20260905 Saturday, September 5, 2026. Leaving Brooks Falls

20260905 Saturday, September 5, 2026. Leaving Brooks Falls

There was an intermittent drizzle and a bit more wind this morning, although the waves were not breaking on the beach as they were yesterday.  Terri and John got out early hoping to catch a classic bear walking down the beach as the sun rises photo, but the cloud cover was much too heavy.  

We got things repacked into our suitcases as Terri and John had breakfast in the lodge.  We had granola bars and dried mangos for breakfast while we packed, and then had some coffee and tea in the lodge.  The lodge usually has a nice fire roaring in the fireplace in the mornings, but in the evenings after dinner, when it would seem to be a natural thing to do to wind the evenings down, they don’t burn a fire.  The campers must really appreciate the fire in the mornings.  We can tell it is mostly campers around the fire because all the electrical outlets in the living room area are filled with mobile devices being charged.  

After breakfast, we wandered around looking for wildlife.  Janet found a new bear at the falls with a collar on it.  The ranger said it had been fitted with a radio collar because it had been caught going through the garbage dump at King Salmon, and just happened to wander out to Brooks Falls on its own.  

Ben had wandered back to the beaver ponds and was rewarded with as many as 4 beavers actively feeding near the middle of the lake.  They dived down and came up with what looked like milfoil which they held up to their mouths with their tiny paws as they munched on it.  

Ben got the rangers to put on a video about Father Hubbard’s exploration of the Valley of 10,000 Smokes, and it was a bit hilarious as it was quite not politically correct or technically correct, but it reflected the views of people in the 1940s who had filmed it.  In an opening scene, they were sailing to Katmai on a boat when they spotted a pod of killer whales who they described as cold-blooded killers who killed for sport and were headed straight for their ship, likely wanting to make a breakfast of the dogs on deck.  And the Captain took a few shots at them with a rifle from the ship’s deck.  Then in a later scene where they are hiking through a ghost forest left by the eruption, they were making sport of knocking down the dead and bare trees.  They said it was Mt. Katmai that had erupted, but it was in fact Novarupta that erupted from the valley floor.  It was a bit cringey, but such was the state of the world in the late 1940s.  

The water taxi arrived and docked down the beach past all the sea planes, so we had to carry and drag our suitcases quite a long way down the beach to the boat.  We had fortunately found they had hand carts which we had used to transport our suitcases from the cabin down to the gear cache building by the ranger station and boat loading area, so that had saved some wear and tear on the wheels.  

The water taxi ride back to King Salmon was quite bumpy as there was a moderate chop on the lake.  For Ben, it was like he and his buddies were heading out in their boats in marginal weather to get to the fish, and for these guys, it was just another day in the office.  Janet asked the pilot why he seemed to be slaloming the boat from side to side, and he explained it was to try to smooth out the ride by riding in the troughs between the waves as much as possible instead of bashing through every one of them.  

We had rescheduled the water taxi to an earlier departure to give us more time before our outbound flights, and it was a good thing we did that.  There were only 5 passengers on that earlier water taxi, and the airport terminal was empty when we arrived.  As it got closer to our flight departure time, the tiny terminal got very crowded and busy.  

We said our goodbyes in the King Salmon terminal before boarding started because Terri and John had a tight connection to make to their flight to Seattle, and then onward to Philadelphia. 

The plane heading from King Salmon to Anchorage was a smaller regional jet instead of a 737, so luggage space and seating were tight.  The flight was nearly full.  

Upon arrival in Anchorage, we were greeted by very friendly ladies from Princess and Holland America who were organizing and sending off arriving passengers to various hotels and cruise ships.  We got on a bus with a large group of Chinese tourists who were staying at our same hotel, the Hotel Captain Cook.  One of the couples spoke pretty good English, while most of the group spoke exclusively Chinese.  

The Hotel Captain Cook is located in the heart of downtown Anchorage, and is supposedly one of the oldest and nicest hotels in Anchorage.  Our room was quite spacious compared with our Brooks Lodge cabin, but had an odd bathroom layout, and the fixtures were certainly showing their age.  But the shower valve did a perfect job of modulating water temperature so it was easy to find a perfect temperature, unlike the one in the Brooks Lodge cabin which dispensed either ice cold or scalding hot with very little between.  

