August 7, 2024 (Wednesday): While the weather seemed perfectly fine in Homer, there was severe winds across the mountains that you would cross to fly over to Brooks Lodge and Visitor Center in Katmai National Park (KNP). Two days later we made the 1.5 hour flight to KNP landing on Naknek Lake and spent 5 hours wandering around the area and viewing the bears at Brooks Falls. It was so worth the effort and expense!
It’s quite an experience to be around the Coastal Brown Bears, which are the same species at the Grizzly bear, but bigger due to the amount of food that is available to them in Alaska. We passed a bear between our path to the Visitor Center and the lake we landed on and we saw them along the path out to Brooks Falls. Thankfully, we only saw them on the 1.2 mile walk to the falls while we were on the raised boardwalks, but they wander through the paths as well. We just didn’t encounter any. The bottom line that you learn in the 10-minute bear video and from the rangers is that they are not interested in you. The bears are in search of the plentiful supply of fish and berries. You just don’t want to startle them.
Flight to Katmai National Park
Glaciers receeding leave wide U-shaped valleys that eventually fill in with a Boreal Forest leaving lakes and ponds 
Glacial valley 
Great flight on the 10-passenger Otter plane 
Our plane parked on the edge of Naknek Lake 
Flight back to Homer had us much closer to the mountains 
Close up of the mountains with the U-shaped valley in the distance 
Getting ready to land on Beluga Lake in Homer
Brooks Camp & Brooks Falls
We had a 10-minute Bear Aware video in the Visitor Center. 
Path to the Lodge…yes, there are bears along this path! 
The 1.2 mile walk out to the falls starts with a boardwalk across a big marsh area 
We saw a few bears in the distance from this boardwalk 
Yes, a bear shits in the woods and this is what it looks like when they are bulking up on berries! And it was VERY fresh! 
The path through the spruce, alders and birch trees. They tell you to sing or talk to make sure you don’t startle the bears. 
The “Tree House” is where you wait for your 30-minute slot on the platform next to Brooks Falls. It was quiet enough for us to have 2 30-minute sessions on the main platform. 
The main platform at Brooks Falls 
There are 6 bears here fishing in this photo. There were a few others roaming in and out of the main falls area. 
Baby Bear, Cousin Bear (1-year older than baby) and Mama Bear 
Those fish are jumping! 
Mama bear going for the fish 
Baby Bear won’t share her successful catch with her holder Cousin Bear, but Cousin Bear only eats what Mama Bear catches. She didn’t catch anything on her own. 
The male bears reign over the lower part of the falls on the far side 
This bear was in front of the lower Brooks Falls platform 
Secondary platform below Brooks Fall where there’s plenty of room to see the bears. We even had one right out in front of us. 
Success! 
More beautiful scenery on the walk back from Brooks Falls 
Bear in the foreground looking for fish 
Mergansers were not bothered with the bear activity 
These guys are fishing where the bears hang out…that seems like a little competition to me!
The Traveling Lounsburys 