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.