Great! I know what I'm going to do for the next several hours! Earlier there were salmon jumping the fall, but no bear. Now there's a bear, but no salmon... hmm.
They show up a little more often than implied above . . . bottom line, wildlife will be wild . . . it's always a bit of a waiting game.
When bears are not viewable you can amuse yourself by trying to figure out what percentage of the salmon make a successful leap to the top on their first try!
And for those who have not viewed this cam yet -- someone both pans and zooms the camera when interesting sights are happening.
I was watching one bear nonchalantly and leisurely chomping on a salmon and leaving the carcass in the water. A bird approached on the water, looking for the right moment. The bear seemed to dismiss it as nothing to worry about. Of course, once the bear looked away the bird darted in to grab the carcass and fly away with it.
I'm not an expert on bear facial expressions, but I swear it appeared to be pretty flummoxed by this event.
I spent 18 days in Alaska a few months ago, my first trip ever there. Like many others, I'm sure, I left part of my heart there.
The mountains on the edges of Anchorage have already received their "Termination Dust". Fairbanks also already received a nice little snow storm. I completed a Mt. Whitney summit last year on my father's 67th Birthday September 28. When I returned to Anchorage a couple days later I was greeted at the airport by my kids with snowballs and a yard full of snow.
Also note that the Bears are actually quite wasteful and often only eat the fattiest parts of the fish leaving the rest for the birds and other scavengers.
Lately, activity has picked up. It's also very relaxing watching them in the natural habitat. I will say this, I wish I could cross a fast flowing stream as well as they do...ah, four legs.
I've noticed when darkness prevents a live feed that they now often replay video from earlier in the day. This last week, when I checked that out one time, there were 7 (SEVEN!) bears at one point within the field of view, one of them on the upper level of the falls.
Katmai -- yet another reason for me to return to Alaska.
I've noticed that prerecorded video is on LOTS of the time. Especially in the evening once darkness has hit and -- I think -- in the "off season" much of the time, when the salmon aren't running.
Just checked it out now at 11 PM PDT, and sure enough, a 29 minute and 30 second prerecorded video is on. You can see it's a video on the bottom of the screen with the slide bar moving and the video length and status information showing. I also see right now that at the lower right of that screen it says "off air".
Not that any of this detracts from the excellence of this feed! And in daytime, especially "in season", it's a live feed more often than not.
Oh... Paul (member here) forwarded an email reporting this:
Quote:
Hi everyone. I'd like to update you on the status of the bearcams. As you know, they are still off air. The radio repeater that transmits the signal from Brooks Camp to King Salmon is still down. A technician will be arriving in King Salmon to work on the repeater and upgrade the cams in late May. After this work is completed, the cams should be ready to go live sometime in June. Until then, enjoy the highlights.
After major equipment changes and enhancements, the Brooks Falls bear camera is now operational. Also available are 2 new cameras, Lower River and under water camera.
Salmon season is heating up! I caught about 50 fish last year and we recently ran out so I have to get back out there! I have only been in Alaska three years and am still amazed at the opportunity to get this many fish.
There is Ship Creek with plenty of early king (Chinook) salmon that runs right next to downtown Anchorage. A great silver (Coho) salmon creek runs just 20 minutes away. The Russian River has a great red (sockeye) salmon run and is just about 2 hours away and Seward has a mix of fish and is also two hours away.
This weekend I went to Kasilof River which is a 3 hour drive south on the Kenai Peninsula. I also didn't "fish" this weekend. Instead I "dipnetted" which is a way for Alaskan residents to harvest fish using a five foot round net
Brooks Falls is only accessible by air and I haven't been there.
