The Traveling Widower

Category: wildlife

Includes posts about whales, hummingbirds, or anything specific to viewing wildlife

  • Day Four in Katmai National Park- A Bonus Outing and Back to Civilization

    Close-up of the paw of a bear standing on wet sand with water splashes.
    Sasquatch maybe?

    September 1st,  2026

    I had read reviews on the Nat/Hab site about how difficult it is to leave the Ursus and the bears. I understand that now. As much as I was looking forward to having a nice, long shower, a private bathroom, and dry towels, it was hard departing – once you get used to the routine and the people you are sharing the adventure with, it’s hard having it all end. But, since our plane was not arriving until 1:00PM there was time for one more short outing in Geographic Bay, where we started out. You can take a lot of picture in 2 hours. Thousands for some people on this trip. 

    The tide was out, so the bay was basically a big tidal flat, with small channels and a lot of ash/sand – easy walking for a change compared to the previous day. There were also lots pretty green algal mats, channel patterns in the sand, and a few soon-to-be-dry jelly fish to look at as we headed towards a fairly large number of bears close to mouth of the river. At least 11, and at least one cub.

    The only difficulty we had was a mud patch, which both myself and my cabin buddy found. He sank down to his knee (but saved his camera), and I had one foot trapped down to my calf. We both had to be pulled out. No damage done. 

    The were a lot of bears in the tidal flats, but they were scattered about – some fishing, some just lounging around. Our guide picked a nice comfortable, sandy bar in the middle of them all, and we settled in one last time on our green buckets and got to work. This was interesting photography – nice light, a beautiful background of mountains surrounding the bay, and great colors of the water – a lot of green and tan, to go along with the brown bears. Beautiful. We had a few close encounters, nothing like the day before, and got to see one bear rolling around on the sand, looking like a drunk that had fallen off the bar stool. And then he looked back and waved…..really. Here’s the proof. 

    A brown bear lying on its back in the sand, playfully waving one paw while surrounded by natural scenery.

    One huge, very old male wandered by as well. 

    A brown bear walking along a sandy shoreline, with a backdrop of green vegetation and shallow water.

    And then there were just lots of nice photo ops of individual bears with nice backgrounds. Hard to stop shooting.

    A large brown bear walking along a sandy shore with a backdrop of greenery and water.
    A large brown bear sitting by a riverbank, with lush green hills and trees in the background. Other bears are visible in the distance, and white birds are scattered along the river.
    A brown bear standing on a sandy shore with a natural landscape in the background.
    A relaxed brown bear lying on its back in a sandy area, surrounded by natural landscape.
    A brown bear standing on the shore of a river, looking out over the water with a lush green hillside in the background.

    But as we approached out two hour limit, our guide had us move over to the mother and cub – hard to pass that last opportunity up. 

    A young brown bear walking across rocky ground, surrounded by tall grass.
    A brown bear and a cub sitting in tall green grass, interacting with each other in a natural setting.

    We did have one more photo op on our walk back to the skiff – a not quite adult bald eagle, sitting quietly in a tree. Perfect!. I snapped a few shots with my phone, and then dragged the Sony out of my bag and shot a bunch more. I was hoping it would take flight but no such luck. Still, nice to get some good shots with the Sony.

    A bald eagle perched on a branch, surrounded by lush green foliage.

    This photo, and the ones of the cubs, were taken with my phone. I found out a bit later as we were finishing up packing for the flight, that the SD card had somehow become corrupted at the end of our outing. I lost all of cub shots, as well as all of the eagle shots made with the Sony. #$!@^!!!. I’ve never had that happen before. The good news is that it did not happen on any of the other days, when I was taking hundreds of pictures. That would have been a disaster.

    We had our last great lunch on the Ursus, finished up packing, and waited for our aerial Uber to arrive. Three of us were on a different plane this time, a smaller version of what we flew in on. Bonus round though – I flew in the co-pilot seat, and there was a full set of controls there! A chance to try out my flying skills. Maybe not. Besides, I fell asleep soon after we get off the ground/water. It would have been fun.

