July 13, 2024
We hadn't really planned on taking a bear viewing day tour to Katmai National Park. The expense and no guarantees nature of the tour had put the idea on a back burner. However, when we saw the live bear cam at the Homer visitor center, we decided to give it a try. A cancellation had us scheduled to fly the next day. Weather postponed us by three days, the next space available flight. Weather delayed us, first by two hours, which was announced the day prior, then an additional hour when we arrived. At this point, I was ready to call the excursion off. It was a travel day for us. We had a three plus hour drive to our next campground following the tour return.
I am so glad we went. The hour and fifteen minute flight was uncomfortable. The weather was cold, barely in the 50's, and rainy. Many of the tours for the day had been cancelled. That worked to our favor.
The Brooks Falls platform to view the bears typically has a waiting list. You walk 1.25 miles to get to the waiting list. The ranger informed us that some people have had to wait 2.5 hours. If you're in the porta-potty and miss your name being called three times, start over. Only 40 people are allowed at a time, and the time limit is for 30 minutes. We were able to go out to the platform twice with essentially no waiting. While waiting for the Brooks Falls platform, you can view bears from the Riffles platform, but it too can be crowded.
We personally counted over 25 bears, with others counting over 30 bears. Even the park rangers were impressed with how many bears were on the river that day. Some days there are only 4 bears. Because we saw so many bears and the crowd was small, the experience was a huge win for us.
Hey, we even made our next campground just after sunset...11:08 pm!
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| Our transportation |
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| All aboard |
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| Looks like the right trail |
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| Brooks Falls Platform |
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| Feeding time |
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