the Tripod Traveler visits the Brown Bears of Alaska's Katmai National Park
Sept 14, 2023
I have been sleeping in a sleeping bag and a tent, protected by electrified wires to keep the bears away, for the past 4 nights in Alaska's Brooks Lodge. Without a shower. In the rain. With no mobile signal. In order to arrive here, we flew from King Salmon, AK because there are no roads here. We landed on Brooks lake on a de Havilland Beaver float plane from the year 1953 and it ran like it was made last week.
Although we had bears waltzing through the camp area near the lodge and along the beach, I never felt in danger. The park rangers (a.k.a Parkies) would shoo us and our cameras off the beach if a bear got too close. 50 meters in the minimum safe distance from an Alaska Brown Bear. In fact, our group stumbled upon one sleeping off a Sockeye Salmon lunch just 3 meters away on a trail near the river. He simply looked up, half awake, and went back to his nap. It was in the forest so, no, I didn't grab the camera.
I will never forget the sound of an Alaskan Brown bear chomping into the spine of a live Sockeye Salmon. But that's just how nature works. It was an amazing few days and I really enjoyed immersing myself in nature. It was also great exercise walking 7 or 8 miles a day with 10kg (22lbs) of camera gear on my back. Most people can't begin to understand the amount of planning, timing and effort it takes to capture great images.
As my Alaska trip has only just begun, I don't have many photos downloaded yet. I captured nearly 4000 images in the first four days. stay tuned. maxdobens.com