Bear Encounters at Katmai National Park, Alaska!

"A beary beary scary experience at Katmai!"

Written by the friendly: Ajith Kumar (my husband)

Katmai National Park is one of the most prominent destinations in the world to see, observe and photograph Brown Bears (aka grizzlies). These are some fearsome beasts that need to be treated with a lot of respect as they are very temperamental and could go curious to furious within seconds.

This American national park is only accessible through air from Anchorage and number of entrants into the park is highly regulated. Brown Bears roam freely here and the visiting humans have to walk through the woods for a couple of miles (without any protective enclosures) to access the Brooks Falls Platform where the bears congregate to hunt the abundant sockeye salmon fish.

Early July 2018 we visited the park (husband, wife and 5 year old child). We transferred from Anchorage to a small unpaved airstrip in Kulik. We were accosted by thousands of mosquitoes on arrival before boarding our float plane for a short flight to Brooks Camp where the bears abound. Landing on an unpaved runway and flying on a float plane were both firsts for us, but more adventure awaited at Katmai.

After landing at Katmai we proceeded to the National Park Services visitor center for a quick orientation on etiquette to follow during our visit. This was an important session as the tips provided came in very handy later that day. We were told that we were highly likely to share the trail to Brooks Falls with bears. The rangers made it very clear that bears were not to be messed with (especially if its a mother with cubs) and a respectful distance (50 feet for bears alone and 100 feet for bears with cubs) should always be maintained at all times. More importantly, no running if you are accosted by a bear as that would kick off its attacking instincts and prompt an attack. [Read more here]

With palpable nerves we commenced our walk through the woods. In disposing off the food we had carried in, we took some additional time and the companions from our flight were long gone into the woods. So it was just the 3 of us and the single track leading us to Brooks Falls. We crossed a small bridge, met a friendly ranger on the other side and proceeded along the trail (with bear scat littered) confidently after a report of no bear sightings in the vicinity. We chatted loudly and sang songs to alert nearly bears of our presence and keep them away as per the instructions. However, as we rounded a corner we saw it...

A mother with 3 cubs about 50 yards away, purposefully striding towards us on the human trail. Not another soul in sight! We cautiously turned around and looked for an escape. Luckily the path we were walking on had a fork to the left and we saw a National Park Service jeep parked there. We hastily made our way there (the jeep was of course locked) hoping that the bears would just continue along the straight path and not take the fork. Well, of course they had to take the fork as well. We felt like sitting ducks - the worst possible combination of coming face to face with a family of sows. Within moments the bears were right next to us while we stepped further to hide behind the jeep. Shaon kept talking in a calm voice so as not to startle the bears and to alert them to human presence in the vicinity. The bears were only about 10 feet away from us when the mother briefly paused in her stride to look directly at us (we were completely frozen in fear) before sauntering on her way along with her cubs. I was able to get a hasty shot from behind, blurry because of my shaking arms.

We waited a few minutes before heading back to the main path. None of us, daughter included, would even heave a sigh of relief until much later. We were well and truly spooked and daughter wanted to get on my shoulders immediately (understandably so). We had another mile to walk to get to the safety of the platforms. F**k!

We just had a very narrow scrape with 4 grizzly bears (a mother and 3 cubs) and had made it out unscathed and still had a mile to walk up to the Brooks Falls Platform where we would be safe from stray, uncontrolled encounters. My daughter had gotten onto my shoulders with a scared expression and while we humored her, she nervously giggled and kept repeating how now she was a 'scaredy cat' - I should have told her that it made 2 of us in fact...

We made it back to the fork in the road and continued along our way. As we proceeded further the path narrowed in to a single person trail with heavy undergrowth on both sides. We were still all alone and continued talking loudly among ourselves so as to alert a bear to our presence. We approached another bend in the road and Shaon whispers urgently in to my ears - BEAR!

This one was jogging straight at us - oh god, now what! At the interpretation center, they had told us that after a mother with her cubs, the next most dangerous thing to possibly encounter could be a bear running at you - it is angry and needs to take it out on someone/something. However, there was a slight difference as this one was jogging. It appeared that it had some place to go and it was making haste to get there faster. They had told us - get off the bear's path and step into the bushes. We duly did that. The jogging bear was approaching us and we were literally only 4 feet away from it when it paused, gave us a cursory glance and proceeded along its way. We heaved a sigh of relief while our daughter let out a loud whimper this time - this was too close! The running bear paused and briefly turned towards us, eye to eye. Shaon kept talking in an even voice and helped calm our daughter. The bear lost interest in us and went on its way. Whew!!!

By this time I was shaking in my boots. We were deep in the woods and had no choice but to proceed to the platform. After a walk for another 15 mins with heart-stopping turns around a few corners, we finally saw the blessed gates and quickly got on to the platforms. On arriving we reported our sightings to the forest ranger after finally finding our voice and went on to the platforms to observe the other hunting bears from a safe distance and height.

We had to go back though at some point. All the 3 of us were too nervous to go back on our own and looked for other company to get back to the interpretation center. We found 2 other friendly souls walking back and tagged along with them. One of them even had a bear spray canister (which I should have carried myself if I had planned better) and we made it back safe and sound back to the interpretation center.

The intervening period on the platform would have to be one of the most engrossing wildlife experiences we have ever had as we saw the aplomb with which the bears were fishing and the most dramatic sight of a salmon jumping straight into the jaws of a waiting bear. We even saw 2 of the dominant, resident males almost come to blows over fishing rights before better sense prevailed and they both stood down to fight another day. You can find some of our videos here, here, here and here.

