Grizzly Bear photography in Alaska = The trip of a lifetime.
August 2023 and my top bucket list item was finally ticked. What an incredible adventure!
My wife Kimberly and I spent just over a week in Southern Alaska, flying out to different locations every day by float-plane, from our base on Lake Iliamna. Hiking through the mountains and wading through the creeks, looking for Grizzly Bears is a strange mixture of excitement, anticipation and fear. On three occasions Kimberly and I stood ‘large’ and spoke loudly as a 500-600lb Grizzly walked in our direction; less than 30’ away, as we waded through mountain creeks.
As most wildlife photographers do, I had an image in my mind that I hoped to capture while in Alaska. A massive Grizzly Bear charging at 30mph into a creek and diving into a shoal of sockeye salmon ! Well I got lucky. Very lucky, as I managed to capture several images of charging and diving Bears.
During our time in the Katmai mountain creeks, we found found 3 momma bears, who had triplets ! Their 6-8 month old cubs are amazing to watch, especially when they try fishing for themselves.