I just returned from an 11 day trip to Alaska yesterday. Every once in a while we all experience a "day for the ages", and I feel I had THREE such days on this trip. One was a day round trip flight in to Lake Clark National Park (Port Alsworth) from Anchorage. Once past the Cook Inlet there is just INSANE Alpine scenery (area of Redoubt Volcano) -- I'd only been in Alaska under 18 hours and I'd probably seen upwards of 30 glaciers already. A second day was a flight around Denali out of Talkeetna which -- finally -- showed me that the mountain was NOT a hoax (as suspected when I failed to ever see it with at least 5 opportunities 2 years ago). It was "out" with the top 3,000 feet enclosed in clouds from about 30 miles out, but close in the clouds were transparent enough to view the entire mountain. And there were two quick moments when even those clouds cleared. The flight included a glacier landing. 2 years ago I'd done that (without SEEING the mountain) with a landing in the Don Sheldon Amphitheater (where most flights land -- just spectacular). The bad news THIS trip was that we would not be landing there. But the GOOD news was that we would land at the mountain climbers' base camp to pick up two climbers. YESSSSSS! (Also spectacular here.) Whereas flying into Lake Clark was Alpine, Denali flights are HIMALAYAN!
But this post is mostly about the bears at Brooks Falls (Katmai National Park). I flew on another day round trip out of Homer for this. NOT cheap ($ 650), but worth every buck. After an hour and a half crossing the Cook Inlet and getting inland a bit on the other side you land on a lake right by the visitor center. You then get a 15 to 20 minute safety briefing about the brown bears. It's a 1.2 mile hike to the Brooks Falls viewing platforms, and the bears use the trail you'll be walking on. (You want to stay 50 yards from bears, you back away slowly if encountering a bear, but on the trail you want to go OFF the trail if you have an unexpected meeting.)
With all that being said, I nonetheless did NOT want to have a bear encounter on the trail.
You get to the platforms and you are free to watch from a "lower" platform and you sign up for the wait for the "upper" platform (where most of the views from the webcam originate). It was about an hour and a half wait, and you are allowed to stay at the upper platform an hour.
This was no problem -- there was GREAT action even from the lower platform.
I've monitored the webcam many times, but it will come as no surprise to note that being there LIVE kicks it!
With about 3 hours total time there, you do NOT get bored. I felt like serendipity had slugged me when I realized that with all the time I'd spent watching the webcam that it didn't begin to approach the DIVERSITY of action I caught this day being there live. First, MANY bears out -- at one time 9 viewable at once. Bears after salmon, bears eating them (X rated for sure), bears standing up, bears running, bears walking right UNDER you. I probably took 30 or more still shots and videos. With just a point and shoot camera I'm astonished at the number of totally cool videos I got out of it all. And yet another cool moment was when I finally stopped photographing and realized I'd better use my binoculars too. I trained them on one bear at the top of that terrace on those upper falls, the bear facing downstream in hopes of catching a salmon jumping up to leap over the falls. As luck would have it I CAUGHT LIVE CLOSE UP this bear actually catching one in mid air. Serendipity -- this is the classic Brooks Falls "money" view, right? And I am lucky enough to watch it close up with binocs in real time!
But the "best" was yet to come . . .
When it was time to return to the visitor's center the walk from that upper falls platform is on a boardwalk with about a waist high railing on either side of you, the boardwalk maybe 6 feet wide. It descends gradually from platform height (perhaps 10 feet up?) to ground level over an estimated 100 to 150 yards, and at the end is a door (kept closed by a simple latch that you move to get out) to get out on the open trail.
As we (I made sure I walked with others) got to that point a ranger outside the gate had his hand up and yelled, "STOP -- bears on the trail." I saw a huge bear in his immediate vicinity on the trail. (I was told there were two others close by although I didn't notice them.)
STOP? OK by me! Especially after you see these creatures live you respect their size, weight, and potential danger (hey, there WAS an avid fan of them who met his demise with one of them . . . that movie). Let alone the fact they can run up to 30 mph.
Have you got the picture? One is respectfully skitterish about getting anywhere NEAR one of these wild animals, and the pause one has about that just increases when your trek back to the visitors center is halted by KNOWN bear activity (that you SEE)on that trail.
