A Summer Of Bears

These photographs were taken at Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park, Alaska..

Katmai is a pristine wilderness area accessible only by float plane located at the head of the Alaska Peninsula 290 air miles southwest of Anchorage.

I spent the summer of 2007 there as a Volunteer Interpretive Ranger. Brooks Camp is a place like no other. Each spring the bears arrive shortly after they leave hibernation. They come for the salmon. By late June or early July the salmon show up by the thousands. The bears gorge themselves all summer and by September have increased their body weight by as much as 30%. I was privileged to see the entire life cycle as spring cubs nursed and were cared for by their mothers, as male bears courted and mated females and as bears fought one another sometimes with gruesome results. Five days a week I helped visitors enjoy this incredible place, two days a week I photographed. Join me in protecting and honoring such places. Join me in allowing the bears to follow their path without man's interruption. Put down your fishing poles, put aside your telephoto lens, forget the weather and the bugs, clear your mind of civilized trivia and enjoy these magnificent beasts.