Plan A Bear Viewing Trip To Alaska

If you're planning a bear viewing trip to Alaska, there are several different types of excursions to choose from! The most popular type of bear viewing excursion is a fly-in experience, where you arrive on-site by floatplane to watch these magnificent creatures for a day.

Take An Alaska Air Service Bear Viewing Trip

The guides of Alaska Air Service bear viewing trips specialize in flying visitors to Lake Clark National Park, which has some of the best bear viewing destinations in all of Alaska. Lake Clark National Park and Preserve offers world-class bear viewing opportunities on the coast, where brown bears congregate in high numbers to feed.

Once you arrive at the park, you'll land on a beach or in the grasslands - your first stop to watch bears in their natural habitat. The plentiful food in this park attracts the grizzly bears, and this location is the perfect spot to watch them as they graze on sedge grass, dig for clams, or catch spawning salmon. With all of the food available to them, the bears are relaxed and tolerant of one another - and humans - which makes bear viewing in this location a truly special experience.

Lake Clark Brown Bear Facts

Coastal Alaska Brown bears differ from their grizzly bear cousins, who live in Alaska's interior. Brown and Grizzly bears share the same genetics, but what makes them different is the fact that Coastal Brown Bears live in a mild climate where food is more readily available. Grizzly Bears live in a much harsher climate, with a less available food supply and a shorter season to obtain it.

• The Bears of Lake Clark National Park start emerging from hibernation in mid-April.
• Mating season begins in mid-May and runs through early June. During mating season, adult male brown bears will fight each other to gain the favor of a sow, or female brown bear.
• Young adult bears, however, often engage in play-fighting. Play-fighting helps establish hierarchy among the younger bears.
• Brown bears have a system of social interactions communicated through body posturing, scent, and vocalization.
• In general, the plentiful food supply of the coast promotes less competition among the brown bears, who will gather together in the sedge grass fields to feed and take naps. Some days, you can see as many as 20 bears together!
• Lake Clark's brown bears are some of the largest brown bears in Alaska. In fact, some male bears weigh 1,200 pounds. Although they can climb trees to eat or escape predators, they only do so when they are cubs. Once they reach adulthood, they are too big!
• Brown bears typically live 18-25 years, although some have lived to be 30 years old.
• Brown bears dig cozy caves with their claws for their winter hibernation. During this period of time, their heartbeat slows down and their body temperature drops. Over the winter, a brown bear can lose 150 pounds.

Great Alaska Adventures Bear Camp

If you are looking for a bear viewing experience that lasts longer than a day, look no further than the Great Alaska Adventures Bear Camp in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. Lake Clark is one of the least visited National Parks in the United States and offers an exclusive experience for visitors who want to go bear viewing in Alaska.

Bear Camp in Lake Clark National Park opens on June 1 and trips can be booked through September 1. You can reserve a stay at the camp on the remote shores of Chinitna Bay in Lake Clark National Park for 1-5 days. Great Alaska Adventures owns and operates the world-renowned bear viewing camp deep within the Alaskan Kenai Peninsula. This remote property is built around the premise of viewing wild bears without impacting their habitat.

Bear Viewing Tips

In order to have the best bear viewing experience at Great Alaska Adventures Bear Camp, remember these tips:

• Keep movement to a minimum. If you need to move, you should move as slowly as possible so as not to startle the bears.
• If you are constantly moving, you will scare the bears away. Make sure you have everything together if you want to take a photograph. If you have to reach for your camera, you will probably scare away the bear you wanted to photograph.
• Stay quiet no matter what. At times this can be difficult, but the quieter you are the more likely it is that you will see a bear. Even a camera’s shutter can scare away an 800-pound bear!
• Try your best to blend in with the environment. Leave bright-colored clothing at home, and stick with earthy tones.
• Keep scented products and cologne to the minimum. (If possible, do not wear any scented products.) Even the smallest scent of deodorant can scare away a bear.

The Great Alaska Adventures Bear Camp sits on the site of a historic homestead, on a remote parcel of land surrounded by Lake Clark National Park. This experience is truly a once-in-a-lifetime one for visitors, who can watch bears as they congregate directly in front of the camp. So, what are you waiting for? Book a bear viewing adventure today!