Stranded on an island with 2,200 grizzly bears. What could be more exciting?

July 28, 2025

It’s 8 a.m. and we wake up in Port Alsworth, Alaska, to a partly cloudy morning. After grabbing our day packs with lunch and hiking gear, we head out the door of our townhouse to Cranberry Cache, a rustic coffee shop on the shore of Lake Clark’s Hardenberg Bay. As we approach a sea plane comes in for a landing. It’s white with a sporty blue stripe down the side. A man my age jumps out in waders and scans the beach. Our eyes meet and for a moment we have the same question. Am I meeting you for a flight charter? He introduces himself as Derice from Rainbow River Aviation, here to fly my parents and myself to Katmai National Park for the day.

Excited we all jump aboard. It’s not every day you get to hop in a sea plane in remote Alaska. After a quick safety orientation, Derice starts the engine and taxis away from the shore. Slowly we pick up speed, the pontoons slicing mercilessly through the water. Before we know it, we are in flight watching the coast shrink away behind us. The flight to Brooks Camp is roughly an hour southwest, over unknown hillside country and Lake Iliamna, Alaska’s largest inland lake. Soaring above the spotty morning clouds we try to make sense of the foreign terrain below us. Miles and miles of endless wilderness—forests, lakes, rivers, tundra.

Around 10 a.m. we touch down at Naknek Lake just outside Brooks Camp. Already, a flock of sea planes lines the shore. Derice pulls right up front drops us off and instructs us to meet him back here at 3 p.m. As we walk up to the Brooks Camp Visitor Center, we watch him pull away and take off for another flight charter. Stranded on an island with 2,200 grizzly bears. What could be more exciting? As I wait outside the visitor center while my parents drop off our lunch at the food cache, I spot a bear bobbing up and down in the bay just beyond the sea planes. Two minutes on land and already spotting my first bear. This is gonna be good.

Our first stop is Bear School, a 15-minute bear safety orientation in the visitor center. Here we learn the proper etiquette when encountering a grizzly: face the bear, step aside to allow space and talk loudly. It is best to hike in groups and make noise to announce our presence. Sneaking up on a bear is a surefire way to escalate bear aggression.

Upon completing the bear safety course, we are given a graduation pin and free to walk the trails. We immediately head for the Boardwalk Trail. This trail crosses the Brooks River delta on a high boardwalk leading to the infamous Brooks Falls viewing platforms. Atop the boardwalk we spot at least five bears swimming in the water below. They are far off, but still closer than I’ve ever been to a grizzly. Snapping a few photos, we press on to the other side of the river. A meandering 1-mile gravel path turns north and heads upriver to the falls.

A little on edge, we talk continuously, alert for any bears hidden in the brush. Nothing stirs so we assume we’re bear-free for the moment. Approaching the viewing platform we enter a boardwalk taking us 10-15 feet above the ground. A little further down, a couple motions us to be quiet and points over the edge of the boardwalk. Peering over the handrail, I spot a sleepy brown bear curled up in soft green grass directly below us. For being Alaska’s top predator it looks uncharacteristically harmless snoozing quietly in the cool shade.

Moving along, we come to an intersection. A gate blocks us from venturing further forward and a ranger takes down our names. Like a restaurant, we wait for our party to be called up to the Upper Falls viewing platform. Meanwhile, we pass the time on the nearby Riffles platform. Much to our surprise, this secondary platform has an incredible view of the river and a couple of bears fishing just offshore. Sure we can’t see the waterfall as well, but we happily watch as the bears continue to gorge on salmon down here. A little ways off we spot two juvenile bears sparring with each other, splashing and tackling each other in the shallow river. It would take a month of Sundays to witness this scene in a park like Yellowstone or Glacier, and yet here we are casually watching as if this is perfectly normal.

After about 20 minutes of waiting, a ranger calls our name and we make our way to the Upper Falls viewing platform. Upon arrival we understand the hype. The classic scene of Brooks Falls unfolds before us with salmon throwing themselves at the falls in a desperate struggle for survival. The thunder of the falls is masks our voices as we call out bears wading in the surge and churn of water. We look on as bears rip apart their protein-rich meals fish by fish. To say we could stay here forever would be an understatement. Our 30 minutes on the platform is over before we know it. It’s disappointing to leave, but as time goes on the number of bears dwindles so we feel justified in hitting the perfect time for bear-viewing.

We return to Riffles platform and spend a good hour soaking in time with the bears, observing their playful and unique behavior. Some bears are methodical in fishing. Others are bombastic. Some dive underwater. Others trap schools of salmon. But all of them have unlimited access to unlimited food. What more could a bear ask for?

Already 2 p.m. approaches so we head back to catch Derice and fly back to Port Alsworth. On our way down the trail, we run into a group of hikers corralled by a rather noisy and bossy ranger. Sensing the commotion we stop in our tracks to assess the situation up ahead. Apparently the ranger has spotted a bear on the trail and is stopping all hikers until the bear clears away. She has already called in bear management to help the situation, but in the meantime it is her duty to keep visitors away. Having stopped about 100 yards behind the ranger, I’m a little disappointed I can’t get a better view of the bear. I can only hear the ranger as she directs traffic, which only makes me more curious. But obedient I stay put. Soon hikers following us pile up behind us on the trail. We stand around waiting for the all-clear from the ranger. That’s when I hear excitement behind me.

With a shuffle of feet our group quickly moves off the trail into the trees just in time to see a lone bear sauntering down the trail behind us! What are the chances! It’s amazing to be a mere 10 feet from the bear with nothing between us. Our safety hangs in numbers as we trust the bear to keep moving on. A little ways off, he exits the trail and lopes into the brush. We take a moment to comprehend what we just saw, when suddenly more excitement from behind. Another bear approaches our group and continues down the trail towards the ranger. Again we move off trail giving it a wide berth. This bear trots down the path and darts into the woods. Surely that’s enough bears for one day. We release our bated breath only to once again find a third bear on our tail—this one bigger and brawnier than the first two! Half of me wants to snap as many photos of this encounter as I can. The other half wants to duck in the trees. My wiser, latter half wins out.

Believe it or not, this is the end of our bear encounters on the trail. We eventually conjoin with the ranger’s group up ahead and in one large mass move back to Brooks Camp over the initial boardwalk. We spot several other bears closer to the bridge and linger watching them, safely perched high on the boardwalk. Back on the beach, we watch planes land and depart while awaiting Derice. It’s disappointing to leave this park so soon. We all feel like we barely scratched the surface of what this park has to offer. While we wait on the beach we are left with one last bear encounter. A young juvenile crawls out of the brush, slinks to the shore just 30 yards away, grabs a fish and darts back into the cover of the trees. It seems you can’t let your guard down anywhere in Katmai. And while that may seem daunting, it is actually what makes this park so special. Derice arrives and we ride back to Port Alsworth reminiscing about our time in the park. Never before have I encountered so much wildlife in one park, much less grizzly bears. I’ll be dreaming about this park for a while until I can make plans to return, hopefully for more than a day trip.