Bear Hiking In Lake Clark Alaska
Alaska is synonymous with bears. Every outdoor show or reality show about Alaska gives you the impression that there is nothing but Bear and Moose roaming the streets as they are part of the community. That is the lure of the place, the wide-open frontier packed with endless wildlife encounters. However, on a recent trip to Alaska in early September, I drove, and hiked, and camped, all over Alaskas south-central region ( Anchorage, Seward, Soldotna, etc.). I was surprised during this time not to see a single bear or a moose! Yes, that is true, not a single bear. I know they were there, but they did an excellent job of hiding, that is until I went a bear hiking trip to Lake Clark Alaska.
In my desperate attempt to see grizzly bears in the wild, I decided to charter a bush plane to an area called Lake Clark Alaska National park. After checking different sites and availability I settled on a company called Natron Air. I was assured by my pilot/tour guide that I was guaranteed to see bears or my money back. No bears or my money back? Count me in.
Lake Clark Alaska is located about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage and about 70 miles west of Soldotna.
The Tour
I had my reservations about bush planes. Every Alaskan TV show about these aircraft shows them bouncing around the sky in the inclement Alaskan weather. Even though it was a short trip, I have a tendency to get very queasy and nauseous in smaller aircraft but as they say ” When in Rome” so off I went. Luckily for me, this day was crystal clear and perfect for flying. The views of the Cook Inlet were spectacular, giving you a birds-eye view of the fantastic Alaska scenery.
This is Alaska. Wide-open. pristine, and breathtaking ( Click on photo to enlarge)
On our way to Lake Clark, our pilot took a little extra time showing us Alaskas epic scenery by flying nice and low through waterfalls and mountain ranges before landing us right on the sandy beach of Lake Clark. It was so Alaskan, I loved it.
Photo: Landing on the beach is the Alaskan way. ( Click on photo to enlarge)
From there, the pilot gave us some brief instructions on safety, which included one sentence, keep quiet and stick close to him, that was it. As soon as we left the plane, we started heading inland through a tight trail. I was thinking we may have to hike for a while before seeing bears, but within 200 yards we entered a meadow and in that meadow were bears, bears, and more bears. It was like the Jurassik Park of bears.
They were everywhere playing, resting, and eating berries all throughout this meadow. It was a spectacular sight. Our pilot said most of the bears will not bother you at all, and in his 20 years of doing this, he has never encountered a charging bear. That is comforting to know since you are very close to these creatures in their natural habitat and you know well and good if they decide to come after you there is no way we will outrun them back to our plane. He did say the best thing to do is to stay far away from a mother and her cubs. Momma bears with cubs are the most aggressive grizzlies and account for over 90% of all human attacks. So leave mom alone.
We ended up focusing on two juvenile bears who put on a good show for us. Up against the Alaskan backdrop, the ambiance was perfect.
Two bears doing bear things. This picture embodies Alaska. ( Click on photo to enlarge)
In typical tourist fashion, I spent the next few minutes burning off SD cards of photos while worrying if I was going to get ambushed by a hungry bear. I decided to post a few pictures below giving you an idea of how close you can get. Lake Clark Alaska is awesome. ( Click on photo to enlarge)
Here is a brief video on a few bears I managed to film up close
This bear doesn’t seem to care that we are standing right next to it. That’s good because I was concerned for a minute he might get mad and decide to run us off. ( Click on photo to enlarge)
No worries for this guy either. He is just rolling around enjoying the warm season before heading off to hibernation. ( Click on photo to enlarge)
I was once told on a Polar Bear safari that Polar Bears hold their heads up high to taste the air. They do this because it gives them a directional scent and helps them locate prey. I wondered at the time if this fellow was doing the same thing except I was the closest prey to him, so I walked away slowly after this. ( Click on photo to enlarge)
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You can get pretty close to these bears. This picture shows just how close you can get. I probably could have moved up another 20 feet, but this was close enough. One thing the camera can not capture is the sounds. These bears were constantly graveling and chewing. They are loud. ( Click on photo to enlarge)
We spent about 45 minutes to an hour walking around this meadow and enjoying our time with the bears. After the first 15 minutes, I put the camera away and decided to take in the sights, smells, and scenery. I hate getting to camera happy, and it is so easy to do here, so I made sure to relish every moment of this trip, and decided not to take any more photos.
After that, we walked back to the plane. I thought we were going to fly straight back to Soldotna, but our tricky pilot had a surprise stashed up his sleeve. Once airborne he told us the weather was kind enough to fly us over Chakachamna Lake and the surrounding glaciers!
What a treat this was! I know the pilot is highly experienced, and we were flying within a safe distance to the mountains and glaciers, but it feels like you are flying so close and so low to these glaciers that you could reach out and touch them. It is exhilarating and frightening all at the same time.
All the darkness on top of the glacier ice is pollution. It looks like a lot of pollution, doesn’t it? ( Click on photo to enlarge)
A panoramic view of the glacier up against the mountains. At this altitude, the weather started to get gloomy, and the camera doesn’t do it justice. As I mentioned before it felt like we were inches off the ground. ( Click on photo to enlarge)
What the camera can not capture here is how deep these crevasses are. They range anywhere from 30 feet to over 100 feet deep. At the bottom of each crevasse is a stream of melting glacier water. Towards the end of the glacier, you start to see waterfalls and streams pouring into a lake. It is a beautiful sight of nature. ( Click on photo to enlarge)
Here is a brief video of the bush plane flight through the glaciers. The scenery was so beautiful
From there, we headed back to Soldotna, which concluded that segment of our trip. As I have written in this blog post here about trekking with gorillas in Africa, and this post here about trekking with Polar bears in the arctic, seeing animals in their natural habitat is my favorite part of traveling and Lake Clark Alaska did not disappoint. Being with these animals on their playground and watching them do animal things beats, seeing them trapped behind the walls of a zoo.
Including some outdoor nature interaction with your travels, even if it’s just a half a day is essential. Being up close to these animals gives you an appreciation for your plant and your place within that planet.
This whole experience of seeing Lake Clark Alaska by air, landing on the beach, walking across a meadow filled with the wild grizzly bears, then flying through a glacier, was an excellent Alaskan experience. I am so glad I did this.
I did notice as we were walking through the meadow we could see a series of cabins along the tree line. The pilot told us those cabins are available for rental. If I ever make my way back to this part of Alaska, I am going to put those cabins on my list. How awesome that would be to rent a cabin out in the wilderness, only accessible by plane, and sit out on the porch and stare at bears all day. Couldn’t think of a better way to spend a few days
I mean really, look at these cabins. ( Click on photo to enlarge)
Alaska is known as the last frontier, but I didn’t get that feeling traveling through the southcentral part of Alaska. Don’t get me wrong it was beautiful and had some remoteness to it, but It was also modernized and busy. Taking this trip to Lake Clark was exactly the Alaskan experience I was looking for and was by far the best part of my journey. It embodied everything I wanted with my Alaskan adventure. The bears, the glaciers, the plane ride, and the mountain backdrop was perfect. If you ever find yourself in Alaska, schedule a bush plane ride to the backcountry. It’s the way to go.
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