Our Life in Alaska and Beyond

These are all the pics I took with my big camera at Lake Clark National Park. We saw several bears, with an experienced guide with us at all times. I never felt in danger at all, and absolutely loved the time we got to spend here. It was an amazing experience, and I hope I'll be able to visit again someday! 🐻❤️🐻

Crimp Ear

The main reason Chrissy came to visit us was so that we could visit Lake Clark National Park. This trip took several months of planning, and was so, so worth it! It was short (only 24 hours), but probably the best 24 hours of my life, no joke! It truly couldn't have been better and I loved every second. We took Ruby (part of her 12th birthday present) and Scott stayed home with Noelle and Robyn. It was very expensive, but in my opinion, definitely worth it, and definitely something I want to do again. 

We stayed at Silver Salmon Creek Lodge, which I highly, highly recommend. We flew from Anchorage on the morning of July 4th on a little float plane, and landed on a lake near the lodge. We then got on a little boat, and then we were taken on a 4-wheeler to our cabin and the lodge. From there we started our bear viewing (with a very experienced guide), with breaks for lunch and dinner, and then out again after dinner for more bear viewing. We slept very well in our cabin that night, and the next morning we got to do more bear viewing, followed by breakfast, and then sadly it was already time to go home. The next time I visit I would love to stay longer. But I have no complaints about this trip and really feel that we just lucked out with beautiful weather, lots of bears (no cubs, but that's ok), an incredibly knowledgeable and kind guide, amazing food (I don't think I've ever eaten as well as I did on this trip), and super comfortable accommodations. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This first post will be all of my cell pics, and then I'll do a separate post with all the pics I took from my big camera. I also have some great videos on my IG! Enjoy the bears and the beauty of Lake Clark NP! 🐻🏔️

About to get on our float plane at the Lake Hood Floatplane Base in Anchorage. We learned this is the busiest and biggest seaplane base in the world!

Scott had Juneteenth off work so we decided to spend the day at Eklutna Lake. It was the most beautiful summer day, and it ended up being one of our favorite days ever! We first spotted a black bear off the side of the road on our drive up, then we all went on a pretty 7 mile bike ride along the lakeside trail (even Robyn on her princess bike!), then we went back to our campsite and had quickie pies and s'mores. While we were right in the middle of eating, a black bear started to come towards our campsite! Scott quickly helped the girls get in the car, and I tried my best to gather up all our food. (I had read that's what you're supposed to do if a bear approaches you while eating.) The bear kind of started getting close to our campsite and Scott honked at it. Luckily the bear moved on with no incident, and I'm so glad we were all safe. We're just doing our best recreating in bear country, haha. But this definitely made for a very fun and exciting day at Eklutna Lake. We finished up the day by going down to the lake and and playing in the water. Scott even got all the way in, lol. Enjoy the pics! 🐻

We love summers in AK! On the first Saturday in June we decided to go to ERNC. It ended up being a great day for wildlife! On the drive there we saw a huge bull moose on the road (I have a cool video I shared to IG!) and then we also saw a moose near the pond while hiking. (We just did the easy Rodak Nature Loop.) And then while driving back we saw a mama brown bear and yearling cub just off the side of the road. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my telephoto lens, but we still got some good pics. Enjoy! 🫎🐻

The littles somehow forgot their jackets so Scott and I gave them ours, haha.

Scott and I had the amazing opportunity to go on a day trip to Katmai National Park! All of Alaska has seen a decline in tourism this summer and so lots of companies have been doing specials for Alaska residents. I saw that Katmai Air had a 25% discount for a day trip from Anchorage so once my parents made it up here I jumped on booking this deal for us! Even with the discount it was still pretty expensive, but in my opinion it was definitely worth it as a once in a lifetime opportunity! (Although I'd love to go back, haha!) 

It worked out perfect with my parents watching the girls so Scott and I could fly out of Anchorage early in the morning, and then we made it back by late that evening. We first took a small nine passenger plane to King Salmon, and then from there we got on an even smaller float plane (it was just me, Scott, the pilot, and the copilot!) to Brooks Camp at Katmai National Park! We landed on Naknek Lake, right at Brooks Camp and the NPS Visitor Center. We had a quick bear safety orientation by a Park Ranger, and then we were free to explore the park! Most of the time (and where most of these pictures were taken) we were on one of the viewing platforms, so we were close to the bears, but we were safely above them. However, to get to the platforms we had to walk on the trails and the most famous viewing platform (Brooks Falls)  is about a mile from the visitor center. We had a close encounter with a bear while on the trail, but we were able to let it safely pass, giving him plenty of room, and it was all good! 

The best part of Katmai was just how many bears there were! I had no idea we were going to just see them everywhere! It was truly amazing! We probably saw about 50 bears total. I've read that they are able to tolerate each other, being so close, and they're not as aggressive (as say grizzly bears in Denali) just because of the abundance of food (salmon) available. There was definitely no shortage of salmon as you'll see! Enjoy all these amazing pics!!! (Also, huge thanks to my friend Britta who lent me her 70-200mm lens. I was going to rent a lens, but it wasn't able to be delivered on time, so she definitely saved the day!)

I've tried to identify some of these bears by using pics from the Katmai NP FB page, the 2019 NPS identification guide, the Meet the Bears of Fat Bear Week 2020 guide, and remembering info from the Bear Monitor, who was on the Falls platform the second time we were out on the platform. I've probably got some wrong, but it was still fun. I love these bears so much, haha!

One of my favorite pics of the day 🐻On the Falls Platform