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The Brown Bears
Although
Katmai National Park is world renowned for its images showing
bears standing atop Brooks Falls as they catch salmon jumping
in mid-air, there exists a far wilder and remote part of Katmai
that provides home to the highest populations of brown bears on
earth.
This photo tour is a world class wildlife safari intended for those who want to see the wildest terrain Alaska has to offer, all with huge coastal grizzlies freely roaming amid its rugged landscapes.
Coastal Katmai is located due west of Kodiak Island along the shores of the Shelikof Strait and we will access it via a specially chartered flight from Homer (following a commercial flight from Anchorage to Homer), located on the tip of the Kenai Peninsula.
The flight is itself a spectacular adventure because we'll be paralleling the untamed wilds of the Alaska Peninsula during most of the journey. It is laced with towering mountains and glaciated volcanoes that rise abruptly out of the ocean's edge. Our plane will then land us in a secluded bay in a spectacular inlet known as Geographic Harbor.
We'll be staying aboard a lovely, 12-passenger cruise vessel anchored within the secluded confines of Geographic Harbor. While the boat could provide us with access to other neighboring areas, it will serve solely as our base of operation, providing daily access to shore via motorized skiff. It will also provide us with hearty home-cooked meals and lodging in comfortable stateroom bunks.
Our
location is ideally situated to observe and photograph large brown
bears at close range. Our trip dates are designed to coincide
with an autumn run of silver salmon, which often draws a number
of bears together at the confluence of the river and the tidal
flats. In addition, there is another fork in the river slightly
upstream where the bears often gather which we will likely visit
during the mid-day hours.
Since bears are not hunted in Katmai, and our bear guide has daily interaction with these same individuals year after year, these bears tend to be rather disinterested in human visitors because they feel no threat to their food source (the salmon) or to themselves. The magnificent scenic backdrops characterized by wide-open terrain and towering jagged peaks offer a particularly appealing element to the photographic opportunities.
The trip is limited to only eight guests (plus Joe and I) so we will have the boat all to ourselves. Excluding some mid-day bear viewers who may come in for a limited visit by floatplane, we will have the bears entirely to ourselves.
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We'll have a digital projector along, so we'll be able to do classroom sessions on digital workflow, image management, and RAW conversions using either Adobe Bridge, Adobe Lightroom, or Phase One's Capture One. If we have bad weather that shortens our day, we'll fill some of this time with valuable classroom instruction on these and other topics that you might bring up. Unlike our normal course teaching at Hoot Hollow or in Arizona, we won't be conducting an entire CNPC, but instead will be covering the salient digital aspects of the course. We'll be demonstrating how to maximize the digital potential in your photography by software techniques, including making exposure composites and panorama stitches. We'll show you how to use Layers and Masks effectively, especially for making spot-corrections and adjustments with sharpness or contrast, especially with the Highlight/Shadow adjustment feature.
Additionally, you're invited to bring along a digital portfolio of up to 40 images for group appreciation, review, or critique.
Trip Itinerary for TripDay 1.
Plan on arriving into Anchorage by late afternoon. Lodging will
be at the Puffin Inn on Spenard Road this first evening. After
you gather your luggage at the airport, go to the courtesy phone
station and call The Puffin Inn. They will send out a shuttle
van to bring you to the hotel. We have arranged for single rooms
for everyone in the group for this evening. For those that are
in, the group will meet in the lobby at 7:00PM and we'll have
our orientation meeting somewhere nearby. We'll then head to a
restaurant for dinner where we will also go over final trip details.
(PLEASE NOTE: this dinner is not included)
PLEASE NOTE: It is crucial for you to get in on this evening. We have a very early flight to Kodiak the next day and if you would miss this flight, it would take you at least a day to catch up to the group. And that's only if the float plane company had room to take you to meet us. In addition, and just so you know, you would be responsible for any additional expenses including extra nights in Anchorage, any charges in changing the flight to Kodiak and any charges incurred with the float plane company.
Day 2.
We'll be off to the airport for a very early morning flight to
Kodiak. From the Kodiak airport we'll be transported to the office
of our charter flight service company. After checking in, the
company will drop the group off at a local restaurant for breakfast
and then will transport the group to a local grocery store for
any additional supplies that you might need. The floatplane office
will be keeping an eye on the weather so they will govern the
exact time for our spectacular flight across the Shelikof Strait
to Coastal Katmai. We should arrive in plenty of time for a late
lunch and our first afternoon outing with the bears! (B, L, D)
Day
3, 4, 5 & 6.
We'll have four full days of bear viewing and will plan our daily
outings around the weather, the tides, salmon runs and overall
bear activity. We will likely pull anchor for one day and venture
to another amazing location for a change of scenery and some different
bears. Besides brown bears, red fox and eagles are also a possibility
as they come in to scavenge for fish remains.
At one of our locations we'll be adjacent to a great tufted and
horned puffin colony, and, weather permitting, we'll be photographing
the birds at water level and from shore. This, during our last
year's shoot, proved to be one of the most exciting and interesting
shoots, as we often floated quite close to the puffins before
they slapped across the water, running to take off. We also had
flocks swirling overhead before plummeting into their nesting
cliffs, making for challenging but very rewarding photography.(B,
L, D)
Day 7.
Depending upon weather and flight schedules, we might have time
for one last outing with the bears before the floatplane arrives
to take the group back to Kodiak. Upon arrival in Kodiak, we'll
be transported to the airport for our connecting flight back to
Anchorage. You will arrive back into Anchorage (weather permitting
and with the luck of the Sea Gods) around 5:30pm. Lodging is not
included for this night. (B)
Trip Price: $TBA pp (from Anchorage, based upon double
occupancy on the boat, single occupancy in Anchorage)
Dates: Two dates in 2009 (7 days, 6 nights)
Group Size: Maximum of 8 participants
Price includes: All hotels and ground transportation in
Anchorage; breakfast in Kodiak; all meals on the boat plus round-trip
airfare between Anchorage and Kodiak including the bush flight
to the Alaska Peninsula; gratuities for the boat and plane companies
and non-alcoholic beverages on the boat and alcoholic beverages
(as supplies last) on the boat.