Katmai (Cat My)

Arrival into King Salmon was not bad at all, it was a 1 hour flight from Anchorage.  The airport here is much different from Gustavus in that the baggage claim is inside the airport and the number of stations that Alaska Air has is about double that of Gustavus.  King Salmon also supports a few other towns and also a fishing industry.  I was able to use some of my limited sign language today due to one of the commercial fisherman being deaf and I could say hello and try to communicate with him.  I have to say that the voice to text and notes in on the Apple platform worked well for us to communicate.  I wish him well on his journey.  The Antler’s Inn is just down the street about 1/2 mile from the airport and it is next to the “grocery” store.  The store also has a liquor store  next to it and a fuel pump.  Fuel for regular is $4.95 here in King Salmon but in Anchorage it is $3.40 so a bit o a increase do to being out in the middle of no place. There is 3G cell service and the hotel offers you 1 GB of data for your stay.

Brooks Falls – The day started at 0830 with the Katmai Water Taxi picking us up at the saloon.  The water taxi had about 6 of us and the ride was good with Bob our Captain and Bo our first mate.  When we arrived at Brooks Lodge we had to do a bear safety briefing from Ranger Griffin.  Once that was over we had to store all stuff with a smell into a food cache and other gear into the gear cache.  Off to the falls we went.  Due to COVID the falls viewing is at 40% so a wait list was created and maintained by a Ranger.  The wait was not long as the Rangers let you view at the falls for only 45 minutes if there is a wait.  The alternative viewing platform allowed you to see a mamma bear and her two cubs sitting in the water looking for fish.  You could also see the falls but it was a bit away and the excitement was building for the falls.  Mamma bear found a fish and was able to catch it while we watched.  One of the two cubs took most of the fish with them and mamma and the other cub did not get much of a fish.  Mamma went back to fishing.  The walk from the lodge to the falls is on a elevated walkway that has gates which you need two hands to open and are very big and hard steel, to prevent bears from entering.  Then you hit a road, then the brooks falls trail which is a trail that has negligible elevation gain.  The path is wide and it is dirt and rocks.  Once you get close to the falls you once again to through a few gates on an elevated platform.  There are a few more gates to get to the falls but the walk is easy and it technically can handle wheel chairs.  I have to say that all in all I had a great day today viewing the bears in the water at the falls.  At one time there was 15 bears who were trying to catch some fish.  One trip away from the falls I heard someone giving a “whoop” and I turned the corner to find two adolescent males running after echoer playing on the road.  It was cool seeing them run but have to say that it was scary as well.  Seeing the bears at the falls and seeing the scares they have from the fights is amazing they they are still alive.  The alpha right now is 747 and he has many large patches of scar tissue all over his body but he is the alpha.  Mamma bear almost died last year when she was in a fight and had issues with her eye, glad she survived.  I also saw two bears getting it on on the hill while walking to the falls but one of the bear safety things is to keep moving when on the elevated walkways so I could not linger and watch like an X rated move until the male finished.  All in all watching bears catch fish and eat sushi was cool.

Here are some of the videos that I have taken and are on my YouTube channel: Brown bear on a stroll Mom and her two cubs fishing Bear needs his back scratched Everyone wants a fish I got one! Note: by clicking on these links it will open a new tab in your browser

Brooks Lake – After the viewing at the falls you can go back to the mail trail and turn right and head down the road to the Brooks Lake.  The lake is not frequently visited but the trail is the road that is dirt and rock.  There is also some housing for the rangers at the lake so if you go please be quite and kind to the rangers who may not be working when you are in their neighborhood.  

Valley of 10,000 smokes – Our plane was delayed today!  We finally left King Salmon on Katmai Air and we missed our bus to the Valley, bummer.  The bus operator did put an extra section on for us to the top.  Jimmy the driver was a handy type man for the Brooks Lodge and he put us in a 4 wheel drive van and off we went the 23 miles and 3 river crossings.  The start was slow as we had a bit of a bear jam.  One was walking down the road when we were trying to get loaded and had to wait.  Then a second came along and this one stayed close to the van so we could not have the engine running.  They both walked away and Jimmy started the engine but before we could leave the second started to chase the first one.  They then sat within 10 yards of us for 5 or so minutes.  After the jam we headed on our way.  Adriane spotted a moose standing in a pond about a mile away from the road but Jimmy stopped backed up and we all eyeballed the moose.  Jimmy made all 3 of the stream crossings but the first he forgot to put the van into 4 wheel drive.  The van was also a sauna but we were able to make adjustments at the 12 mile marker, also the bathroom stop.  Jimmy offered us some fresh pineapple and pretzels to his passengers, nice touch.  When we got to the top of the of the road, single lane and crushed rock, so not that much of a road there was a school bus on a 4 wheel drive 15 ton truck frame.  The name of 10,000 smokes comes from when the earthquake in the June 1912 caused Mt. Katmai to erupt on June 6th.  The volcano’s eruption had ash all the way to Northern Africa.  The ash and rock from Mt. Katmai put many feet, up to 800, in the valley and was over top of many rivers.  The water then started to steam and this steam was coming out of the rocks due to the rocks being full of holes.  When people came to explore the volcanic destruction they say all this steam coming out of the ground, hence the name Valley of 10,000 smokes.  The eruption is the 5th largest on record during modern times when the data has been collected.