Trip Report: Brown Bears of Katmai: Brooks Lodge – September 2021

It’s hot in Texas.  So hot, that I am ready to leave my beloved state in search of cooler temps. For the past three weeks, high temperatures languished in the upper 90’s with a mean humidity to boot. Therefore, it’s 98-degrees when I walk down the tunnel into the awaiting 737 but some seven hours and a few thousand miles later, walking out of the plane I could feel the difference. Thirty degrees cooler and it might as well have been a world away. Fall’s commenced here in the Great White North, and I’m excited about our adventure. 

A day later, Matt Meisenheimer and I meet thirteen guests for the latest iteration of our Brown Bears of Katmai: Brooks Lodge photography trip. Orientation nights are pretty standard:  we meet the guests, get to know one other, talk photography, and most importantly, talk about the bears and the adventure du jour. Of all the things we do, the orientation dinner is the most routine yet at the same time, the most important. Here, the tone’s set for the entire trip and it’s a time for the guests to ask any question they’d like and alleviate any unanswered queries associated with the trip. Above all, the first-night presentation and ensuing question and answer session are fun, light-hearted, and yet essential. 

After confirming that everyone has their gear packed according to the guidelines set forth by the air charter with whom we partner, everyone retreats to their cabins for a night of rest. Tomorrow, we head out to the wilderness. 

In Alaska this time of year the weather is fickle. Mornings often see fog hanging low in the river valleys and when the cloud ceiling is low, planes don’t fly, therefore, we meet for breakfast and wait for a phone call from Branch River Air to let us know when it’s time to go.   

Gray skies spit a little precipitation this morning so Matt and I are wondering if the planes will even leave at all. Our original departure time was set for 9:30 but at 10:30 am we got the call informing us that the first plane was ready to go. I was heading out with the first bunch, so three guests, myself, and all the gear headed to the Branch River’s operations center on the banks of the Naknek River and started the process of loading everything onto the Beaver floatplane.   

Just as soon as we finished, rain begins to fall and another delay is imminent. As the fog descends on the river, I am once again unsure if we’ll even be able to fly out. At any rate, we load the gear onto the plane and wait under the porch.  Soon, Van (the owner and pilot for Branch River Air) comes out on the porch and says, “Let’s go!” 

After a brief taxi down the river, the plane’s throttled up and we are soon airborne. The cloud ceiling hangs low and the plane skirts the edge between “can see and can’t.” For the next hour, we slide between the water below and the clouds above until we make the final turn and head into Brooks Camp.  While the fog held close to the ground for the entire trip, it magically lifts as we make our final approach into the national park. 

Once taxied onto the shore, we must wait for a brown bear to pass before we disembark. She’s a big sow and her saunter is slow and deliberate, but she pays us no mind as she walks past the floatplane. Once she’s gone, we unload the plane in a quick fashion, and soon, the plane is gone. We head to bear school for a quick safety briefing and get our luggage squared away in the cabins and wait for the rest of our group to arrive.

An hour and a half later, everyone has arrived at Brooks Camp and after lunch, we make our first trip into the field. As expected, bears are everywhere. Some are wrestling in the river while another walks on two feet in chest-high water as he peers curiously into the water looking for salmon on which he will feed. A sow walks on the beach with her two spring cubs in tow while further upriver, a bear splashes in the skinny water in an attempt to catch a wayward fish. For the uninitiated, it’s almost too much action all at once.   

Everyone trains their cameras on the closest bear and as the action evolved, a new bear would come into vogue. The guests are excited as body language is a hard thing to conceal. Their smiles and jovial banter seem to belie a bit about what they’re really feeling inside: this place is a nature photographer’s dream.