Alaska Brown Bear Trip Report 2025

Katmai, Alaska
August 16 - 20, 2025

August 15, 2025 — Arrival Day: King Salmon

We woke up early at 6AM, packed up quickly, and I made a much-needed stop at Walmart. The airline had left my gear bag in Texas, so I had to scramble to replace clothing and gear for the trip. 

Thankfully, I managed to find enough to get me through. Back at the hotel, I packed everything and headed for our flight to King Salmon.

As the plane lifted off, the excitement really started to build. 

Looking out the window, I was greeted with endless stretches of forests, marshlands, winding rivers, and scattered ponds. Everything was green and alive, a reminder that a brand-new adventure was about to begin.

K, Mike and Michele were on the flight with me and Mike has already arrived in King Salmon. We caught up with Mike in town.

The group is here… and everyone is bouncing off the walls with excitement, eager for this adventure to begin. 

Their energy is contagious, I’m just as fired up as they are.

This is my first time seeing brown bears, and I can’t wait to see them fishing and splashing in the rivers. 

Along with my topside cameras for the bears, I brought my underwater camera Gloria, in hopes of photographing the salmon underwater up close.

Their red and green colors are stunning, and I’d love the chance to capture them as they swim past. 

Fingers crossed for something special.

I also packed a 24–70mm f/2.8 lens, which I’ll be testing out for both landscapes and, hopefully, some close bear encounters. 

Earlier today I gave it a trial run, snapping a few shots of song birds at the feeders outside our hotel here in King Salmon, and it handled the shaded light beautifully.

Tomorrow, we board the floatplane to Katmai to officially begin the bear adventure.

I can’t wait to get out there. 

Hopefully, the gear I picked up will hold up well in the field.

Tomorrow, we find out!

August 16, 2025… Arrival Day, Into Katmai

I’m in a flying boat headed to Katmai!

The wind was strong today, but the skies were blue and beautiful. 

I’ve been dreaming of seeing brown bears for so long, and finally heading to one of the best hotspots in the world feels like magic… true, pure magic.

The views from the window were unreal. 

No homes, no roads, no people, just wild landscapes stretching endlessly, filled with stories of struggle, survival, and raw beauty. 

This place hums with life.

The water landing was so much fun. There’s nothing quite like touching down on the surface of a river in a plane, something everyone should experience at least once. 

It was thrilling and added to the sense that we were entering a true wilderness.

When we landed, camp came into view, surrounded by an electric fence to keep out any overly curious bears. We gathered in the mess tent where Scott Stone, our very awesome bear guide, gave us a safety briefing and set expectations for the days ahead. The whole group was buzzing, we were ready.

Our first hike took us to a stream where we met our first bear, a big male who wanted nothing to do with us. This was my first real brown bear.

I saw one once in a zoo, but zoos don’t count. That’s a shadow of a bear. This was the real thing.

Crossing the river, we walked past salmon carcasses everywhere, some taken by bears, others reaching the end of their life cycle. Nature at work.

At another river, we found a blond sow with three cubs, rare for them to all make it to three years old. 

She was a success story. 

Watching her hunt while the cubs played close by was emotional and humbling.

We were less than 30 feet away, yet the bears barely noticed us.

To them, we were just part of the landscape.

The cubs were trying to catch fish themselves, they were running back and forth, leaping on fish.

They were mostly unsuccessful, but it was fun to watch and photograph.

As evening fell, she led her cubs off to a safe place to sleep, and we continued down the river, spotting more bears hunting salmon. 

By the time we headed back, we’d counted at least 30 plus scattered across the area.

It was an incredible start. 

My first day with wild brown bears, an experience I’ll never forget. And this is just day one. 

Tomorrow, it continues.

August 17, 2025. Day Two.

6:11 AM. Damn it’s cold out here. 

The tent feels like an icebox this morning, but the down sleeping bags and air mattress kept me warm through the night. 

Crawling out of them is hard, you just want to stay wrapped up forever, but nature and the bears call.

Our first session of the day brought us face-to-face with two 8-year-old brothers sparring and playing on the Tundra.

Before long, a couple of other males joined in, turning it into a full-on tussle.

There are no words for the feeling of being out here and witnessing a moment like this in person…

Next, we found a blond mom with her three cubs, also sparring and rolling around on the tundra.

We watched them for a while before heading down to the river, where the real fishing action was waiting.

It was overcast with clouds hanging low, the sun peeking out here and there. By mid-morning the light opened up, and the river came alive. 

Mom and her blond cubs stole the show again, we spent nearly the whole morning with them.

Other bears drifted in and out, hunting salmon, but she and her cubs held our attention.

I had a scare with my camera when I realized my settings had been switched to One Shot instead of Servo, I lost some moments, but thankfully caught it in time. 

Lesson learned.

By afternoon we were in a stunning spot where wolves are sometimes seen. No luck with wolves today, but a few bears came through. 

One massive bear snatched a fish barely ten feet away from us, the kind of encounter you never forget. 

Later, a huge female with two older cubs wrestled and chased fish before passing through.

On our way to another location, we spotted a beautiful gyrfalcon perched on the tundra. Later, I pulled out my underwater housing, Gloria, and tried some shots of salmon in the river. 