The weather in Anchorage was perfect on our arrival.  It was much nicer than it had been in King Salmon and Brooks Camp.  Once we had our suitcases and chargers set up in the room, we headed out for dinner.  Ben had his eyes on a place called the Whisky and Ramen, but Janet wanted to check out a place in the mall’s food court that had cheap but good food according to Google reviews.  Since the mall was on our way to the Whisky and Ramen, we checked it out.  Unfortunately, the place Janet had picked, called Joy’s, offered sandwiches and meal combos, but they consisted of sandwiches with a tiny bag of potato chips instead of French fries.  Fortunately, right next door in the food court was a deli that did sell sandwiches with French fries.  Janet ended up with lamb gyros while Ben had a Reuben.  Neither was great, but they were under $17 and came with fries that were hot and fresh.  

We did circle back to the Whisky and Ramen, which looked very upscale and was very busy and popular.  We would have probably had a half-hour wait there, but for $23-$25 for a fancy bowl of ramen, it would have been a step up with nice table service instead of food court DIY table wiping and clearing.  

Janet headed back to the hotel while Ben checked out some of the 101 Coastal Trail, which runs parallel to the railroad between Anchorage and the waterfront, very much like Seattle’s Burke Gilman Trail.  Ben also saw the Holland America and Princess rail train roll past the Anchorage Railroad depot on its way to Whittier and Seward. 

Back at the hotel, Janet saw one of the hotel’s bars, The Whale Tale, had burgers with fries for $19-20, so we could just have well had stayed at the hotel, but we did have an excuse to walk around downtown Anchorage during a very nice early evening.  

Tomorrow, our luggage has to be by our doors at 6 a.m., and we will board our tour coach at 7:45 a.m. for the 5-hour ride to Princess Denali Wilderness Lodge.  

20260904 Friday, September 4, 2026; A Change in the Weather

20260904 Friday, September 4, 2026; A Change in the Weather

The night was significantly more comfortable with the windows of the cabin open, although there was still plenty of daylight coming in the windows when Terri and John wanted to go to bed at 8:30-9:00 p.m., and daybreak occurs at about 6:30 a.m.  The furnace did come on periodically during the night to keep the temperature above 65 degrees, but only briefly, and the electrically powered kerosine furnace is pretty quiet. 

 
When daybreak arrived, we could hear waves breaking on the beach, signaling onshore winds had arrived as the weather forecast had predicted.  There was also a light intermittent rain.  Terri and John headed out to check the weather at the ranger station, and then on to breakfast when they reported the sow with a single cub was working its way up the beach.  They seem to be regulars.  

While we have heard that the lynx is also a regular visitor as it makes its rounds in the morning, we did not spot it.  We had granola bars, coffee, tea, and hot chocolate for our breakfast as we had quite filled ourselves at last night’s dinner.

We had heard at the lodge about beavers in a nearby pond, so we checked that out after doing a head count on the bridge.  There were 7 or 8 bears snorkeling around the bridge, but the light was not ideal for filming or photography.  

The beaver ponds were past the bridge and to the left at the major fork in the road leading to the falls and lake.  There is quite a sizable pond to the left side of the road, and a slightly smaller one on the right side, connected by a small culvert.  
We saw 2 or 3 beavers swimming around the pond in the distance, and one eventually came across the pond directly toward us.  

We were standing above the culvert.  The beaver actually swam up the very narrow channel connecting the culvert to the pond, and did a flip turn just below the culvert when it saw us standing there.  Unfortunately, there was a lot of grass and vegetation on either side of the channel obscuring any clear view of the beaver and confusing autofocus mechanisms on our cameras, so we didn’t get a good picture of it even though it was easily within 6’ of us when it did its flip turn and swam back to the main pond.  

We continued walking up to the falls where our familiar hot tub bear was still king of the falls.  His routine had not changed, although there seemed to be more fish jumping and the water level seemed a bit higher.  Most of the fish jumping looked like rainbow trout.  We haven’t seen any sockeye actually jumping at the falls during this trip.  

We did have a small bear walk directly in front of the falls viewing platform several feet below us before entering the river and snorkeling its way between the falls and riffles viewing platform.  Both bears seemed to be aware of each other’s presence and they kept a respectable distance.  There were fly fishermen below the riffles that had to clear the water as the small bear made its way down through the riffles on the far shore.  

