Capturing the Moment

  We shared an intimate encounter with this brown bear from our kayaks this morning. Another Alaska memory to store away forever. We saw four brown bears this morning while we kayaked around Geographic Harbor in Katmai National Park. I felt like I really put our guests in the perfect positions for all the bear viewing. It is always a great feeling as a guide, when you make good calls on what the wildlife is going to do before it happens. It takes a certain amount of luck, and a lot of experience sure helps too. This morning was a little of both. We started off at the estuary in the back, since we could see a big brown bear there from our boat. I got my kayakers together, gave them a quick talk about kayaking around bears, and listening to my advice out there. Then we paddled in close to watch a bear move around a little deeper in the meadow. As we were watching, people from an anchored private charter boat pulled up in their dinghy, and proceeded to get off on shore and walk right ...

  A swimming Katmai bear, heading our way! It was another spectacular visit to Katmai National Park in Alaska. Known for its bears, it did not disappoint. We had many close bear encounters, and we even got to see a number of swimming bears. One swam all the way across Kukak Bay. I couldn't blame him, as it was one of the hottest days of the summer for this part of Alaska. We had another playful bear that rolled over in the shallows, giving us a good view. We explored Kukak Bay in the morning. This is one of the more famous bays on the outer coast of Katmai National Park. People will fly in on float planes to come watch bears here. Early in the morning, Christian and I paddled our kayaks out for a recon of the shallow bay at the back of the bay. It was a beautiful morning with calm water, but no bears. Then, after breakfast, I took out a shorewalking group. The tide was going out, so the landing was tough. No one topped their boots, and everyone walked slowly so they didn't slip...

  My coworker, Christian, took this photo from one of our small boats. I am in the middle in the orange, setting up a paddle high-five in front of Holgate Glacier. I led a wonderful, five mile kayak trip today in the beautiful Kenai Fjords National Park near Seward, Alaska. My group of ten and I paddle through a fjord, past thousand foot waterfalls, up to the face of Holgate Glacier. This glacier had some of the bluest ice that I've seen. It was very low tide, and the glacier was resting on a sandy/rocky bottom, so we were able to safely get very close. On our paddle we came across a family of river otters as well as a mom and baby sea otter. There were a few water birds, with the horned puffin being the big star. But the glacier was by far the most memorable sight of the morning. I don't think the guests will forget looking up from the kayaks at a two hundred foot tall wall of ice, disappearing off into the horizon in front of them. There is something so special about explorin...