jwiley

My wife and I are trying to squeeze in a one day bear viewing trip out of Anchorage, following a trip to Denali in early Sept. next year. From what I gather, the choices seem to be: a)Brooks River with bears feeding on dead, spawned salmon, or b)Lake Clark NP for the silver salmon run. Does anyone have any knowledge of Rust's Flying Service, or other suggestions? Thanks.

BudgetQueen

Rust's is a long established, excellent vendor. However, for bear fly in tours, you really need to allow 2 days, as they are very dependent on weather conditions and can be canceled.

Far better is to consider the trips out of Homer. I suggest you research areas for peak conditions when you are there, then see what is available. Many of these trips are already fully booked for 2008.

Bill_H

Far better is to consider the trips out of Homer

In September many if not most of the trips from Homer go to Brooks anyway, so probably better to stick to the original plan and fly out of Anchorage, saving a lot of money for the flight to Homer.

From what I gather, the choices seem to be: a)Brooks River with bears feeding on dead, spawned salmon, or b)Lake Clark NP for the silver salmon run

Dunno about Lake Clark, but in early Sept Brooks is a sure thing, with many fat well-furred bears at close range. Many of the pics on this site were taken at Brooks in Sept (the rest in Denali) ... http://www.pbase.com/hilton_photography/grizz ... we'll be at Hallo Bay this Sept for the silver salmon but that's in Katmai and not Lake Clark, which should also be good.

Bill

jwiley

Thanks for this input. This is our first trip to Alaska and was primarily focused on Denali. Our original plans were to fill in the extra day in Ancorage with a boat tour out of Seward, but I got swayed by all of the great comments and pictures that I saw pertaining to the "close up" bear viewing you guys discussed on previous postings. We can't wait!!

Bill_H

jwiley, here's the bearviewing link to the Katmailand site, the ones with the concession at Brooks ...
http://www.katmailand.com/bear-viewing/index.html ... also the NPS site for Katmai bear-viewing:
http://www.nps.gov/katm/planyourvisit/bear-watching.htm ... every time we've flown into Brooks in Sept we've seen bears before we even got out of the float plane.

I'm guessing there is a similar NPS site for Lake Clark.

Regarding coming from Anchorage or Homer, I think Homer is a better starting point much of the summer since they have several options based on various salmon runs, but for about 3 weeks in July and 3 weeks late Aug to mid-Sept even the Homer pilots go mainly to Brooks, and it's easy to get to Brooks from Anchorage, saving you the cost of the flight to Homer.

Bill

freespirit61

I have been to Brooks Lodge in September and it was an incredible experience. The salmon are running in the lower falls and the bears are abundant. I have also been on a day trip with Emerald Air out of Homer. This was at the of August and we flew to the Katmai range, located the bears, landed and hiked to view them. It was equally wonderful and I learned so much with them. Either way, you will have a great experience.

Cheweyhead

Another BearWatching question.

After our Glacier Bay Kayak trip, we are going to fly up to Anchorage, should we go to Homer and do a day trip with EmeraldAir? Or, stay at Brooks Lodge? Having spoken to both, and can work out availability Not sure which to choose. We are leaning toward Emerald because only nine people will be in the group, whereas I am told there are hundreds around the Brooks observation deck. Is this so?

jfmkem

Cheweyhead - we don't want to hijack this thread so if you prefer we can take the discussion off-line via e-mail. That being said - I've never been to Brooks Lodge, BUT my wife and I spent a day with Emerald Air in Sept 2006 and it was by FAR the highlight of our Alaska trip. The fact that there were only 9 of us made it so that Ken and Chris were able to customize what we did to what the bears were doing. If you like personal attention and value customer service then most definitely go with Emerald Air. You can do a search of them here at the Fodor's AK page or I can send you a link to some of the picture I took.

You will not regret it. I do suggest that you allow 2 days in Homer because you'll leave fairly early in the morning and return late in the afternoon. Homer is a bit of a drive from most anywhere on the peninsula.

Enjoy,
Javier

Cheweyhead

Thank you so much for you help. If we go farther north than the inside passage we will go with Emerald. Our friends are suggesting a cruise with American Safari that takes us from Sitka to Juneau, lots of activities and bears on Admiralty Island. So we are looking into that option too!

billyb68

north of homer we used alaska west air..they are in nikinski..beautiful lake and planes..they go over to wolerine creek to see bear or other trips up to glaciers or alson the volcanos...they wereVERY responsive to all our neeeds and questions...we fle w them last year and will do so again..www.alaskawestair.com...we started communicating w them this time of year to work out our trip..they always wrote back andf gave us the best price...hope this helps

offsprng59

I highly recommend Emerald Air out of Homer. They were amazing and were even used to film the Imax movie Bears. It was a truly personal experience and we saw many bears as close as 30 feet away! I felt so safe with them and can't wait to go back!

padams421

Our bear viewing trip to Brooks last summer was the highlight of our trip to Alaska. After having been to Brooks, Denali was just not as exciting.

