Well I now have finalized my dates for next summers Alaska Bear and Puffin Photo Tour.  This past summer’s tour was a blast, and I have had a lot of requests for next year, so we have more then doubled our offering for next year.  We have already received several bookings for next years tour.

Here is a little video I made from this summers tour to give people a bit of an idea on what the photo tour is all about.  This is one of the reasons I purchased a Canon Rebel T2i.  This was my first attempt at putting together a video – I gotta admit, the learning curve is very steep!

A Brown bear sow, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

I actually did photograph other bears besides cute little playful cubs!  Not  a lot, but a few.

I rarely place my subject in the dead center of the frame like this, but here I felt like it just “worked”.

Brown bear cub, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

This little cub might look like he has a headache, but after watching him off and on for the last 4 days, I can say he has a pretty fun life of climbing logs, playing with sticks, playing with mom, nursing and eating – I don’t think he has a headache!

I just returned from my 4 day Alaska bear and puffin photo tour and I had a blast!   I knew we would have lots of bears – males, sows, cute cubs and even puffin, but I didn’t know I would have such a fun group.  Great stories and lots of laughs, it was really a fun time!

I will be offering two, 4 day tours with a limit of 6 people each next year around August 6 through the 12 with the possibility of doing the entire time for someone who would like more time with the bears.  Stay tuned for more details in the upcoming weeks.

Richard, Mike, Irene, Pam, Wilson and myself and the end of a fun tour.

Brown bear cub tries to "summit" large log, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

This little guy sure had fun climbing and playing on this giant log, and we sure had fun watching him!

Brown bear cub standing on his hind legs, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

Yesterday (Sunday) afternoon I began my Alaska bear and puffin photo tour and in just the first afternoon it has already been an awesome trip!  Great group of people and lots of bears!  Sow with cubs, males – all real close, we even hand a sow nurse a young cub right in front of us!  Gotta keep it short, hopefully I will have time for another quick post while I’m over here this week, otherwise we I get back to Seward later this week.

Nursing brown bear cub, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

Brown Bear Cub, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

Unfortunately we have had some unexpected cancellations for our all inclusive Alaska Bear and Puffin Photo Tour.  Because we are now getting late into the winter and I want to be sure to fill the tour and return deposits, we have decided to make a fairly substantial reduction to the price for this amazing photo tour.

If you haven’t spent time up close to large number of Grizzly / Brown Bears and or puffin, you are in for a real treat – this is truly a peak experience.  I could go on and on, but I already have here, so take a look:  Alaska Bear and Puffin Photo Tour.

A brown bear cub watches and learns how to dig for clams from its mom.

This is the second of three Alaska photo tours we will be offering next summer.

Spending time watching and photographing brown bears up close is an absolute thrill!   This is going to be a small group (limited to 4) tour where we will live and breath brown bears pretty much day and night thanks to Alaska’s long summer days.  We will be staying in a wonderful lodge in a beautiful setting along the coast.  We are near a clear flowing salmon stream with a wonderful snow capped mountain backdrop.  Thanks to the wide variety of food sources – salmon, clams and sedges, this area sees a large gathering of coastal brown bears, from huge bores and sows to cute, playful cubs.

I say we will live and breath bears, but actually we will take a portion of one day to travel by boat to a nearby island where we will go to shore for a wonderful opportunity to photograph horned and tufted puffin up close.  Our timing should be perfect since the puffin will be actively traveling back and fourth to their burrows with mouths full of fish.

To learn more, check out our page on the bear and puffin photo tour.

The Milepost Travel Guide

I’m really excited to have the cover of the The Milepost for the third consecutive year!  As I have written before – I grew up in the small town of Glennallen Alaska, and it seemed like evey visitor through town was carrying this guide, so for me, this is like the ultimate cover!  We really appreciate the relationship we have with all the folks at the Milepost over the last decade or so – thanks!

I captured this photo last summer at Lake Clark National Park - here were my Lake Clark blog posts from that awesome trip.

Horned Puffin.

We have finished our updates to our website and have a new section of Puffin photos.  Puffin rock!  We have also updated our section of bear photos.  Come to think of it, bears rock too!

In addition, we were able to migrate our all 4,970 pages of our website from the obsolete FrontPage to a more more appropriate program, Dreamweaver.  What a huge relief!

Bears aren’t the only ones to hit Silver Salmon Creek for fish – its just that the bears have the right of way!  When the bears approach, the fishermen back out of the river and bunch up for safety.  If you hook a fish and a bear shows up, you have to cut it loose. 

This little cub seemed as intrigued by the people, as the people in the bear.

We now new sections on our website for Lake Clark National Park, And Halibut Cove, Alaska.

Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

If you have followed this photo blog much, you know I have spent a fair amount of time working the bears around Seward with a remote camera setup.  Well, I thought that might provide some unique opportunities while at Lake Clark National Park, so I brought all my gear over there for my remote setup. 

