Alaska Bear Camp Adventure

Leave Homer on a private flight across Cook Inlet to the Alaska Bear Camp. The view from your chartered bush plane is staggering as it passes by snow-clad volcanoes and jagged glaciers pouring down from icefields on high. The terrain below, comprising Lake Clark National Park at the nexus of the Aleutian and Alaska ranges, is some of the world’s most critical brown bear habitat. Look for bears in the meadows and along the shoreline while coming in for a landing, taxiing down the beach. Make a midday arrival, timed around the tides.

Bear Camp is located on a historic homestead, a private inholding of coastal land surrounded by the roadless wilderness of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. These 4 million protected acres are the ancestral homelands of the Dena’ina people, preserving an intact ecosystem at the headwaters of the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world. Accessible only by plane or boat, Bear Camp is yours alone for an unparalleled immersion in wild bear habitat.

Get settled into your roomy weatherproof tent cabin, gather in the dining tent for lunch—the first of many outstanding meals prepared by the resident chef featuring fresh local fare, including abundant Alaskan seafood. Then…it’s time to meet the bears! Bear Camp experiences some of the best, most consistent viewing anywhere in Alaska, due to the season-long availability of food. In the spring, sedge grass awaits the bears as they emerge from their dens, protein-rich food for young cubs that supports their rapid growth. By July and August, the region’s famous salmon runs provide the fat that enables the bears to survive a long winter. All season long, nature serves a steady feast to these omnivores. And since the bears are sated by this abundance, they see humans merely as part of the scenery, allowing travelers to walk safely in the bears’ midst on guided outings, often observing them from just feet away. Two elevated platforms, one just 300 feet from camp, offer a view from on high, enabling all to see bears directly below and at a distance. And guests often watch the bears right from camp, which is surrounded by electrified wires, ensuring onsite safety.

Prior to this rare opportunity, most travelers will have seen bears only in zoos or nature documentaries. Yet there’s nothing that comes close to this immersive experience, being among the bears in their wild home. Against a backdrop of sheer-sided peaks rising above the green valley floor, the bears are so near one can hear them chewing their food and communicating with each other in woofs, purrs and growls. Alaska’s mighty brown bears—the coastal version of the interior grizzly bear (which is the same species, Ursus arctos)—are the largest land predators in North America. Adult males can weigh up to 1,500 pounds!

While the bear activity witnessed will vary according to the season, weather conditions and timing of the salmon runs, there’s always something riveting to watch. Early-season bear viewing in this region is especially good, with mothers and cubs feeding, frolicking and playing. And while bears are usually plentiful right in the vicinity of camp, the group can also go into adjacent Lake Clark National Park for added variety. At every turn, explore the area in the careful company of the expedition leaders, seasoned bear naturalists who offer thorough coaching in respectful “bear etiquette” to ensure your safety. This low-impact presence ensures that the bears are never disturbed, and they in turn grant comfortable access to watch them go about their daily routines.

Enjoy one last chance early this morning to marvel at the bears in Lake Clark National Park, admiring their majesty and whimsy alike. All too soon, it’s time to leave Alaska Bear Camp behind. After breakfast, board your small bush plane and taxi down the beach, bound for Homer.

Few travelers ever have such an encounter with solitude and wilderness on the scale afforded by bear camp. The size of the landscape, the raw beauty, the profound silence—these things alone would make for a life-transforming experience. But the chance to watch Alaskan brown bears, these incomparable icons of the wild, on their turf, their terms…it’s a wonder to have bears welcome travelers into their world. And one thing is certain: no one leaves here unmoved by the bears’ plight, intensely aware of the threats from mining, climate change and other potential impacts to the health of this vital ecosystem on which the bears rely.

Once back in Homer, have lunch, then explore the abundant waters and striking scenery of Kachemak Bay on a private boat cruise this afternoon. The bay is transformed daily by some of the largest tidal fluctuations in the  world, and it’s home not only to coveted sport fish but other plentiful marine life, too. Sea otters, seals, porpoises, sea lions and whales are common sightings. A highlight of your cruise is the Gull Island seabird rookery, home to 10,000 nesting seabirds with a chance to view puffins, guillemots, kittiwakes, murres and more. Later this evening, celebrate your adventures at a festive farewell dinner.

The Bear Camp adventure comes to a close today as you transfer to the airport for homeward flights.