tigerman99515

Just a warning to all. When flying in Alaska using an Air Taxi Service, ask the pilot before you take off, how many total hours he or she has and how many of those hours are flying in Alaska.
The better air taxi's hire the most experienced pilots with a minimum of 2,500 of Alaska time. Total hours really don't mean much here because here in Alaska, the weather is such a huge factor nearly every time you fly.
Many accidents occur here in spite of high time pilots with little or no Alaska time.

atravelynn

That's a good idea Tigerman! Maybe we should be asking before we even book the air taxi about the pilots hired. When boarding the plane, if the answer is an insufficient # of hours, that could mess up your plans. Thank you for the hint!

tigerman99515

Atravelynn,

That is a good idea. But you really never know until you are standing in the waiting area getting ready to board the plane before you find out which pilot you have. All the Air Taxis try to hire the best pilots, but those pilots end up flying for the same carrier every year.

Pilots get assigned to flights based on the number of passengers matching the type of plane based on its carrying capacity - but most critically, which pilot is available.

Ask your pilot if they have ever turned back or were unable to fly because of the weather. If they say yes, that is a good sign because they are considering their limitations as a pilot.

I feel so sorry for tourists who come to Alaska for their dream vacation only to have it end tragically because their pilot had the minimum number of commercial flight hours and all that time is in Florida (you pick the state).

Mountains and water are extremely unforgiving here.

atravelynn

Tigerman,
So if the response is not good and you decide not to fly with the pilot, can you request a more experienced pilot from the air taxi? Any thoughts on how you might try to get your money back?

A tragic flight can certainly mess up your plans more than a cancelled outing or delay.

Thanks!

tigerman99515

Atravelynn,

What I would do is this -
Book your flight but when you do, ask them how 'seasoned' their pilots are in Alaska (meaning, how many hours of Alaska time they have).

Then when you next talk to the air taxi prior to your trip or when you are standing in their office, ask them the pilots name and how many "Alaska" hours they have. If they say we have several pilots but cannot tell which one it will be - tell them that you 'and the other' passengers are not comfortable flying with a new pilot with so few hours.

Then ask them if they can provide you with one of their returning pilots that flies for them each year - one with at least 2,500 hours of Alaska time under his belt.

If they won't or cannot, go to another air taxi (and, by the way, report them to the FAA because you as a passenger have the right to know). They might try to withhold a cancellation fee which would be preferable to flying with a green pilot. But a reputable air taxi will try to accomodate your wish.

I handle several air taxi operators as clients and this is what they tell me. Also, I am an Alaskan pilot myself so I understand this whole weather/Alaska thing pretty well. You have to have great respect for flying in Alaska.

Like the saying goes -

There are 'old' pilots and there are 'bold' pilots, but there are no 'old bold' pilots.

Most air taxi operators are completely legitimate, and they all know one another. But at the same time, they have a hard time finding seasoned pilots. If the air taxi you are using doesn't have them, another will.

atravelynn

Great ideas, Tigerman, and you answered a question I had about you. It appeared you were a pilot or at least in the aviation business with your savvy advice, but I wasn't sure.

You guys are quite a breed! Any flying adventures you care to share? Also what can you tell me about visiting ANWAR? I think mid-June is good for caribou.

Finally, since I usually travel alone and do not have the means to hire a private pilot/guide, do you recommend any groups or operators for visiting unique areas with good wildlife viewing?

Thanks so much! Safe flying to you.

tigerman99515

ANWR is way, way north and inaccessible by road. Which means you would have to fly in. Plus it's on the coastal plain so it is flat as can be. The haul road which goes to Prudhoe Bay is a long, long road and I think only fair for seeing wildlife.

Personally I suggest taking the Denali Highway (don't tell your rental car company as they don't like their cars on that road). That road goes between Cantwell and Paxson and connects two of our very few roads. Suggest you Google Earth it. It is great for camping if you are into that or you can stay in either of those two small towns(not much in either one though).

As to scenery, you have the best chance of seeing wildlife, including caribou, along it as it is less traveled than the other roads since it is a dirt/hardpack surface nearly its' entire length. The road through Chitna which goes back to McCarthy and the Kennicott copper mine ruins is pretty amazing as well - that's in the Saint Elias NP.

Typically, wildlife is best in early morning or just before sunset (you take your chance there).

As to flying tales, scariest moment for me was years ago sitting in the right seat (co-pilot) of a friends Cessna 185. We were flying up a canyon he said he had been in before. We were sightseeing, looking for wildlife and not paying particular attention to the narrowing canyon walls when I heard him yell "Oh S--t".

Without another word he immediately applied full power and leveled the nose so as to get maximum speed. Then at maybe fifty feet off the deck he pulled the yoke hard back so we went vertical. He maintained full power until just before stalling the aircraft. At which point he nosed over as we did a 180 degree turn.

Now we were heading straight down gaining speed fast and just before we became a pile of rubble on the bottom of the canyon floor he pulled back on the yoke to level off. That was the only way for us to get out of that box canyon - a turn in either direction and were would have been planted on the side of a wall.

These were the days before adult 'depends' unfortunately - I could have used one for sure!!!

atravelynn

Thanks for the info. Yikes. I could use a Depends just reading about it.