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Re: Brooks Falls - Brown Bear & Salmon Cam
Whitney Fan #36859 05/29/14 01:14 AM
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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.

Re: Brooks Falls - Brown Bear & Salmon Cam
Whitney Fan #37283 06/09/14 03:16 PM
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The Brooks Falls salmon are not running yet. Keep in mind, when they are running, it is always daylight hours here in AK.

Katmai Bear Watching

Re: Brooks Falls - Brown Bear & Salmon Cam
Whitney Fan #38249 07/03/14 09:45 AM
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Great news to all, and happy viewing.

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.

paul

Re: Brooks Falls - Brown Bear & Salmon Cam
Paul #38252 07/03/14 10:17 AM
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Click on page 1 above to see the main bear cam.

Paul, do you have a link to the two new cameras (or the web page that identifies them)?

Edit: Ok, now I see them. They are the smaller windows below the main one on the Brooks Falls Brown Bear/Salmon page web page.

Re: Brooks Falls - Brown Bear & Salmon Cam
Steve C #38312 07/05/14 07:46 PM
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On 07/05/2014, 7"45 pm.....five beautiful bears feeding on salmon.

paul

Re: Brooks Falls - Brown Bear & Salmon Cam
Paul #38318 07/05/14 11:48 PM
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Nine at 11:48 PM!

Re: Brooks Falls - Brown Bear & Salmon Cam
Steve C #38552 07/11/14 09:12 AM
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Katmai Grizzly Death

A favorite bear of the crowds has died...

Re: Brooks Falls - Brown Bear & Salmon Cam
Chicagocwright #38586 07/12/14 12:13 PM
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Thank you for the link!!!!! Yes, a very sad story, indeed.

paul

Re: Brooks Falls - Brown Bear & Salmon Cam
Paul #40689 10/16/14 01:24 PM
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Some good bear activity going on two of the webcams:

http://explore.org/live-cams/player/brown-bear-salmon-cam-brooks-falls

Re: Brooks Falls - Brown Bear & Salmon Cam
Steve C #40690 10/16/14 03:44 PM
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Two huge bears......looking for their Ursack that they lost while crossing the stream, or maybe stole.

Boy, are they beautiful!!!

paul

Re: Brooks Falls - Brown Bear & Salmon Cam
Paul #43402 07/03/15 04:40 PM
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If you are bored with everyday life the bears are back and catching some mighty nice salmon.

paul

Re: Brooks Falls - Brown Bear & Salmon Cam
Paul #43432 07/07/15 01:00 PM
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Good day for salmon....trying to make the falls. Just watched a bear catch a salmon in mid jump.

paul

Re: Brooks Falls - Brown Bear & Salmon Cam
Paul #43433 07/07/15 02:05 PM
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Originally Posted By: Paul
Good day for salmon....trying to make the falls. Just watched a bear catch a salmon in mid jump.

paul

Whoa! They're jumping like crazy today. ...but where are the bears?

People can see the view by clicking on page 1 of this thread.

Re: Brooks Falls - Brown Bear & Salmon Cam
Steve C #43451 07/08/15 09:53 AM
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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.

Re: Brooks Falls - Brown Bear & Salmon Cam
Chicagocwright #43475 07/09/15 06:02 PM
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Awesome tonight....just watched a bear, on top of the Falls catch a salmon in mid-air.

paul

Re: Brooks Falls - Brown Bear & Salmon Cam
Paul #43508 07/13/15 09:13 AM
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I got 18 of those salmon this weekend! And I didn't have to fight off any bears...

Re: Brooks Falls - Brown Bear & Salmon Cam
Chicagocwright #43509 07/13/15 10:59 AM
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So where do you live in Alaska? Are the streams you fish close by?

paul

Re: Brooks Falls - Brown Bear & Salmon Cam
Paul #43511 07/13/15 02:40 PM
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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.

Re: Brooks Falls - Brown Bear & Salmon Cam
Chicagocwright #43515 07/13/15 08:11 PM
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Wow, I can really add to this thread . . .

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!)

Re: Brooks Falls - Brown Bear & Salmon Cam
Whitney Fan #43520 07/14/15 09:06 AM
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I'm trying to post this picture: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3706823548300&l=8ca37bea13

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; 07/14/15 09:50 PM. Reason: post picture
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