Alasks'a most popular activity - Grizzly Bear Viewing ! Katmai National Park is located on the northeast coast of the Alaska Peninsula. Among all his diversity, the park boasts the largest population (more than 2.000) of protected brown bears in the world. During the peak of the world's largest sockeye salmon run each July, and during return of the "spawned out" salmon in September - forty to sixty bears congregate in Brooks Camp along the Brooks River, Naknek Lake and the Brooks Lake shorelines. Many visitors are concentrating their activities along Brooks River, where brown bear congregate to feed on sockeye salmon as they pass upstream. Two bear viewing platforms are located right above the falls. Another popular area is the Lake Clark and the Katmai Coast. Situated at the headwaters of Bristol Bay, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve is an epitome of the Alaska wilderness landscape. At four million acres, the Park encompasses volcanoes, jagged mountains, glaciers, wild rivers, waterfalls and diverse Alaska wildlife populations. You’ll never forget your bear viewing trip to Alaska’s most inaccessible national parks!

Full Day Bear Viewing Trips to the Katmai Coastal Areas and Brooks River

June Departures: Our tours leave Homer’s Beluga Lake in downtown Homer for a spectacular hour-long flight across Cook Inlet. We land at the mouth of a river that flows out of a large tidal area. In the early summer, the bears migrate to the coast for the mating season and feed on fresh, juicy sea grasses that sprout in the spring. It is not unusual to see 35 to 40 bears at one time and they can be as close as 50 yards. The Katmai coast is a very scenic place with great opportunities to take photos with 7,000 ft. snow covered mountain peaks as a backdrop. July Departures: Around the first of July, depending on the timing of the salmon run coming from Bristol Bay, we go to the Brooks River Falls. Brooks is in the middle of Katmai. The flight takes about an hour and a half to get across Cook Inlet past McNeil River, (that's the other famous place to watch bears), past all the huge interior lakes of Katmai and on to Brooks. We'll fly over six and seven thousand foot mountains, beautiful mountain lakes and often, we see moose and caribou along the way. Sometimes, we have to wait in the airplane for a few minutes to let the bears clear the beach. Then, off to the visitors center for a 15-minute briefing from the National Park Service. August Departures: As soon as the pink salmon are showing up we fly to the southern coast of Katmai - just across from Kodiak Island. The scenery is outrageous! We pass Cape Douglas and we go to a bay called Geographic Harbor named after the National Geographic Society who did the first exploration of Katmai Volcano from there. We land next to our open boat and take a short ride to shore then walk about 1/2 mile. The river is full of pink and chum salmon and it’s not uncommon to see 10 or 15 bears on the river right in front of us. The beach is full of clams and bears are excellent clam diggers. If you were to choose a place in all of Alaska to watch bears, this is the place. Words cannot describe how beautiful it is here! September Departures: We think this is the best time to visit Alaska. The weather is in a transition from summer to fall and can cause some delays but the colors and fragrances can be breathtaking. The salmon are spawning before the rivers freeze, the moose are gathering their harems and the caribou are starting their migrations. The bears are fat and have time to play with each other, Its just a splendid time of year. We try to stay on the coast as long as the bears stick around and the weather allows but sometime in the middle of September we head back to the interior to the red salmon streams.

Daily Departures from Homer: $950.00 per Person

Full Day Bear Viewing Trips to Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park

During July and September, we provide regular flight service to Brooks Camp. This trip to Brooks is guided by National Park Rangers and provides access to some of the most famous brown bear viewing in the world. Plan on six hours for your trip to Brooks Falls. The flight from Homer to Brooks Camp is one and a half hours, crossing the Cook Inlet and a large, beautiful section of Katmai National Park, passing volcanoes, glaciers and waterfalls. You will have three hours on the beach, where a National Park Ranger will give you a briefing on bear safety, and then you will be free to walk the trail to Brooks Falls, viewing bears playing on the beach and fishing in the river en route.

Daily Departures from Homer: $1210.00 per Person