We ran into some of the fly fishing guides relaxing a bit in the shelter between the falls and riffles platforms.  They have been using small barbless octopus hooks tied about 3” below salmon egg lures that looked like pink pearls.  These were in turn suspended about 2-3’ below 1” diameter “indicators”, which are basically bobbers.  People doing the fly fishing excursions seem to be pretty thrilled with the experience and happy to catch a lot of fish which are all released.  

We returned to the lodge at lunchtime and watched the sow with a single cub saunter down the beach between a parked float plane and the lodge entrance.   

So far, on this trip, the bugs have been manageable.  We did bring mosquito netting that can be worn over hats, and we are glad we brought them.  For the most part, if you’re walking along, the bugs are not a problem, but if you stop and spend any time talking with people, bugs quickly start to get in your face, and it gets annoying very quickly.  The same applies to standing around behind a camera waiting for wildlife action.  It’s too bad they don’t make mosquito netting with clear windows in the front because the netting does obscure wildlife viewing.  

The cabins have screens on the windows, but it doesn’t take any time at all for bugs to get in through an opened door.  So far, we haven’t had trouble with mosquitoes buzzing around our ears at night in the cabin, but there are plenty of tiny flying bugs that will land on your phone screen if the room lights are out.  They are definitely attracted to light, but fortunately don’t seem to be biting bugs.  The cabins don’t come with the Zevo bug traps that they had in the Antlers Inn, but we probably could use them.  Ben has been applying insect repellant containing DEET while Janet has not, so we’ve been conducting a placebo controlled trial on the effectiveness of DEET.  Janet has basically proven that DEET does reduce the number and severity of bites by a lot.  Ben ended up with only two bites on his forehead, sustained while intensely photographing a scene, while Janet had lots of bites and series of bites all around her ankles, calves, wrists and arms.  She also had inexplicable bites on her stomach and back suggesting something was in her bunk as well as flying around.  

Ben rented a Canon RF 100-500mm f7.1 L zoom lens for this trip, and at this particular locale, big zoom lenses are everywhere.  Canon and Nikon gear dominate the long lens scene with Sony and others more common among the more compact gear.  The white Canon L series lenses stand out and seem to be the most popular amongst the more serious photographers.  

Terri has had a Canon EF 100-400mm L series zoom lens which has been her main wildlife photography lens for many years, but she is doing more and more photography in general with her iPhone because of the convenience.  This was Ben’s first time shooting with a 100-500mm zoom, and it really is an ideal lens for photo safaris, but in this location, the bears and humans get very close, and video shot on iPhones have better stabilization than video shot through a high zoom ratio lens.  Many of Janet’s photos (all shot on her iPhone) are quite incredible.  She has a knack for being able to be in the right place at the right time to catch interesting animal action.  But images shot with the big camera and lens are noticeably sharper and clearer when compared side by side.  But for viewing on iPhone screens, they can be nearly indistinguishable.  And they do say the best camera is the one you have on you when you really need it.

IPhone 16Pro 546mm, f2.8, 1/649s, ISO 64

Canon R6m2, 500mm, f7.1, 1/500s, ISO 1000

IPhone 16Pro 546mm, f2.8, 1/649s, ISO 64

Canon R6m2, 500mm, f7.1, 1/500s, ISO 1000

Despite the rain in the forecast, we really only had a few scattered light showers and drizzle with mostly heavily overcast skies.  There was more wind coming off Nakenek Lake, but this did not seem to discourage the bears one bit.  We spent the afternoon wandering across the bridge and around the beach.  We saw a bear come ashore next to one of the float planes which forced us to back away all the way up the path to the lodge.  A ranger admonished us for being closer than 50m, but we were walking backwards about as fast as we could without tripping or taking a detour straight into the woods.  

There was a light wind on the bridge that was surprisingly warm at times.  This was nice because it blew the mosquitoes and flies out of our area, and it was very pleasant just sitting and watching the bears going about their business in the area around the bridge.  We did spot another sow with two blond cubs in addition to the two other families we had become quite familiar with (one with a single cub with a limp from having encountered a porcupine earlier in the season and one with a blond and a dark cub).  

Dinner featured halibut, beef short ribs, garlic herb mashed potatoes, and garlic asparagus.  This was quite a decent meal even with just the hot entree option.  

