Tom Soderholm, the Director of Operations at Smokey Bay Air, describes the experience this way: “These days the world can be a stressful place to be. First off, you get a beautiful flight on the way over. If the weather is nice, the scenery is spectacular. And then you’re on the ground in this pristine environment, and there’s no problems, there’s no worries—there’s no anything, other than pure, pristine nature and the bears.” He says many of his clients, upon returning to Homer, describe an emotional experience. An anxious flier, I get my chance to see Katmai and the famous Coastal Brown Bears for myself. I grip the seat cushion as we bump over Cook Inlet. For just over an hour, we fly over roiled seas, tormented straights, and eerily blue-hanging glaciers that define the west side of Cook Inlet. Once we land at Hallo Bay, we wade ashore with a naturalist who is also our guide. Lance Bassett has over 10 years of experience with bears. After a career in the Navy, he did his apprenticeship at Katmai and became a trusted guide who can discuss the various plants bears eat and how bears socialize. Lance talks about the difference between these Coastal Brown Bears and their inland cousins. “These get a lot bigger than interior grizzlies, about twice the size. They have a lot of food out here. Right now, it’s grasses, sedges, and other plant material mixed in with some clams,” he says. And with the arrival of these fish in July, the bears gorge themselves and put on their winter weight. An adult brown bear can eat 100 pounds of fish per day. There are dozens of bear guides who make their living guiding for the Homer air service companies that carry visitors from Homer to Katmai National Park and Lake Clark National Preserve. They are experts in bear behavior, the history of indigenous people in the area, Alaskan geology, migratory birds, and botany. At Hallo Bay, Bassett maneuvers our group among grazing bears. One of the gifts of bear viewing with an experienced guide is that it puts to rest the Western myth that grizzly bears are monsters, only intent on killing and eating people; guides at Katmai carry pop flares—no guns, no bear spray—they will tell you that they have never had to deploy a flare. play here PLAY HERE BEAR VIEWING 25
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