Leaving Denali and Heading for Katmai

We left Kantishna Road House early for a 5-hour ride to the Denali train depot. We had a new bus driver, Kirstie, who hailed from Australia.

Lame cow moose running away

She was great and seemed even more knowledgeable than our driver the previous day.

A little close to the edge, Kirstie!

We later found out that the knowledge base comes from driving the bus for the past 17 years, and it was obvious that this experience and reaction from the other bus drivers made her the queen of the Denali park road.

A fox hunting for lunch

And Kirstie was also a good neighbor picking up a set of tire chains that had been jostled from another bus, and taking on 12 extra passengers from a neighboring road house when their bus broke down.  And who doesn’t love a true Aussie accent?

The bears stop traffic

About one hour into our journey we spotted a cow moose running away from the road and a large grizzly bear running near full speed down the road ahead of us. Watching the moose, Kirstie called out that it was lame in the right rear quarter.

Mama and her babies

We followed the bear for about 1¼ miles as it raced ahead of us, something Kirstie said that she had never seen. But because the bear was ahead of us, we weren’t able to get any images. Finally, the bear started slowing and left the road.

The kids

We speculate that the bear and the moose had an encounter of some type- either the bear attacked the moose or sensed that it was injured, when we happened upon them. Either way, we got to see something that our experienced drive had not witnessed before.

Caribou relaxing

Further up the road Capt. Larry called out a fox that everyone else on the bus missed. Kirstie backed the bus up and we watched fox, oblivious to our presence, hunt for his lunch. Shortly after watching the fox, Kirstie spotted a caribou laying next to the road chewing its cud. But the best wildlife encounter of trip was three bears, a sow and two two-year old cubs walking along the road and causing a bus jam while all of the passengers snapped photos. It was really cool to watch them for 15-20 minutes. Later on, Kirstie also called out a hoary marmot which ducked into its den before we could record it. It was an amazing ride to the depot and we generously thanked Kirstie for her expert driving and guiding.

The Alaska Railroad runs on time and once again we boarded for the 232-mile ride to Anchorage.

Here comes our train

We were in the domed car and shortly after we left the depot, we had a delicious roast beef lunch. The scenery on this leg of the railroad was even more spectacular than our previous train ride.

So long Jane!

We passed through several small towns and our guide told us about the history and development of these communities. We passed over Hurricane Gulch, the last and highest bridge on the railroad, and so named for the hurricane-speed winds that often blow through the pass.

Lunch is served

We saw some more little communities and listened to our coach guide tell us, in excruciating detail, about all of the plants and ferns that were edible (like this is what we came to Alaska to learn about!).

Hurricane Gulch

As we approached Anchorage there was less spectacular scenery to view, so we think the guide started to make things up to keep us entertained. We had a late arrival in Anchorage and finally got to our hotel around 2100. We had been riding, either on the bus or the train for about 13 hours and we were whipped. We went to a nearby restaurant for some dinner and turned in as soon as we could. Our itinerary called for an early flight out of the Anchorage airport to our next destination, Katmai N.P., our seventh park. We flew Penn Air airlines, an Alaska Airlines subsidiary or affiliate, for the 75 minute flight into King Salmon, AK.

Weighing in for the float plane

Here we took a shuttle from the airport to a lake where we would board a Katmai Air floatplane to get to the park.

Loading everything up

We finally arrived (much to Jane’s relief!) and checked into the Brooks Camp Lodge. Brooks Camp is an old fishing and hunting lodge that was started back in the late 40’s.

We made it

Today it is known as one of Alaska’s premier bear-viewing camps and is especially popular when the salmon are running and the bears are fishing and feasting. Immediately after check-in we had to attend a bear orientation program conducted by the park rangers.

Seven down, one to go!

This was our third orientation which allowed us a chance to compare notes. In Denali, as we mentioned previously, we were told that the bears don’t like to come into areas where there is a human presence, because the bears want to avoid human contact.

Anglers hoping to hook one

In Katmai one of the rangers said that sows will often bring their cubs near humans to protect them from males, and that males will often will kill the cubs to bring the sow back into estrus and it is important to avoid males, sows, and cubs in the same setting.

Where's Millette when you need her?

Katmai instructed us not to maintain eye contact with any bear we encounter (yeah, like we’re going to look away!). In Banff we were told to maintain eye contact, but raise your arms over your head (so they can get after the vital parts!) to look big (we’re talking about a 600-700 lb. animal!) and talk calmly to them to let them know you’re human (and tasty!). In Banff the instructions were to lie down on your belly and play dead, if attacked. Denali the advice was fight like hell.

Fishing for dinner

But after all of this “training” we think that the guide at Lake Clark was the most knowledgeable. He would watch the bears for a while to determine their disposition and then approach them if they showed no signs of stress by his presence.

We can do this!

This approach allowed us to get within 20 yards of one sow, and we never felt we were in danger. We were more at ease close to the bears in Lake Clark than any other park with all of their visitor protections.

They're just thick!

Capt. Larry noted that there were 8 rangers at Katmai tracking the positions of the bears near the lodge and pedestrian pathways and figured the mandated protections were more to give all of those rangers something to do. After the orientation we had lunch and went bear viewing. There is a low waterfall that the salmon have to scale and we headed for the falls to view the bears.

The lodge fireplace

As we arrived, we saw a single bear devouring a salmon. When the bear was finished with its meal, it ambled over to the banks and immediately caught another salmon in the heavily populated waters along the banks of the Katmai River. We watched a little longer and headed back to the lodge. Because the bears roam through areas that are shared with visitors, we found it interesting to see all of the protections that are present to keep the bears separated from the people.

It's late, better hold it in!

We got back to our “rustic” (but comfortable the ad said!) accommodations and turned in for the night. We were surprised at the construction of our cabin which had no insulation in the walls (they close it down in the winter) and the walls were made of wood. Naturally sound permeated the walls and we were advised to be considerate of our neighbors and not flush the toilet after 2200 (better hold that in, Jane). The next morning we were awakened by someone farting on the toilet in the room next to us. Who would have imagined in this day and age? And all of these conveniences for the mere price of $384 pp/day.

The next day we boarded a bus for a tour to the “Valley of 10,000 Smokes.”

Fording a river to the valley

This valley is actually the reason (and not the bears) the park was created in the first place. In 1912 a volcano, later named Novarupta, erupted producing a huge ash and debris field. Volcanic ash was recorded up to 700 feet thick making this eruption the largest to occur in North America in the 20^th century.

Valley of 10,000 Smokes ash field

As a result of this hot ash deposit, the ground and surface waters were superheated producing numerous fissures, fumaroles, and steam vents that appeared to be smoking, hence the name Valley of 10,000 Smokes. This steam vent field dissipated by 1919, and today the valley’s attraction is the natural erosion of the ash field by streams and rivers, much like a mini-Grand Canyon. It was awesome to see.

Erosion of the ash and debris field

On the way back to the lodge we encountered a "bear jam" which occurs when the bears wander into the areas used by humans (hmmmm, thought they avoided that stuff). We were on the other sided of the river and the bridge was closed until the bears moved out. We were only 1 hour away from boarding our flight back to King Solomon and were starting to wonder if we were going to make it. Finally, the rangers signaled an "all clear" and we scooted to the lodge. We checked out of the lodge only to be chased from the beach by bears on 3 instances while waiting for our float plane. We finally made it back to Anchorage to stage for our final national park, Glacier Bay.

Here's some pics of the protective gates we had to pass through to view the bears at the falls. Your tax dollars at work!