Katmai: The Scenery

Since we had done a week-long boat-based trip to coastal Katmai National Park & Preserve to sit with and photograph bears in 2010, our initial plans did not include a bear watching trip this time.

But then … well, we jiggled things to include a day-trip to inland Katmai, which is accessible from Homer by plane. So, I booked an afternoon floatplane trip with Trent, owner/pilot of Adventure Airways.

The plan … fly out to Brooks Lodge from Beluga Lake in Homer on a six-passenger De Havilland Beaver; hike to Brooks Falls; photograph bears; fly back to Homer.

Joining us on this tour were four others — a threesome from Maryland/Virginia and a young man from Romania. Mui and I were given the “love seat” in the tail of the aircraft, which turned out to be great since we had more space than the three who had to share the middle seat and with a window each, I could take photos from both sides of the plane.

Our take off from Beluga Lake was smooth … our flight over Cook Inlet to Katmai was smooth … our landing on Naknek Lake was smooth. The scenery we flew over was breathtaking … the only disappointment was all the wildfire smoke haze blowing in from Eastern Siberia … no crisp views of the volcanoes and coastal mountains. It was what it was!Read more