And then, in a split second after the ranger's warning, from my right rear (I was facing the exit gate and the ranger) I heard loud rapid thumping, turn to my right, and in a heart exciting instant TWO large bears are RUNNING on the other side of the rail (10 feet away tops?) . . .
WAY too much excitement/fun for one day! I don't know if it was being scared so much as having a palpable realization that it was a fine line between what I'd just seen and an unfavorable outcome. We human mortals are but a ball of cotton for these animals -- they could EASILY have just jumped over the rail.
(In point of fact, there has never been a fatal encounter between brown bears and human beings in Katmai NP -- but there HAVE been knockdowns and injuries. Although grizzlies/brown bears ARE potentially very dangerous, at Katmai they are so focused on salmon and so previously exposed to visitors that it, I'm sure, lessens the general danger. That being said -- if I described what I did fairly well, and you could picture yourself in that situation, you'll hopefully realize how extraordinary an experience it was! I'll NEVER have THAT happen to me watching the webcam at my pc at home. And how many other visitors actually there at Brooks Falls get THAT kind of action like I did?! Cooler than doo doo!)
Bottom line -- a hearty recommendation to all to do this! (And doing it by day trip is much cheaper than actually staying there at the Brooks Lodge, let alone the fact that lodging there has to be reserved WAY in advance.)
(And for Chicagocwright -- the Moose's Tooth (2 visits) pizza was as superb as ever . . . and I braved further danger 5 out of 7 nights in Anchorage at Koot's!)
It's some goofy guy with a couple bears behind them.
This picture is at the Russian River about 2 hours south of Anchorage where salmon fishermen share the river with frequent bears. The rule is you cut your line when a bear approaches. I don't recall any incidents here. As you say, the bears are more interested in the fish than people. There were actually three bears--a mom and two yearling cubs that we were able to watch for quite some time.
Sounds like an awesome trip. Did you have to enter the lottery for the Brooks Fall trip?
Last edited by Steve C; 07/14/1509:50 PM. Reason: post picture
It's some goofy guy with a couple bears behind them.
This picture is at the Russian River about 2 hours south of Anchorage where salmon fishermen share the river with frequent bears. The rule is you cut your line when a bear approaches. I don't recall any incidents here. As you say, the bears are more interested in the fish than people. There were actually three bears--a mom and two yearling cubs that we were able to watch for quite some time.
Sounds like an awesome trip. Did you have to enter the lottery for the Brooks Fall trip?
Chicacocwright, your "lottery" was a new one for me. I did a quick Google search and hit a few links and could not find anything to indicate that a lottery was in effect for anyone wishing to fly in to Katmai, sleep at Brooks Lodge, or camp at Brooks Camp. It appeared there may be a lottery in effect for other areas in Alaska but I couldn't find anything to support that for Brooks.
Rather -- you just have to reserve early and shell out bucks! I booked with Bald Mountain Air (flying out of Homer) back in February. Than again, I suppose last minute seats are available . . . but I wouldn't want to chance that myself.
Since you're a fisherman, I might add . . . at the viewing platforms it was interesting to see that there WERE fishermen in the same area, just a little downstream from where the bears were. I guess as long as they observe that 50 yard rule they're OK . . . and they did seem to leave or retreat every once in a while when bears got closer to them. Also, at the start of the trail to the viewing platforms there is a bridge across the river . . . and I noted MANY salmon swimming just below the surface. Just solid phalanxes of them!
I note that right now the webcam is down because of technical difficulties.
That was actually one of the pages I looked at quickly with my Google search. I went back to it, and when you read it all you see that a lottery is relevant for an area different than Brooks Falls (McNeil River) but not for Brooks Falls.
Coincidentally, that McNeil River was talked about quite a bit by the pilots in the air . . . the weather was marginal and everyone was trying to find the best way to get into Brooks Camp. Lots of cloud dodging, and getting down low under them. I remember the McNeil River being cited as the preferred entry way.
Also coincidentally -- the webcam is back online today.