    A pilot with gray hair and glasses is seen inside a small aircraft cockpit, focused on flying. The view through the window reveals majestic mountains and a glacier below, with a small plane flying in the distance.
    Max likes to fly…(AI generated)

    The flight back was perfectly smooth – we really lucked out on weather for this trip. It was in the high 60’s when we landed back in Kodiak. The Nat/Hab leader was waiting for us at the airport, and offered up a few choices for the remainder of the afternoon. I was tired, and really wanted to just get to the hotel, but the rest of the group opted for door number 2, which was a hike in the rain forest. I was shamed into going along. It was a nice hike – easy trail, nice views of the forest and some of the old WWII installations. Thankfully, it was short, and we finally made it back to the hotel. 

    A pretty amazing day all around. Tomorrow I head off to Anchorage to the non-bear part of my trip. 

    Peace

  • Close Encounters of the Brown Bear Kind – Day Three in Katmai National Park

    A grizzly bear and a cub by the water's edge, surrounded by tall green grass.

    August 31st, 2026

    We had a few relatively close encounters with the bears on the previous days, but nothing too exciting. You really do get to a point where you trust that the bears really don’t care about us – we don’t bother them, and they don’t bother us. Today we was a little different, but not in a bad way.

    The crew raised anchor early on Monday morning (6AM), and we headed off in rough seas to our next stop, Kinak Bay, just on the other side of the mountains from where we started (Geographic Bay). It was really rocking and rolling along the way – the skies were clear, but there was a really strong wind. Things were rolling around on board, especially in the kitchen. But, once we reached the bay, we were sheltered from most of the wind, and the seas calmed down. We boarded the skiff for a look around in a beautiful bay, with long sand spits and a sandy beach. We did not venture too far – it was a long way into what appeared to be the main part of the bay. There were some bears there, so we watched for a while, hiked around in the deep sand, and then headed back to the ship. Our guide told us we would not recognize the place when the tide came in later in the day. He was not kidding. 

    A few words on the sand and geology. It was not the sand you find on beaches, which typically is a mix of bits of shell and some rock crystals (like quartz) – most everything we walked on was ash, as were what look like snow fields and glaciers in the mountains. In the early 1900’s, there was a massive volcanic eruption in that part of Alaska that was much larger than Mount St. Helens, and buried the area in huge volumes of ash – 30-50 feet deep in parts. Kodiak was covered in feet of ash for three days, to the point were roofs collapsed, and there were ash avalanches.  Over the years, the ash has been washing down the mountains, and accumulates along the coast, making for some nice, but very soft beaches. And there are still deep layers of the stuff on the mountain slopes. Once the wind picked up later in the day, there were ash clouds blowing off the peaks. Which was probably why some of us had itchy eyes.

    Panoramic view of a mountain landscape under a clear blue sky, with wisps of cloud hovering above the snow-capped peaks.
    Ash bl

    After lunch, we pulled on our waders and boots, and headed off in the skiff again. This time, all the beaches and large spits were gone, and we traveled through a huge tidal basin instead. Incredible. And it was absolutely stunning.

    After landing, we started our hike in along the river, following bear trails through the tall grass and crossing a few times. Most of the river crossings were relatively shallow except for one, and that was almost a disaster for me. I had two problems with the waders – one was the boots, the other was flotation. The chest waders are one piece, with attached booties – you just slide your legs in, and your are waterproof from your chest to your feet. 

    A pair of waterproof boots with a gray and orange design, resting on a wooden deck, alongside a hiking shoe.