After dinner, we made another trip out to the beaver pond, but there was no activity on the pond for quite some time.  You have to wonder how these animals that live in underground dens and in beaver lodges get around in the dark.  It’s not like they have skylights or lighting underground.  At least the beavers can see daylight through the light by their underwater entrance.  

As night fell, we had hoped to see the lynx again and had set up our cameras on the porch of our cabin, which had a perfect view of the game trail that the lynx had come through yesterday.  Our hopes perked up when an arctic hare hopped through the trail about 10 minutes before the time that the lynx had come through yesterday, but even waiting a half hour, we did not see the lynx, and light was rapidly fading to the point where photography was no longer possible.  

Tomorrow, we take the water taxi back to King Salmon, where Terri and John will catch their flights home.  We will fly to Anchorage and then join our Princess Denali cruise tour.  We will need to check out of the cabin and be at the beach at 9:30 a.m.  We’re hoping it won’t be raining too much then.  

20260903 Thursday, September 3, 2026; Bear Culture and Dumpling Mountain Hike

20260903 Thursday, September 3, 2026; Bear Culture and Dumpling Mountain Hike

Starting with our water taxi ride, it has become apparent that the bears of Brooks Falls have quite a cult following.  We met an older gentleman waiting at the water taxi who has been staying in one of the cabins at the Sockeye Saloon who had been making daily trips to Brooks Falls from King Salmon.  He has a camera bag rigged up like a rolling tool tote with a large monopod running up the handle.  He has been making regular pilgrimages to Brooks Falls to see the bears over the years.  He is from New York but says he’s been to the falls over 40 times to see the bears.  We saw him on the bridge again today, and we suspect we will be seeing him every day we are here, so long as the water taxi is running. 

 
We had also met a very pleasant and enthusiastic young Chinese couple who were both graduate students from MIT on vacation.  They are from Chongqing and speak very good English.  They said they are required to learn English in China during elementary school, but they credit their skills to the time spent in English immersion at MIT.  One is doing a PhD in mathematics while the other is doing a PhD in Theoretical Ecology, whatever that is.  He says it involves modeling ecological systems mathematically, but doesn’t hold out much hope that it will yield gainful employment.  Yet, he is enthusiastic and enjoying exploring America.  They are camping 2 nights in the Brooks Camp.  The camp sites are only $18 per night, but they are small tent sites and showers cost $8 in the public bathhouse next to the lodge.  

There are many people we run into all the time at the bridge, lodge, and viewing platforms. One is from Sacramento and he knows most of the bears by their designation numbers and all of the camp staff by name.  He is a professional photographer and has worked in a gallery in Yosemite.  He has been here countless times at all different times of the year.  He has the most amazing photos on his phone.  He was hoping to capture the fall colors on this trip. And there are many other individuals around the camp who have similar stories.  

Overnight, the cabin started off a bit hot and stuffy after everyone took their showers, but it cooled off a bit as the night progressed.  The mattresses and pillows were a vast improvement over the Antlers Inn, but there is little room to wiggle around in the bunk beds, and Janet managed to bang her head on the bottom of the top bunk a couple of times.  

Terri and John were up at first daylight and off to breakfast at 7 a.m.  Ben and Janet got up when they got back from breakfast and informed us that a sow and her cub were sleeping on the beach in front of the lodge, and if we wanted to see them, we needed to walk up to the visitor center and then down to the beach to see them.  They were in front of a boat anchored on shore, but just looked like large dogs sleeping on the beach at that distance.  

There was a light rain that fell overnight just enough to wet down the dust on the walkways and benches on the viewing platforms.  

After breakfast, we made our rounds, walking across the bridge, where several bears were snorkeling around, and then up to the falls.  Janet had spotted a weasel dart out of the brush and down to the water at the edge of the bridge.  

We had perfect weather again today with blue skies and temperatures in the mid-60s to almost 70 in the afternoon.  There was a single bear at the falls, and we figured out his routine, which is to sit in the “hot tub” on the far shore just below the falls and dip his head into the water periodically, hoping that a fish will happen into his lap.  Then about every 15 minutes, he will wander out to a rock outcropping just below the falls and pounce on it, hoping to come up with a fish.  More often than not, this strategy ends up with him coming up empty-handed.  All day yesterday, we only saw that bear catch one fish in the hot tub.  Today, we spent an hour or so watching from both the falls and riffles platforms before heading back to the bridge. 

