A Visit to Alaska's Valley of 10,000 Smokes

Part 1. The Bears at Brooks Falls

Tim Dolan

During the summer of 2005, my wife and I went to the Alaska Peninsula to visit the Katmai National Park. This park is noted for the great brown bear viewing at Brooks Falls. It is also known for the Valley of 10,000 Smokes.

You may have seen pictures of bears catching salmon in their mouths while standing at the top of Brooks Falls. After seeing Brooks Falls in person, you may find yourself seeing calendars in your colleague's offices and saying, "I have been there." This has happened to me several times since last summer.

The Valley of 10,000 Smokes is the site of the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century. This occurred in 1912. Scientists could not visit the site until two years after the eruption due to its remoteness. It is still remote, for there are no roads to the area. To get to Katmai you must fly to the town of King Salmon and from there to Brooks Camp by float plane. You are about 290 miles) from Anchorage, Alaska.

We had made reservations for the trip more than a year in advance but still did not get dates that are considered best for prime bear viewing. As a result, we were concerned that we might not see any bears. This proved not to be the case, as you can see in Fig. 1. This picture was taken as we got off the plane. Our plane was behind me as I took the picture of the bear playing on the beach, framed by the tail of another aircraft. We were supposed to walk along the beach where the bear was playing to get to the mandatory lecture on how to behave around the bears. But we were not allowed to proceed. Instead, we were required to walk into the forest and give this bear lots of room. I did not have to be told this, but I guess they get all kinds at Katmai.

Figure 1. This brown bear was patrolling the beach when our plane arrived at Katmai.

As I noted above, the big draw at Katmai is the bear viewing at Brooks Falls. You must be alert because you can, and probably will, see bears anywhere. We saw bears on the beach and the trails from the camp to the falls. If the bears decide to play on or otherwise use a trail or bridge, the people must wait until the bears get out of the way.

If the bears walk toward you, and this happened to us, you back away or leave the trail. Bears often play or rest at the entrances to bridges or observation platforms. You can spend quite a bit of time at Katmai waiting or backtracking for bears.

Brooks Falls is only a few meters or so (a few yards) high. The bears stand on top or in the pools below the falls to catch fish.

The salmon are trying to reach Brooks Lake to spawn. Their journey begins in Bristol Bay near the Town of King Salmon. The salmon travel up the Naknek River and then through Naknek Lake (where we landed in a float plane) and then up the Brooks River. Eventually they reach Brooks Lake, where they spawn.

The last roadblock for them to reach their spawning grounds is Brooks Falls. The fish must leap over the falls and proceed up river a short distance to the lake. It can take them several attempts to make the jump. This is why the bears choose to fish at this spot. Some bears stand on top of the falls and take fish in the air. Others choose the pools below the falls and catch fish gathering their energy to make the jump or grab them as they fall back from a failed jump. In any event, the bears need this rich source of fat and protein in order to gain weight. The bears must have great fat reserves in order to survive the winter months in hibernation. Bears have prospered in this area because of the rich source of fish. The size of the bears and the number of cubs that are born in this area are evidence of the abundance of food.

Figure 2. Brown bears catching salmon at Brooks Falls.

The only bear standing on the falls in Fig. 2 is at the spot where many of the famous Katmai brown bear pictures are taken. Shots of bears on this spot catching a fish in the air are used on many calendars and posters. The bear in Fig. 2 is the mother of two yearling cubs. It is unusual that she would fish at this spot. Usually mother bears stay away from the falls, because the large male bears sometimes kill cubs so the female can become available for mating.

This was very early in the season, which is why I was concerned we might not see bears. They are just out of hibernation, and they are very hungry. They congregate like this only when there is a massive food source. If there were no spawning fish, there would be no bears at this spot.

Figure 3. A mother bear dines on a salmon.

Figure 3 shows a mother bear after she caught a salmon. The first few fish she caught were devoured promptly. She consumed the entire fish. After she had eaten several, she brought some over to her cubs. The cubs were waiting just below the viewing stand that the park service had constructed.

Figure 4. Bear cubs eating salmon provided by their mother.

Figures 1 to 4 were taken on the first day of our trip to Katmai. Part of the reason I had been concerned about not seeing bears was because this was very early in the season. You can see that by the condition of the mother bear's coat. They were very recently out of hibernation and they were very intent on eating. The bears eat when the fish start to run and this run had just started. Also, at this time the bears eat all the fish they catch. Later, they just eat the best parts, including the brains, roe and skin. The rest of the fish is allowed to float down river. The leftovers do not go to waste, because young and old bears that are not strong enough to get the best fishing spots will eat the rest of the fish. We saw this later in the trip.

The Katmai brown bears, the brown bears on nearby Kodiak Island, and grizzly bears are all considered to be the same species (Ursus arctos). There are two subspecies. The grizzly bear is classified as Ursus arctos horribilis. The Kodiak brown bear is classified as Ursus arctos middendorfi. Generally, Alaskan coastal bears are called brown bears.

Murray Lundberg's web site "Brown Bears (Grizzlies) of the North" discusses the classification of Alaskan brown bears. More facts about these giant bears are here and at other web sites.

This concludes Part 1 of Tim Dolan's feature on his visit to the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. In Part 2 Tim will introduce us to more bears and describe the historic volcanic eruption that formed the valley. Editor.