 14, 21, 28 - Moraine Creek |
| September |
11 - Moraine Creek |
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| Rates per Person in US$ (Based on double occupancy) |
Adult |
| 5 Day Basecamp Bear Viewing |
$2,850.00 |
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| Including |
• Air Transportation between Anchorage and Port Alsworth, Lake Clark National Park
• Air Transportation between Port Alsworth - Bear Viewing Sight
• 1 Night Accommodation at the Farm Lodge in Port Alsworth, Lake Clark
• 3 Nights Camping Accommodation
• Professional Guide Service
• All group camping gear (tents, stoves, fuel, dry bags, etc.) and safety equipment
• All meals from dinner on day one through breakfast on the final day of the itinerary
• Storage for your extra travel items while in the field |
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