Wouldn’t you know it, this was the first bear we photographed, on the very first night, and he decided to beat the heck out of this perfectly innocent boat for really no apparent reason.  It was right then and there I decided I wouldn’t be using my remote setup – I could see my camera and tripod turning into a really fun bear toy! 

Brown Bears, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

I didn’t get a chance to finish writing about our Lake Clark trip, so I thought I would follow up today. 

To be honest, we have always traveled on our own in Alaska, with either our camper or tent, so I had mixed feelings on visiting a lodge geared just towards bear viewing, working with guides, etc.  My other reservation was the cost - an all inclusive trip that includes flights, lodging, meals, boats and guides isn’t going to be cheap, especially given our short summer season.  I do get that, but what I struggled with -  for what a four day bear viewing trip cost, we could do a two month trip to the Lower 48 and probably come away with far more marketable material.  But hey, having fun is more important than return on investment!  Plus, if I could photograph puffins without the considerable expensive of flying to St. Paul, that would be a huge bonus.  So now the question, where to go.

As I like to do, I spent a ton of time researching all the possible options.  Yeah, I’m an over-researcher.  As I read about the options for coastal bear viewing, along either the Katmai or Lake Clark National Park coast, one place kept coming out on top, and that was Silver Salmon Creek Lodge.  In hindsight, it turned out to be a great choice, I couldn’t have been happier for a number of reasons in which I will elaborate.

People

Like most all organizations, it is the people who make or break it, and that usually starts at the top.  Well Dave, Joanne and Oliver couldn’t have been nicer.  I’m not talking about the fake, I’m supposed to smile and act this way kind of nice.  No, they are just good, down to earth people who Janine and I really enjoyed getting to know.  Not surprisingly, their staff was all cut from the same thread.

Location

I was very excited about the location, as I had hoped to concentrate on bear in the landscape type images, and the surrounding mountains would have made a perfect backdrop.  Unfortunately, because of low clouds and stormy weather, we never did see much of the surrounding countryside while we were there – but it is there.

Cost

The cost really was reasonable when you looked at the high level of service, and all you received – especially when you compare it to what a hotel alone goes for in Anchorage this time of year.  There weren’t any add-on charges, everything was included, and that even went for your flights, boat rides along the coast, kayak and canoe use, you name it.  It also included the food, and that was delicious!  We are talking fresh fish, prime rib…  you get the idea.  If you have special needs – no problem, they even ask about that right up front.

Wildlife

Really all that other stuff wouldn’t matter without the wildlife, but wow!  There were 3 sows with spring cubs, a couple with year old cubs, there were large boars, you name it, and they were everywhere.  It wasn’t uncommon to have bears meander right through the lodge grounds, in fact it usually happened a number of times each day. 

The bonus for me was the puffin.  I get lots of requests for this colorful bird, and have very little coverage.  I have considered flying to St. Paul in past years, but that is an expensive proposition.  So to be up-close to these wonderful birds was a real treat and bonus!

 All and all I must say, Silver Salmon Creek Lodge was a wonderful experience, and one I look forward to repeating one day. 

This is the dinning room.  From the windows, you could almost always see bears feeding off the sedges.

The outside of the main lodge building.  This building is surrounded by individual cabins.

Here are more bear photos.

Snow patterns from the air, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

We are heading to Halibut Cove for a few days so we won’t have web contact.  If it doesn’t rain too hard, maybe I will have some photos to share next week.

Hey, today this photo blog is now two years old!  And to think, I was afraid I would run out of material to post about after the first month!  Today I have a bigger back log of ideas then ever before.  Now if I could just create more time. 

More Horned Puffin from Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

Brown Bear cub, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

These guys are really cute!  This is a different cub from the last post – they are really fun to watch.

Brown Bears, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

This cute little cub seemed to really enjoy playing with a empty clam shell!

Here are more bear photos.

Horned Puffin, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

I understand that puffin have the unique ability to catch and hold fish in their beaks, allowing them to continue to fish and capture more.  Every puffin I saw with fish seemed to have at least 5!

Horned Puffin, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

We just got home and are still beaming from an awesome trip! 

Although I loved spending time with the bears, puffin were actually at the top of my wish list.  You see I often get requests for this beautiful bird, and live next to a very large population, but have never been able to photograph them up close until this trip.  Now I can put an end to that frustration.

I have joked in the past that puffin really don’t exist – that they are just a cartoon character like Bugs Bunny.  Having seen them up close and personal, I can attest that they are real, and they are spectacular!

Here are more Puffin photos.

Brown bear sow and cub, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska.

This sow was able to repeatedly dig up clams with incredible effectiveness.  On the other hand, the poor cub dug and dug, but was never able to find a single clam – at least while I watched.  I don’t think it had learned exactly where to dig just yet.  After awhile, the cub went over and began watching his mom very, very closely – it was really fascinating to watch.  I don’t know if he was a very attentive student, or just really hungry!

Since we have some brief internet access, I thought I would post a quick update.  As you can probably tell, we are having an awesome trip!

Here are more brown bear photos.