I also helped out Katie, a super cool lady who is out here with Scott as well, snap an image of a metal works necklace she made of a salmon. 

She wanted a photo of it with salmon in the back ground, so I shot a few. 

Fingers crossed those images came out alright. I think they did.

We ended the day with another mom and her three yearling cubs. 

Watching her hunt with them close by was a perfect ending.

What a dream of a day. So many moments, so many bears, from sparring males to patient mothers. 

The weather was even good to us today: cold and gray in the morning, but with enough sun to warm us and make the river glow. 

This place is raw, wild, and overflowing with life. I already know I’ll be coming back here every year.

August 18, 2025. Day Two.

We started the morning crossing the first river and immediately counted eight bears fishing. 

As tempting as it was to stop, we pushed on,  our goal was to reach the Bluff, a long hike from camp, but one of the best vantage points to watch bears hunt salmon from above.

When we arrived, a bald eagle was perched on a rock nearby, staying just long enough for me to grab a few shots before it lifted off. 

A pretty epic welcome.

The Bluff gave us a unique, high perspective, like looking through a drone. From up there, we spent the day watching bears wrestling in the water, others fishing, and even a mother with a young cub. 

She was stressed by the number of other bears in the area, and twice had to charge and chase off curious males. 

They were interested in her cub, and watching it unfold had everyone on edge. 

Scott reminded us he has seen males kill cubs before, and he doesn’t interfere with predations, so the tension was real. 

Fortunately, the mother was fierce and successful in driving them away, but she eventually decided it was safer to move on. 

Raising cubs out here is no easy task.

We had a couple of brothers having a great time play fighting in the water, surrounded by salmon. It was fun watching those guys.

The scenery was stunning , wild and raw.

At one point while sitting there watching the bears we spotted a caribou in the distance. 

My photos of it were nothing more than rough proof-of-life shots, but still very nice seeing one.

All day we hoped to see a bear launch into the schools of salmon, but it never quite happened.

Still, the moments we did witness were powerful.

On the way back, we were treated to a fox hunting ground squirrels on the tundra. We surprised it mid-meal, and it grabbed its half-eaten squirrel, trotted off, paused to look back at us, and then vanished into the landscape.

Not the wolf encounter we’d dreamed of, but a fox was a perfect way to end a really good day.

August 19, 2025. Day Four.

Our final day in Katmai began under an overcast sky that looked like rain, though Scott reassured us the forecast showed only a 30% chance and would rain in another area. 

We set up on the tundra for a relaxed early morning, hoping for the one thing we hadn’t yet seen, wolves.

The trip was already perfect, but a wolf sighting would make it even “perfect-er.”

No wolf sighting sadly.

We left the Tundra and sat by a shallow stretch of river loaded with salmon. 

Early on, a juvenile bear came crashing through, putting on a show.

Soon after, a blond sow with three cubs approached. 

We saw her walking on the Tundra earlier, but she’d spooked and left when she saw us.

This time she was calm and stayed near us to fish. She fished for her cubs for a while, but then moved on when more bears arrived.

Another mother arrived with three dark brown cubs. She was beautiful, so fierce looking with a deep brow ridge.

The variety of color in these bears is so beautiful.

Later we relocated to another section of the river where Scott told us the beautiful white juvenile bear might turn up. 

Along the way, we photographed several more bears.

Most were so stuffed with fish, so they hunted half-heartedly, catching and biting salmon only to release them again. 

Thousands of carcasses lined the banks, a bloody but natural reminder of the salmon’s life cycle.

I pulled out my underwater housing, Gloria, for some underwater salmon shots and a quick video clip.

Photographing the salmon takes some work, the fish are shy and any movement in the river sends them running. I guess the bears have them completely tuned into all unfamiliar sounds in the river.

We decided to call it a day and start heading back to camp. When we climbed out of the river area and back up and out on the Tundra, Maggie spotted something white in the distance… she asked Scott if it was the white bear?

It turned out it was a wolf!!! 

We got our Arctic grey wolf sighting. We all picked up our cameras and tried for a shot of the wolf.

I managed a few images of him/her.

The wolf waded across one of the rivers and then walked along the river bed back into the bush.

we waited around to see if it would pop out of the brush into another river but sadly it didn’t.

The encounter with the wolf was brief and a bit far off, but it was EPIC. 

We had hoped for it, and the tundra delivered.

On our way back to camp, Scott scouted ahead to cross one last river. 

Suddenly, he rushed back, telling us to stay quiet. Standing in the river was Zeus, the second-largest bear in Katmai, a massive chocolate-colored male, around 1,300 pounds and still bulking up before hibernation. 

Scott said he only shows up for about two weeks each year. 

To see him here, on our last evening, felt like a gift.

It was the perfect ending to an extraordinary trip.

Tomorrow we pack up and fly back to King Salmon, sore, tired, and a little bruised, but deeply fulfilled. 

Not going to pretend it was an easy trip, because it wasn’t. It was raw and real and way off the beaten path. We are all sore, a bit bruised and super tired… but damn, this trip is magic.

I’ll carry these memories forever, the people, the landscape, the animals. Just… wow, wow, wow.

Thank you Scott and big hugs to the incredible group of “beautiful crazies” who shared this adventure with me.

SDM will definitely be back.