[You may view a map of Katmai National Park and Preserve in PDF format here.]

I awoke early before the alarm, all excited to go bear viewing. J had cancelled her reservation for today because her blisters were hurting too much yesterday after the bear trip. I had my normal breakfast. We prepped the RV to move, then left around 8:30 with me in the RV and J following in the Jeep.

We got to the Emerald Air Service facility on Beluga Lake around 8:40 for the bear viewing trip to Katmai National Park and Preserve with Ken and Chris Day. I parked the RV in the nice flat area by the road, and J parked the Jeep in the regular parking area near the dock where there is a slope. Ken and Chris are wonderful people and are featured in the IMAX movie Bears. I had plenty of time to put on my hip waders while Chris was finishing the briefing for the other participants. We chatted with Ken after he finished warming up their de Havilland DHC-3 Otter on floats. One of the other women participants was wearing some Mossy Oak camo pants similar to mine, so I told her that I liked them. She asked where I had gotten mine, and after I answered "Cabela's," she sheepishly said she got hers at Sportsman's Warehouse. We boarded the Otter, then took off at 9:30 headed to the east.

There was a cow moose near the southeast corner of Beluga Lake. We flew over Cook Inlet between two cloud layers. The lower cloud layer ended maybe 10 mi (16km) east of Mt. Augustine, an island volcano, but the top of it was covered by the cloud layer. (You may view this map from the Alaska Volcano Observatory / Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys.) We got down to 1250 ft (381m) to go under some clouds east of Contact Point (the tiny peninsula west of Mt. Augustine). We weaved up Paint Creek between low clouds in search of a path over the pass so we could reach Crosswind Lake. (View map.) It's in Katmai National Preserve which forms the northern section of Katmai National Park and Preserve, and is due north of the Battle River Wilderness Retreat and northwest of the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary. There wasn't a clear path over the pass, so we turned around at 10:36. :(

We touched down on Chenik Lake at 10:43 for a potty stop. Chenik Lake is the unlabeled lake on the map of Katmai National Park and Preserve just north of McNeil Cove. We landed to the northeast, and stayed on-plane for quite a while to expedite our arrival on the eastern shore. There were lots of dead salmon floating on the lake and lining the shore and some still swimming around in the lake too. I photographed some of the dead salmon on the shore, including this head shot of a male sockeye salmon (left). As the males start to head upstream to spawn, their mouths develop a unique hooked shap.
I also photographed Ken and Chris Day next to the tail of their Otter. Chris likes to point out that she married her own bear because Ken is big and "furry."

We loaded up again at 11:14 and took off at 11:21 heading southwest, opposite the way we had landed, and there was a bear in the northwest corner of the lake eating a salmon.

We were able to get over the pass at 11:32 and into Katmai National Preserve. :) Unfortunately, the ceiling was low and there were very few bears within walking distance of Crosswind Lake. A pilot and/or guide for fishermen around the lake reported that the weather was deteriorating, so we left and headed back over the pass. :(

We landed on Chenik Lake again at 11:56 for a lunch stop, and Ken tied up on the western shore because we had seen bears in that area. We had lunch on the tundra, and there was a good crop of crow berries — many more berries than we had seen over near Crosswind Lake.
After we finished eating, we bushwhacked to the top of a hill along the shore to look for a bear we suspected might be on the shore just beyond the hill. Instead, we came upon a bear sleeping in some grass just beyond the hill! :) The bear looked up at us as we crested the hill, then it went right back to sleep. It stirred every now and then, and it was having a hard time staying awake. It got into some interesting positions occasionally that were great for photography (left).

As we were watching the sleeping bear, a sow with three cubs came out onto the shore on the far side of the lake and started making their way along the shore towards the beach where we had tied up the airplane. Hmm — stay and photograph a sleeping bear, or go photograph a sow with three cubs — a dilemma similar to a bird in hand and two in a bush. Because we had plenty of time before we would have to leave the sleeping bear to get into position to photograph the sow with three cubs, we stayed with the sleeping bear. Then two sub-adult bears came out of the brush onto the shore between the sow and three cubs and the beach where we had tied up the airplane. The sow with three cubs kept walking along the beach, and Ken speculated that she would push the sub-adults ahead of her.
I photographed the Emerald Air Service de Havilland DHC-3 Otter on floats tied up on the shore (left) before Ken took most of the group, including me, to go get in position to photograph the sow with three cubs. Unfortunately, the two sub-adult bears got spooked by the sow with three cubs, and Ken speculated that the cubs chased the two sub-adults up the hill on the far side of the lake because all of the bears had vanished into the brush. :( After a while, we could see the two sub-adults exit the brush near the top of the far hill, and they were looking downhill like they were trying to avoid the bears that had chased them up the hill. We stood around and waited, and saw a bear go up a second small hill near where we had been watching the sleeping bear. Later, Chris told us that the sleeping bear had gotten up, walked through the nice green grass, paused and posed a few times, then headed up the second small hill where we had seen the bear. Based on the results, we should have stayed with the "bear in hand," but an opportunity to photograph another sow with three cubs was too good to pass up. After all, that's why the bears here are called "wildlife" — they're not trained to behave as we would like them to. We packed up and reboarded the Otter at 3:50. Ken taxied around the lake to warm up the engine, then we took off at 4:07.

A cloud bank was still covering the top of Mt. Augustine. Ken put on some CCR (Creedence Clearwater Revival) on the intercom. We had listened to CCR on the way home on my trip in 2001 too. It had been on a cassette tape then, and now it was on an iPod. As we were flying over Beluga Lake on downwind, I could see J walking down the driveway towards the dock.

We touched down on Beluga Lake at 5:02. J and I were about the last to leave, and we said goodbye to Ken and Chris. Chris told us to stop by the office on the Spit tomorrow to pick up some t-shirts, no charge.

As we were walking towards the RV, Ken popped out of the office to invite us to dinner at The Homestead, and we quickly accepted. :)

We returned to the RV and I quickly washed up and changed into something a little fresher for dinner. We left around 5:45 in the Jeep.

We got to The Homestead around 6:00. L joined us for dinner too. She's the woman who had been wearing the camo pants today. I had the sablefish special and a glass of Kenwood Saugvignon Blanc, and J had the small prime rib (it was still 12 oz, 340g). The fish was most tasty and the prime rib was huge! J and I split a Chocolate Decadence for dessert. The dinner conversation was great! While the Day's season was supposed to end on September 17th this year, today will be their last day because the bears aren't cooperating.

We returned to the RV around 8:10, and we'll spend the night here. Earlier in the week, Ken had offered to let us park here if we wanted. I was so excited about today! I had gotten some great bear images, then we got to go to The Homestead again!!! :) I downloaded the images I took today, then took a body shower.