Alaska Bear Adventures w/ K-Bay or Hallo Bay

[Liz315]

We will be in Homer end of June 2013 and will def. plan a bear trip. I am leaning heavily toward K-Bay but don't see may posts on them. Anyone have any experience with either or both that could share their experience? Thanks

[kcbbq]

I am interested, too. We are planning a land trip that will have us in Homer in mid July 2013.

 

I would also like opinions on whether a trip to Brooks Falls or Lake Clark would be better in that time frame?

[Liz315]

This site may help you decide where to go based on what month you are going.

http://www.nps.gov/katm/planyourvisit/bear-watching.htm

 

Hallo bay June

Brooks July

[WalleyeLJ]

We will be in Homer end of June 2013 and will def. plan a bear trip. I am leaning heavily toward K-Bay but don't see may posts on them. Anyone have any experience with either or both that could share their experience? Thanks

 

Liz,

 

I'll be posting extensively on our trip with K Bay Air later today at the thread below. I'm working on the photos for it now:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1679447

 

L.J.

[greatam]

This site may help you decide where to go based on what month you are going.

http://www.nps.gov/katm/planyourvisit/bear-watching.htm

 

Hallo bay June

Brooks July

 

Just a couple of things:

 

I have been to Hallo Bay quite a few times. They have PRIVATELY owned land inside the Katmai National Park. They LIVE there from May until October. They KNOW where the bears are just because they live among them daily. The chart you mention is very, very off for Hallo Bay in August/September. The bears show up en masse the minute the silver salmon start running (which is usually about August 15). They spend the entire day "power feeding" to get ready for winter. Eat, eat, eat, take a nap on the beach, eat, eat, eat.

 

K Bay lands on the BEACH in the Katmai someplace. Wherever the bears are on any given day is where they land close to.

 

That is NOT Brooks (where the cliche "bear catching salmon in the water falls" pictures are taken).

 

Three VERY different trips. The only way I know to get to Brooks on a day trip is to book it through Katmailand, which is the NPS concessionaire. And those trips leave from Anchorage. http://www.katmailand.com/bear-viewing/packages.html#daytrip

 

And this from Trip Advisor from a person who has spent a LOT of time in Alaska:

 

 

Re: Day trip advise -- brooks falls vs homer(halo bay)

May 08, 2011, 2:00 PM

Destination Expert What's this?

for Alaska

 

"I personally would never take a day trip to Brooks. The reason? You could be stuck in a "bear jam" and not get across the river. Then your bear viewing is greatly diminished. That happened to some people I met the last time I was there. They crossed the river about noon. But they had to be back to the plane about 2pm. If they hit another bear jam on the way back, they would have missed their flight. For that reason alone, I would say go to the coast. More flexibility in the bear viewing there."

[greatam]

I am interested, too. We are planning a land trip that will have us in Homer in mid July 2013.

 

I would also like opinions on whether a trip to Brooks Falls or Lake Clark would be better in that time frame?

 

Lake Clark and Brooks are generally accessed from Anchorage, NOT Homer.

[mapleleaves]

We will be in Homer end of June 2013 and will def. plan a bear trip. I am leaning heavily toward K-Bay but don't see may posts on them. Anyone have any experience with either or both that could share their experience? Thanks

 

You will enjoy these photos from a blogger/photographer who lives in Alaska. Her trip was mid June 2011.

http://susanstevenson.com/blog/2011/06/june-travels-homer/

A friend of mine did a bear viewing trip with Emerald Air mid July 2011; her photos were quite similar ... bears on the beach, too close for my liking. She enjoyed it tho!

There are several vendors in Homer. KBay is very well reviewed. Use the SEARCH IN feature on the alaska forum of tripadvisor to find and read past threads about them.

Send for a free visitor guide from kenaipeninsula.org. Here's their link to bear viewing in Homer.

http://kenaipeninsula.org/search?keys=&destination=402&category=97

Do lots of research to choose the right trip for your interests .... bears at the falls, or eating sedge or fishing at a river.

[Liz315]

Mapleleaves, thank you so, so much for the link to Susan Stevenson's blog, I thoroughly enjoyed it and I am sure I'll be returning to it to view her beautiful photos of Homer and Seward and other parts of Alaska again and again.