 

Falls bear out of the hot tub and into the jacuzzi.

Falls bear getting in another pounce.

At this time of the year, most of the bear action appears to be around the bridge.  There were many times we could count as many as 7 or 8 bears working the mouth of the river as it empties into Naknek Lake.  Some bears will even swim out what looks like nearly a quarter mile into the lake.  

There are certainly recognizable bears like the one working the falls and two sows who have a single and two cubs, respectively.  The sow with two cubs has one very dark-colored cub and one very light-colored cub.  The dark-colored cub doesn’t mind swimming out to Mom to get some fish to take back to the shore to eat, while the light-colored cub prefers to stay dry and eat grass.  It only takes to the water when the family is moving from one area to another.  

It is apparent that Brooks Camp is like a reverse zoo where the animals are free, and the humans wander around in enclosures.  It is mesmerizing to watch the salmon slowly working their way into the river while the bears wade and swim around and under the bridge.  They are so close that hearing them breathe and hearing the crunching sounds of them biting into freshly caught salmon adds a whole new dimension to the bear viewing experience.  It’s amazing how much a bear biting into a salmon sounds like a human biting into a fresh, crisp apple.  

Katmai Bear Eats Fresh Salmon

After lunch, we took a hike up Dumpling Mountain, which is about 1.5 miles from the end of the campground.  Yesterday, we showed the Chinese MIT students our cabin, and today they got to show us their REI tent in the campground.  
The campground is surrounded by an electrified fence, but Janet was able to determine that at least one gate was not actually electrified when she tried touching the wire.  The rangers say the bears generally respect the fence, but sows with cubs are the most likely to wander into the campground as the cubs can sometimes slip under the wire.  

Campground Electric Fence

Typical Campsite

Camp Sink, Gear and Food Cache building

Designated eating area

Food and Gear Cache Building

Pit Toilets for Campground

The trail to Dumpling Mountain was not very well maintained, and in many places, it was like a well-worn game track that was quite narrow and deep, like a trench.  There were a few muddy stretches, and as the trail began ascending the mountain side, it got quite steep, and the footing got tricky.  Janet ended up turning around about halfway up because her knees couldn’t bend enough to make the ascent in the steeper areas.  Ben, Terri, and John continued to the overlook at the end of the trail.  The trail didn’t get any better, but Janet had nearly gotten through the worst of it before she turned around.  

We saw a lot of bright red berries along the trail, and as we ascended in altitude, the vegetation did show fall changes with more leaves turning color and mushrooms appearing on the forest floor.  We broke through the tree line and were eventually rewarded with a sweeping view of Brooks Lake, Naknek Lake, and the glacial moraine separating the two.  

We could see the river connecting Brooks Lake to Naknek Lake and the bends where the Brooks Falls were, although it was difficult to pick out the exact location of the falls.  We were able to see bears closer to the bridge on the banks of the river even from that distance. 

 

We weren’t able to clearly see into the Valley of 10,000 Smokes because there is a small mountain blocking it from being visible from the Dumpling Mountain overlook.  We did work up quite a sweat on the hike, which turned out to be a little over 3 miles round trip from the ranger station and with 830’ of elevation gain.  We did earn our evening showers today.  

The remainder of the afternoon was spent watching bears from the bridge and taking naps before dinner.  

Bald eagle flys off with a salmon.

Dinner featured pork loin and salmon with broccoli hot entrees with a fancy rice pilaf. 

 

After dinner, we returned to the bridge for bear viewing before Terri and John turned in for showers, and Ben and Janet relaxed in the lodge with tea and hot chocolate. 

This was interrupted by a lynx sighting just outside the lodge.  Ben was able to snap a picture of the back of its head as it skulked through the woods between the beach and lodge.  

Lynx near lodge.

The cabin was quite hot and stuffy after Terri and John’s showers, with the interior temperature over 78 degrees inside.  We managed to figure out how to open the windows of the cabin.  There is a catch on the inside that holds them closed through screens, but to actually open the windows, they have to be pulled open from their frames outside.  They will also have to be manually pushed closed from the outside to reverse the process.  

A weather system is supposed to move in tomorrow, so we are supposed to see some rain.  Hopefully, it won’t be too much to keep us from enjoying the bears.