Category: Alaska

It’s 11pm and the temperature is close to freezing point and I am outside like a kid with a new toy enjoying and photographing the wavy green lights in the night sky. It is a moment to savour and a moment of luck as only two hours earlier the sky was blanketed in thick cloud. I had two objectives for this trip. The main one of course was to see and photograph grizzlies in the wild. My research did not let me down and Katmai delivered in spades. To round my short trip I decided to try my luck at seeing and photographing the aurora something that fascinated me from childhood. These are produced by solar storms interacting with the earth’s atmosphere and attracted to the magnetic poles. There are a lot of variables that must be satisfied before we see one so they are elusive and a rare prize. My research for this online pointed me to Bettles in Alaska so here I am! Bettles, population now down to 8 only just retains the status of a city within the US and is the smallest in the country. If it wasn’t for the fact that we are 35 miles north of the Arctic circle there would be tumble weed blowing down the main street. There is no road access and the few dwellings tend to hug the gravel airstrip which is the lifeline of this place. Occasional barges do make it up the river to deliver supplies and, fascinatingly in the winter with snow covering the tundra the people here carve a road 30 miles through the forest to meet up with the Dalton Hwy allowing road transport down to Fairbanks some 200 miles away. This is a place that is truly “off the grid” and the few remaining locals like it that way. As my host Eric puts it “I was born in the wrong century, I should have been here 100 years ago”. Hopefully my photos capture the essence of this faded wild west wannabe town and the last couple of pictures feature the aurora. Mission accomplished, I am coming home soon!

Hot on the heels of 30 hours of cattle class flying with only 4 hours of sleep in a real bed. I am again gazing out through a plane window. This one is a small twin prop flying from Anchorage to a tiny town called King Salmon in far west Alaska. The countryside below is sparsely wooded with lots of waterways and lakes. Jutting out through the sea are stark rocky outcrop islands with green grassy carpets. Is it just the flying fatigue? Something is odd. Suddenly the penny drops, there is something missing in the landscape, mankind. There are absolutely no roads, tracks or any sign of human habitation. This is pristine wilderness and, by all accounts, Alaska is absolutely covered with it.

The final leg involved a 90 minute seaplane flight landing on Lake Nanuk deep in the heart of Katmai National Park at Brooks Lodge. Back on terra firma my nostrils were assaulted with the smell of decomposing fish emanating from the many bear scats all around. We are ushered from the sea plane straight into the ranger’s office for our bear briefing. We are told that the bears here are used to seeing humans, but, of course they still remain extremely dangerous. We are not to get any closer than 50 yards to bear (100 yards to mother and cubs). What to do if approached by a bear and the essential instructions about having no food or drinks out in the open.

Infused with confidence (or is that trepidation?) its off to check in and lunch before heading off for bear viewing. I wander out of the lunch room to be confronted by a big brown bear who, perhaps 20 yards from me ambles over a grassy hill right in front of me and continues down to the beach. At that moment it suddenly occurred to me that this place with the log cabins in the woods reminds me of Wilson’s Prom but instead of wombats wandering on the grass we have massive grizzlies here

Nine years ago Suzanne and I enjoyed an amazing wildlife experience getting up close and personal with polar bears at Churchill in Canada on the shores of Hudson Bay. Two yeas later we decided to repeat the dose with grizzly bears and went to the aptly named “Grizzly Bear Lodge” deep in the southern Canadian Rockies. For four days we were up at 5 am and out at dusk waiting for any encounter with a grizzly. On that occasion nature chose to remind us that it is she who calls the shots and we saw nothing. It was on the trip home from there that my further research threw up the name Katmai National Park as an alternative to see these magnificent creatures Finally many years later I booked over 12 months in advance to secure a cabin in this unique place.