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The coastal brown bear and the inland grizzly bear broadly define the range of sizes of all brown bear subspecies. An adult grizzly living inland in Yukon may weigh as little as 80 kg (12 stone), while an adult coastal brown bear in nearby coastal Alaska living on a steady, nutritious diet of spawning salmon may weigh as much as 680 kg (107 stone). The Alaskan coastal bears eat up to 40 Salmon, or as much as 100lbs/100,000 calories of fish per day. The coastal brown bear has a head-and-body length of 1.4 to 2.8 m (4.6 to 9.2 ft) and a shoulder height of 2.29 ft to 5 ft.
Bears pictured are at Brooks Falls, Katmai National Park and Hallo Bay, Katmai National Park.
Accommodation at Brooks Falls is booked up 18 months in advance so I opted to stay in King Salmon and fly in daily on a float plane which took 20 minutes. I was lucky that the weather allowed me to do so and of course it's a much shorter journey than trying to do it from Anchorage. The accommodation in King Salmon is a bit spartan but there is TV and wifi which is a huge improvement on the facilities at Brooks Falls! On the first day you are given bear awareness training and after that you're free to roam the park - bears permitting. The waterfall platform is about 2kms from Brooks Falls Visitor Centre. There's a anaerobic composting loo at the midway point to the waterfall viewing platform just before you head off into the woods. Note you're not allowed to take any food with you in the park, not even chewing gum! Visitors are allowed onto the top viewing platform in timed slots so you get just 1/2 hour before you have to leave to let someone else take your place. However you can queue up again immediately to return. The lower viewing platforms aren't so crowded and can normally be accessed without restriction.
I also took a day long bear viewing flight from Homer which was a different but equally rewarding experience. After a scenic flight to Hallo Bay we walked around several meadows spotting bears. We were able to get within about 20 feet of a mother and cub and we sat there watching them playing and grazing in the meadow.
Log cabin in Seldovia
Sea otter, Seldovia
Northwestern Fjords, Kenai Fjords National Park, Seward
Humpback whale
House in Seward, Alaska
Aialik Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park
Black bear, Alaska Conservation Center
And if you'd like to see Nicola Philippi's video of the bears at Brooks Falls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBAnV73R3c8
Bears pictured are at Brooks Falls, Katmai National Park and Hallo Bay, Katmai National Park.
Accommodation at Brooks Falls is booked up 18 months in advance so I opted to stay in King Salmon and fly in daily on a float plane which took 20 minutes. I was lucky that the weather allowed me to do so and of course it's a much shorter journey than trying to do it from Anchorage. The accommodation in King Salmon is a bit spartan but there is TV and wifi which is a huge improvement on the facilities at Brooks Falls! On the first day you are given bear awareness training and after that you're free to roam the park - bears permitting. The waterfall platform is about 2kms from Brooks Falls Visitor Centre. There's a anaerobic composting loo at the midway point to the waterfall viewing platform just before you head off into the woods. Note you're not allowed to take any food with you in the park, not even chewing gum! Visitors are allowed onto the top viewing platform in timed slots so you get just 1/2 hour before you have to leave to let someone else take your place. However you can queue up again immediately to return. The lower viewing platforms aren't so crowded and can normally be accessed without restriction.
I also took a day long bear viewing flight from Homer which was a different but equally rewarding experience. After a scenic flight to Hallo Bay we walked around several meadows spotting bears. We were able to get within about 20 feet of a mother and cub and we sat there watching them playing and grazing in the meadow.
Log cabin in Seldovia
Sea otter, Seldovia
Northwestern Fjords, Kenai Fjords National Park, Seward
Humpback whale
House in Seward, Alaska
Aialik Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park
Black bear, Alaska Conservation Center
And if you'd like to see Nicola Philippi's video of the bears at Brooks Falls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBAnV73R3c8