The national parks service has conveniently located a webcam just below the platforms so anyone with a decent internet connection can see live the activity as visible from the platform. You can see it here:https://explore.org/…/br…/brown-bear-salmon-cam-brooks-falls

We are only as old as we like to believe

One thing that repeatedly amazes me about the US is its senior citizens' willingness to not let age be an inhibitor for anything. This feeling was hugely enhanced on our recent trip to Alaska where I ran into multiple extremely up and about older folks!

Our bus driver in Denali National Park regaled the ~45 tourists on the bus with stories from her 18 years of riding people around the park. The bus ride was ~200 miles and officially 12 hours long but it lasted 15 hours because she was too intensely passionate about ensuring everyone had a good time and got the best pictures of nature and wildlife.She had started her day at 3 in the morning and was going to drop everyone off and head home by about 10 pm. And she'd often mention her 4 kids and many grand kids with equal affection and candour. She was more than 60 years of age and I could swear I could do with a lesson or two on being high on life from her. Mind you, unlike in India she was single-handedly responsible for the bus and tourists as driver, conductor and guide!! 😇

Then there was the 80 year old yellow cab driver from Israel who could tell us the price of every house on the way to our BnB in Anchorage... he had an idea for a supposedly million dollar GPS business for yellow cabs in Alaska if my husband was willing to partner with him. 😆

I also remember fondly that really old super cute gentleman on the Denali bus who ran to the Park Ranger to get a stamp on his National Parks Passport like he was a 5 year old. His excitement was palpable even at the end of 12-13 hours of bus ride and hikes! And the Park Ranger himself... Clearly one of the senior most in service at Denali (70 or so of age) - guided us through the Kantishna district hike and gave us presentations about the history and stories of the land like it was his first demonstration- the pride with which he lugged around his 2 bags full of historical exhibits and the authority with which he told the tales of the land brought vivid images of the difficult times and mining heritage of the place for all of us. Age wasn't a factor in his sprightly gait nor was it limiting his ability to provide everyone with an experience they'd forever cherish!

But I digress! This is really the story of Jim and Judy, our extraordinary hosts at Judy's Touch of Class BnB at Anchorage, Alaska.

My husband prefers the privacy of hotels while I love the element of socializing that a BnB provides so usually we split our vacation stays into a little of both. In Anchorage I booked the first 2 days at this BnB that is the house of Jim and Judy, house where they've spent 57 years of their marriage and raised their 3 daughters (currently married and settled elsewhere in the US) and now often entertain their 13 grand kids.

They were high school sweethearts, met in Grade 10 and dated 7 years before they married. I quickly rounded up that they were in their 80s! They have this large beautiful home of which they rent out 3 rooms to have company of Alaskan travellers not because they need the money but because they have this otherwise huge empty house that can be put to good use and they love to host and enjoy the company of travellers.

Jim offers to pick and drop his guests to and from the airport and downtown any time of the day and Judy makes an amazing hot breakfast (although their website only mentions continental) as guests gather around the breakfast table and mingle. The house is beautiful, full of heirloom knickknacks and weathered goods, quirky sign posts and gorgeous upholstery and is immaculately maintained by the residents. The three guest rooms have 3 themes - Rose , Lavender and a Nautical suite (in the basement) and each is a treat for home enthusiasts such as I. There are some amazing picture frames as well - of Jim and Judy's 50th wedding anniversary recreating the wedding cake from 50 years back alongside that of their wedding picture from the era of black and white. There is another of them wearing matching clothes with their 13 grand kids - ranging all ages from 20 to 1 (several of them adopted and equally loved)

From Judy's BnB

Jim is so so funny I was tempted to recycle his jokes as my own and Judy is warm and gracious. She shared with me that she suffers from some fairly serious age-related ailments but none of it seemed to take the slightest away from her immaculately ironed shirt or the tasty hot breakfast she served or the 10ish ice cream bins they laid out for my daughter and us post dinner. During the day Judy was hard at work with a huge project  underway in one of the rooms- she was sorting through hundreds of family photos, cataloguing them and pasting them in scrap book pages to preserve the memory of their good life.

Jim is also an active pilot, owning his own plane and ever willing to provide his guests a flight tour weather permitting. For this summer, they had one of their grand daughters visiting and in charge of housekeeping - she was an absolute sweetheart as well and my daughter had the best of time playing football and pool and whatnot with her while exploring the nautical suite [Check out Trip Advisor Reviews here]

My husband and Jim after taking a ride on Jim's plane

On our second night, we bonded with another senior couple that were visiting from New York. They were retired and well travelled and had many stories to share as well of their children, grand children and life.

Staying at Jim and Judy's was one of the 2 high points of this trip! Besides my awe and wonder, Ajith (who I said prefers privacy) was also absolutely enamored by our hosts, their personality and spirit. And they left such a deep, deep imprint on my 5 year old's heart and mind as well that she constantly mentioned how she misses them over the next few days!

We cannot decide how long we live, but it's certainly upto us to live it well. The level of independence, alertness and mobility Jim and Judy demonstrated despite obvious ailments, made me want to be them.

In India, where I come from, there is a constant awareness of 'old age' right around retirement which is mostly around age 60 and beyond that there is a sense of dependence on children and helplessness without them that I am being increasingly led to believe, is often more psychological than real. Do you agree life can be way more rewarding if we forgot our age?