KATMAI, LAKE CLARK & WRANGELL

We saw a movie about Katmai and the Valley while we were stuck in Kotzbue due to a cancelled flight. We agreed at the time to go, did not know it was going to be so soon.

We took a commercial flight to King Salmon and then got on the float plane to Brooks Camp, you can only get there by boat or plane.

Of course Leann is up front and chatting up the pilot.

There is a lodge at the camp if you prefer not staying in a tent. There is a lottery for reservations and it is $850/night, extra for food. There are three main attractions in Katmai: bears, salmon and the valley. People come from all over the world to fish the Brooks River. Major rule if fishing: if you land a salmon and a bear wants it, you let the bear have it

This is the famous Brooks Falls. Bears come down when the Salmon are running and gorge themselves in preparation for winter. Bears were just starting to come down while we were there, in another few weeks there would be a lot more people and a lot more bears. Apparently the board walk is packed, elbow to elbow. Below is a link to web cam looking at the falls. Full disclosure: I did not take the picture on the right.

The campground had a feature that we have not seen before. The arrow is pointing to an electric fence that keeps bears from entering. I have to say knowing this was here made for a better nights sleep

These shelters were a great place to cook your meal.

Our first bears of the trip. A female brown bear and 2 cubs

The only way to see the Valley of 10,000 Smokes is with a guide and a bus trip. We were talking to the driver when all the sudden he jumped up and slammed the door.

This is why he slammed the door, he said they would have just gotten on the bus with us.

Hard to believe but we had to cross this river in the bus, what? This was scarier than the bears. The trip the day before was cancelled due to high water but we made it across

The Valley of 10,000 smokes was beautiful but we did have our first experience with Alaskan bugs, they were swarming us like crazy. We had our bug nets to keep them off us but the sound could drive you crazy.

Last view of Katmai, back to the float plane and Anchorage.

Red marks Lake Clark Pass where you fly beside Glaciers. Our first stop was Port Alsworth where we would got a float plane to Twin Lakes in Lake Clark National Park

Glacier working it’s way down the valley. We learned that glacier’s are growing in Lake Clark, same as in Glacier. Who knew

Coming into Port Alsworth

We picked up a float plane in Port Alsworth, next stop Twin Lakes.

I was a huge fan of this show when it ran on PBS and always wanted to visit the cabin. On this trip I learned that he was not quite alone. friends had a cabin nearby and apparently he was very popular with the ladies and had frequent visitors.

When he headed outside for an excursion, he placed a pin in his destination so people would know where he went. There were a lot of holes in the map

I have to agree with him on this one

This is the iconic picture of Proenneke, we are such tourists.

Day hike above the cabin

We took turns taking pictures of each other with another couple at the sign. They were also on a NP hunt and we enjoyed sharing stories with them

We did this park as a quick stop on the way to Fairbanks. We have to go back and do it justice. It is a massive park.

MOOSE! Nice way to end our visit to Wrangell.

We did not plan on doing another backpack trip in the Arctic but I read about this trip with Arctic Wild: mountains to the sea and it sounded really good, MARKETING!

Another bush flight and due to group size it will require 2 trips. Leann and I were on the first plane. The guide was with us and is always in the first group to land. Many times the weather goes bad and the second group can’t land so they want to make sure clients are not out there alone. Good to know since we had plenty of food but no stove. Weather started out perfect, would it last?

Not sure this is the best thing to see on your first day, maybe somebody is trying to send us a message and we are just not listening.

Bush pilots fly line of sight only since they don’t have the instruments required to land during bad weather. We planned to fly through the pass, left of Camp 1 but there was no visibility. Pilot dropped us off in a nice meadow and went back for the rest of the group.

Camping did not look very good here, we hiked around while the pilot went back for the rest of the group.

We decided this was the best place to camp, AKA the guide said we are camping here

The pilot was awesome or maybe he just liked the fact there were 5 women in our group. He said throw in your packs and I will fly them to the camp site. maybe it was 1/3 of a mile away but I was not going to argue. He ended up spending the night and slept in his plane. He did a few scouting flights with various women to check the weather, yeah right

Auf Eis that is close to collapse

Weather cleared and we were able to fly over the pass, on to camp 2 which was the original camp 1

Apparently we lucked out and landed at the beginning of the Craibou migration, one of the great mammal migrations of the world.

They are just getting warmed up, plenty more to come

One of the guests hurt her back so we based camp for a few days to lighten the load and give her a chance to recover.

We did a hike up this ridge to get a view of our destination

You can see Marsh Creek and the Bay in the background, looked pretty easy to me, not so much.

Leann was not a fan of this steep descent back to camp

Of course she flew down it

Another lay over day which means another day hike with light packs.

My favorite time of the day, lunch! Not sure what Dori (guide on far right is yelling at me).

not a bad view for lunch.

Lots of interesting rock formations at the top of the climb

Leann sitting on a tussock, not sure why she is smiling. This does show the challenge of these damn things, miss the top of it with your foot and you are going down

Caribou migration is on, guided estimated 1500 Caribou walked by our camp

This many Caribou and something is going to be following them. Grizzly are powerful looking animals. Best way to tell a black bear from a grizzly is the hump on the grizzlies back.

There were 3 grizzlies either having a fight or being very friendly, ladies took turns looking through Leann’s binoculars but could not come to an agreement on what was happening. We just called it grizzly porn.

We packed up which meant we were back to carrying heavy backs, on to camp 4

Long gradual ascent out of the valley

This was a younger bear but he was way too curious so guide had us all stand side by side so we looked bigger

Wind shifted and he got our scent and off he went. First time I have seen a grizzly in an all out run. They are fast, hard to believe given how big they are.

Interesting sky before we got to camp.

This is not really what the creek is called but I named it and you will see why

Another beautiful day in the Arctic.

We hiked on lots of snow today, it was packed which made for easy walking

Hiker sign for Caribou

There was a late melt so creeks were running higher and faster than usual. Guide said to strip down to our under wear since the water was so deep. Leann asked if she could wear her rain pants, guide said no way. Water can catch your pants and drag you down the creek, not good. Off came the pants, and we got into the creek that was take your breath away cold. We worked our way across and then had to climb out on the snow. Creek crossings are the most dangerous thing you face in Alaska, more people die crossing creeks than by bears. Fast moving cold water is not a good combination.

Back hiking and getting the feet warmer

Next to last camp.

Headed to the Bay on the last day, set up camp and hope the bush pilot can land the next day

Scrambled eggs anyone?

One more Caribou

Marsh Creek

The Whyte’s made it from the mountains to the sea. The weather made a turn for the worse and the wind started to howl.

The next day the weather was still not looking very good and we didn’t think the pilot would show up. 30 minutes later, we heard the engine and he appeared out of the low hanging clouds. It was good to be heading back to civilization.

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