After Denali and Fairbanks, Kenzie and Jodi headed back home. But I played hooky for a few more days to see the Kenai Peninsula on my own. I rented an SUV and headed south to Homer for an amazing experience. A trip to the Katmai National Forest by float plane to go on a bear photography excursion.<\/p>\n
This was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. We took a float plane about an hour south and landed along the beach near a meadow where Alaskan Brown Bears gather in preparation for the salmon run. Then unloaded and began hiking through the meadows among the brown bear.<\/p>\n
I think it’s fair to say our group was all a bit nervous, but we had an excellent guide who coached us ahead of time on how to interact and be around them [relatively] safely. He really knew the animals and after about 20 minutes of being around them, we settled in for what was an INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE!<\/p>\n
These bears don’t view humans as a food source, so as long as you are not threatening to them, they go about their business. By law, we had to stay 100 feet away from them, but we found that while we stayed away, they would often walk up closer to us to check us out (especially the babies who wanted to play).<\/p>\n
Around noon we took a break from hiking and stopped for lunch in the middle of the meadow. Our guide did a quick check and pointed out that we had 21 bears surrounding us including 3 moms with 2 cubs each.<\/p>\n
We spent about 6 hours total hiking around the area, watching moms and cubs interact, watching dominant 1100 pound males challenge other males, and just generally seeing how the bears behave. This was an extraordinary experience and one that I can’t begin to put into words. Definitely something I’ll never forget!<\/p>\n
As if the time on the ground wasn’t amazing enough, on the flight back to Homer the float plane took a little detour and flew up the mouth of a glacier we were passing so we could all get a good view.<\/p>\n
I threw together some video clips from the GoPro I had mounted to my shoulder as we walked around the bears. It’s just raw video and not well edited, but it gives some idea of what it was like.<\/p>\n
Unbelievable day and a truly once in a lifetime experience!!!<\/p>\n