Brooks Falls, AK (Katmai Nat'l Park)

Brown bear at Katmai National Park, Alaska

The only way to spend the night at Brooks Lodge in Katmai National Park is through a lottery. The lottery is selected 2 years in advance. So, in December 2023 Dave put our names in the lottery for Summer 25'. We didn't get it. However, a year later we got an email letting us know that someone backed out we were up next. August 5-8, 2025, was now available! So, of course, we had to go.

Since this was our second time visiting Katmai National Park, we knew what to expect and were excited about the extra time staying at Brooks Lodge would give us to view the bears. But first, we had to fly to Anchorage.

Our one and only full day in Anchorage was just beautiful. We rented bikes and spent the majority of the day pedaling the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. It's a beautiful 11-mile out and back paved trail that starts downtown and goes through Kincaid and Earthquake Parks. The trail also takes you to the end of the airport runway so you can take a break and watch the planes takeoff and land. A good portion of the trail hugs the water with a great view of the Anchorage skyline from one of the lookouts. We even saw a moose laying in the grass. After our bike ride Dave and I got some spicy reindeer hotdogs and sat in the park while we people watched and enjoyed the 65-degree weather. We stopped at some local shops including Tiny Gallery, Cabin Fever, and Denali Dreams Soap Co. That evening, we had a delicious dinner at the Glacier Brewhouse.

While we walked around the downtown area, I remembered that we needed to pick up some deodorant. We couldn't for the life of us find a drug store in the vicinity. In Miami they're practically on every other corner. The closest thing we could find was a "convenience store". Looking around the store we couldn't spot any deodorant. When we asked the clerk where the deodorant was, he went behind the counter and presented 3 individual deodorants, all different and all men's. Oh well.

The next morning, we took the hotel shuttle to the airport to catch our flight on ACE Airlines. Once all of the passengers were weighed and checked in, our pilot, Molly, announced that we would be leaving (40 minutes early) to King Salmon, AK. It was approximately an hour and 10-minute flight. Once we arrived we were then transferred to the Katmai Air building where we boarded a 10-seater floatplane to Brooks Lodge.

Brown bears looking for food while the seaplanes takeoff and land

I could see bears in the water by the shoreline as we began to descend. We were already off to a good start. Dave and I took the mandatory bear survival course and received our 2025 completion pins. We then checked into our cabin which was really a larger one-story cabin with 5 en-suite rooms on each side. They do not give out keys for the rooms, but we were able to lock the doors from inside while we slept. There was also no internet or tv anywhere at the lodge for guests so you can completely unplug and enjoy what Katami has to offer. The weather remained beautiful for the rest of the day, and we couldn't wait to get to the falls for some bear viewing. This year was a record-breaking salmon run. While we were there it was the sockeyes that were in full force. A big difference from the last time we visited in 2023. I think that time we saw a total of 3 salmon in 3 days. This time, the river down by the falls looked completely red.

We had been watching the fish jump at the falls for weeks on Explore.org. I was nervous that they would be all gone once we got there. My worrying was all in vain as I looked out over a river of red salmon from the platform over the falls. There was one bear called 602 who fished from what they call the "office" on the far side of the river under the tree canopy. Well, 602 didn't stop eating the whole time we were there. He seemed to get so full that he would just lay on his back and either sleep or just roll from side to side. He was in fish heaven.

 602 lounges in the river surrounded by salmon

The park rangers called these salmon the "covid salmon". They suspected that the reason for the high volume of fish was because they were born during covid when commercial fishermen were not working as much.

The weather the following day was rain on and off with high wind gusts. It appeared that bears don't really care for the wind all that much as there weren't too many out. We were scheduled for a river walk at 1:30pm that would bring us eye level with the bears while in the water. Our tour guide, Sam was great and full of knowledge and passion for both the bears and the salmon.

We learned what the 5 different types of salmon in Alaska are and an easy trick on how to remember their names using our fingers. Also, only about 15% of these salmon actually make it up the falls to spawn. As we hiked to the falls Sam pointed out areas in the ground that had been dug up by the bears. He explained that they dig into the ground to get to the clay. After eating so much salmon their stomachs might begin to hurt and the clay acts as a Pepto-Bismol soothing their aches. It was a perfect way to spend the day, and we still saw plenty of bears and fish.

For the rest of the day as well as the following days we just roamed around enjoying the scenery and taking over 8,000 pictures. There were a bunch of sub-adult bears that would run around the camp play fighting non-stop. Some of the visitors nicknamed them "The Gang".

One time, on our 1-mile walk back to the lodge from the falls Dave and I encountered a medium size bear trotting towards us. All three of us stopped in our tracks and then the bear ran into the woods. We continued walking for a few more seconds and immediately saw another bear, this one much larger walking towards us. He or she was obviously after the smaller bear. Luckily, we were at a fork in the trail and were able to stay to one side as we carefully continued walking, after risking our lives to take pictures first of course.

Dave and I were so lucky to be able to stay at Brooks Lodge. We pretty much had the place to ourselves after all of the day-trippers left. Our time on the platform was never limited due to the crowds like it was during the day. What was limited was our time at the lodge. During the busy summer months, they don't allow you to stay longer than 3 nights. I don't think Dave had much more room in his hard drive for another full day of pictures anyway. This was definitely a trip of a lifetime.

Until the next trip!