    You then put on these clunky hiking boots. Mine were the right size (13), but way too wide, so my feet rolled around in the boot. That does not do much for maintaining your balance in water. The second problem was in deeper water, there was air trapped in the wader booties, so your feet float a bit. So, when we made that one crossing, I had my camera hanging on the strap, down around my waste. As I slowly worked across the stream, I realized that the depth was more than waist deep. And I was struggling to keep my feet on the bottom. I had a flash of my immediate future, floating down stream into the bears who would pounce on me, thinking I was the largest salmon they had ever seen. Fortunately, our guide realized I was in deep trouble (pun intended), and came out to save me from a very embarrassing moment. I really dislike being treated like an elderly fool (well, I am elderly and foolish at times), but this time, I appreciated the help.

    We reached a point where we were pretty close to a few bears, one with a cub, so we settled down on our buckets, and set up shop. I was hoping for more bears but I was not expecting a bear pool party, which is what we got. Pretty soon we had four bears, two with cubs, charging through the water as the salmon made their way up stream. As the tide went out and the water level dropped, more salmon started making the run, and the bears were having easy pickings, catching and immediately eating what they caught. The mother bears with cubs had to fight off their kiddies, adding to the chaos – charging bears, growling mothers and crying cubs.

    A brown bear splashing through water, with greenery in the background and two other bears visible on the shore.
    Two brown bears wading in a river with a seagull swimming nearby.
    A grizzly bear walking through a stream with splashes of water around its feet, surrounded by greenery and grass.
    A large brown bear running through shallow water, creating splashes, with two other bears visible in the background among the greenery.
    A brown bear standing in shallow water, surrounded by grass and rocky terrain in the background.
    Two grizzly bear cubs sitting in tall grass, displaying their fluffy fur and playful demeanor.
    Three brown bears wading through shallow water in a natural setting, with green vegetation and some birds in the foreground.
    A grizzly bear and her cub play in a shallow river surrounded by grass and foliage.
    A mother bear and two playful bear cubs wading through a shallow river, surrounded by greenery.

    More bears showed up over time – at one point, there were seven or eight along this stretch of the river. I was expecting them to pull out a beach ball and start calling out Marco Polo. 

    A group of bears playing with a beach ball in a river surrounded by mountains and trees.

    Most of the bears were in the water, or on the other side of the stream, but there was one juvenile, named Spunky, that started wandering around us on our little beach. And rather than heading into the grass, he just side stepped around us, a few feet away. That was close, but not that close. Then he started fishing right in front of us – and caught one. A few feet away. And kept on coming. When the bear’s face fills my view in the camera, I know it’s getting really close. I thought he was coming over to share the fish. But, much like every encounter, he veered off to the side. A bit later, a large female started walking up the shore, straight at us…and kept on coming. We all sat very still and she veered off maybe three or four feet in front of us, and circled around. That was incredibly close. You could hear her huffing and puffing as she walked by.

    A brown bear walking near a stream, with a person holding a phone to take a photo in the foreground.

    Finally, Spunky came back a bit later, and was interested in one of our group’s camera bag, and seemed intent on grabbing it. Our guide, who speaks fluent brown bear, had to intervene, first telling him loudly, “No”, and then “Stop, that’s not yours”. Spunky got the message and ran off. That was amazing – telling a wild, apex predator to stop stealing a bag, and it listened. 

    As the tide started receding we eventually worked our way back for a pickup – the water levels drop quickly, so you cannot linger too long or the skiff will not be able to make it upstream. As we waited at the pickup point, the bears seemed to follow us – what a beautiful scene looking back at the mountains, with the bears splashing in the river

    A serene riverside scene featuring mountains in the background. A bear is wading in the clear water alongside several birds, with lush greenery lining the riverbank.

    This was absolutely one of the most amazing days, ever, from any of my trips. Aside from the photography, it was just one of those incredibly wonderful memories that will stick in my brain for a long time – just the incredible beauty of the scenery, and watching those huge, amazing beasts in the wild.

    We get to revisit Geographic Bay tomorrow for a few hours, before heading back on the float plane to Kodiak. Bummer. But I’m out of fresh clothes, and I’m ready to return to civilization again. And the internet.

    Peace