Images of Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park – Southern Alaska, taken in July 2015.

I’ve often talked about my adventures making me feel like I was watching a National Geographic documentary but there are few places where it is truer than at Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park. This is home to the continent’s largest land predators, the Brown Bear. Larger than their inland cousin the Grizzly, a full grown Brown Bear can weigh up to 900 pounds! But after a long winter of hibernating the Brown Bears must once again bulk up for the next winter and for that they come to the Alaskan rivers and streams to feast on fish, particularly the Salmon heading back to their spawning grounds. A large Salmon can give a bear 4500 calories worth of protein and fat to help them survive another winter.

The scene here at Brooks Falls is fascinating to watch; nature and the cycle of life playing out before your very eyes! There are Brown Bears scattered throughout this area. Interestingly enough, the more Salmon moving upstream the less bears at the falls. This is because the bears are able to get their fill for the day quickly and then move back into the woods. Conversely, if there are few fish, the bears must wait longer to feed which means many more bears looking for food. There is a hierarchy to be followed here; older and larger bears get their choice of where they want to fish and younger or smaller bears have to yield or are chased out. Some younger bears will not even approach the falls, instead remaining upstream, honing their fishing skills or picking up scraps left by the larger bears.

The costars in this real life drama are the Salmon. Each year almost a million fish move from the ocean to their fresh water spawning grounds and many of those are forced to navigate over the 15 to 20 foot Brooks Falls. Here they exert an incredible amount of energy propelling themselves into the air in hopes of landing on the top shelf of the falls so they can continue their journey. But not only are there bears lying in wait downstream as they approach the falls but also on and below the falls.

A Salmon makes its leap and falls back into the river. A bear at the base of the falls, having watched the fish fall short, collects the fish to eat the richest parts of the Salmon and leaves the rest where it is grabbed by a smaller bear for the scrapes. A Bald Eagle flies by with the head of fish left by another of the huge predators. Back at the falls more Salmon take their leap. Some are successful, others fall prey to bears sitting on top of the falls where they skillfully judge the trajectory of the jumping fish and grab them out of mid-air. A female bear with her three yearling cubs comes out of the woods. The cubs stay in a pack as their mother surveys the area. She moves into the water and allows her cubs to explore but keeps an eye out for the large male bears which will attack and eat the cubs if they get too close. Another mother with cubs born this past winter stays far upstream knowing it is too dangerous for them to get anywhere near the falls. A bear catches a fish away from the falls and is immediately chased by a larger bear. The smaller bear eventually gets run down, turns to face the large bear and attacks, dropping its fish into the water. It growls and then roars as it lashes out at its attacker and a violent confrontation ensues. When it’s over the larger bears struts off with the stolen fish to feed. What is left is scavenged by a Sea Gull waiting close by.

Amazing to watch, the scene is repeated in differing variations again and again!

But just when I thought I had seen it all, before my final flight out of Katmai on the last full day of my trip, I experienced a flight delay because there was a bear walking on the beach in front of my floatplane…and as you might have expected, I got the picture!