In search of brown bears

I was wondering if anyone would suggest a good brown bear viewing opportunity for our itinerary:

One week land tour with rented car -Anchorage - Talkeetna - Denali - Seward - Whittier

Princess southbound cruise - Juneau - Ketchikan - Skagway

Black bears would be good, too, but we would be really thrilled to see brown bears.

Thank you!

Without doing a fly in bear viewing trip Denali will be your best option.

About half way between Anchorage and the turn off to Girdwood along Turnagain Arm is Bird Creek. There were two brown bears there the end of July 1st of August this summer that were there almost daily. They’d grab a fish and then head into the woods. 20 minutes or so later they were back. I only saw one at a time but others said there were two coming and going. I drove down daily to photograph them for about a week and only missed seeing them once.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-iHM8CcgIl4s/VifkKyyNWII/AAAAAAAAEW4/_EqEDf3noag/s800-Ic42/Brown%252520Bear.jpg

Another area is the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center located at the end of Turnagain Arm. About 30 minutes south of Bird Creek.

https://www.alaskawildlife.org/

In Ketchikan, Herring Cove although sightings are infrequent and parking is difficult due to private property.

Denali Park is your best area for cheap access, BUT these are the half size browns. So you'd have to be accepting of that, and they aren't of salmon diet. Independent visitors, I would only recommend taking the shuttle bus to at least Eielson.

We did the Connoisseur land tour/cruise combo from Princess back in August. In Denali we did the Tundra Wilderness Tour as part of the pre-arranged tours. Very tight mostly uncomfortable quarters for me in that school bus but we did see some bears through binoculars.

This is what our view was like with a 200mm zoom lens:

In Ketchikan, we did the Bear Country and Wildlife Sanctuary excursion through Princess and saw lots of black bear activity:

Wow, amazing pictures! So, is there a one day fly-in trip available at all? I have seen the multi-day trips, but we don't have time for that, although, maybe some day...

Glaciers, thanks for the tip on Bird Creek. That would be amazing to see them!

if you are cruising via Vancouver.... you can have Breakfast with the Bears.... please don't feed the spouse to the bears.

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• https://www.grousemountain.com/products/breakfast-with-the-bears
  

If you want to see black bears close up and personal you only need to sit in our front room....this fall its been like we have a bear path through our yard.:)

What time of year are you going? I went mid July and flew out of Ketchikan into Anan Creek. We saw many black bears and 5 brown. It was the most amazing excursion I have ever been on.

Bears right outside the bus in Denali

Great pics!! We had a similar experience on the bus in Denali. I think we saw upwards of 30 bears/cubs on our Tundra Wilderness Tour....right outside the bus! (This was in late August)

Mid July! That sounds awesome!

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I just booked a trip for next July with Carlin Air. I have also flown there with Family Air. Island Wings does the trip too. You just have to find the vendor with the date available that you need.

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https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151780812390993&l=a802bf1241

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I just booked a trip for next July with Carlin Air. I have also flown there with Family Air. Island Wings does the trip too. You just have to find the vendor with the date available that you need.

This may be a dumb question...I've looked at Family air, Carlin and Island Wings...Is there anyone who does bear viewing trips from anywhere other than Ketchikan?? I'll be in the Kenai/Seward area for 4 days and have time to do this once in a lifetime opportunity, even though it is expensive! Might be my only big excursion I do, but I'd rather do it before the cruise.

This may be a dumb question...I've looked at Family air, Carlin and Island Wings...Is there anyone who does bear viewing trips from anywhere other than Ketchikan?? I'll be in the Kenai/Seward area for 4 days and have time to do this once in a lifetime opportunity, even though it is expensive! Might be my only big excursion I do, but I'd rather do it before the cruise.

Do you really mean "Kenai"???? The city? or are you talking about the Kenai Peninsula?

IF you happen to be IN Kenai/Soldotna- there are excellent fly in bear viewing vendors available. BUT I never recommend the day trips. At least one overnight is needed in my opinion. You see SO much more.

I have been fishing the Kenai Peninsula area for the past 15+ years. During the salmon runs in June and July and sometimes early August there are almost always bears at Bird Creek and Russian River Campground area. Have seen both black and browns at the Confluence at the Russian/Kenai River. In fact in 2007 I had an incident with a brown which was not very nice. So now to me not seeing a bear is better.

Without doing a fly in bear viewing trip Denali will be your best option.

 

About half way between Anchorage and the turn off to Girdwood along Turnagain Arm is Bird Creek. There were two brown bears there the end of July 1st of August this summer that were there almost daily. They’d grab a fish and then head into the woods. 20 minutes or so later they were back. I only saw one at a time but others said there were two coming and going. I drove down daily to photograph them for about a week and only missed seeing them once.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-iHM8CcgIl4s/VifkKyyNWII/AAAAAAAAEW4/_EqEDf3noag/s800-Ic42/Brown%252520Bear.jpg

 

Another area is the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center located at the end of Turnagain Arm. About 30 minutes south of Bird Creek.

https://www.alaskawildlife.org/

 

In Ketchikan, Herring Cove although sightings are infrequent and parking is difficult due to private property.

What time of day did you find the bears at Bird Creek? We are going to take that drive down the Turnagain Arm, and will try to stop in there. Thanks!

How far away were the bears? And what time of the year did you go? We are going end of July to early August. We have an excursion booked for Traitor's Cove, but to see that from the bus on TWT would be awesome!

Thanks!

What time of day did you find the bears at Bird Creek? We are going to take that drive down the Turnagain Arm, and will try to stop in there. Thanks!

Can be anytime. But overall, very rare to time it right. Pure chance with wildlife. Plus add to the mix- anywhere as well. I wouldn't be focused on "Bird Creek".

How far away were the bears? And what time of the year did you go? We are going end of July to early August. We have an excursion booked for Traitor's Cove, but to see that from the bus on TWT would be awesome!

 

Thanks!

I had bears cross right in front of buses, and near the roads. Pure chance sightings. And not common. Very low percentage of my trips.

We had a bear bonanza driving on the Klondike Highway from Skagway to Emerald Lake. (Done first days of June of this year)

We saw a brown bear on the Alaska side from about 200 yards away. There was a mother (black bear) with two brown cubs just off the side of the road. We got to watch the cubs wrestling and playing - they were adorable! Another mother + cubs (all black) just off the side of the road eating wildflowers and a solo black bear sleeping on a rock in the distance.

I need to get photos on a sharing site to post them.

We took a tour with Ketchikan Taxi Company, and they said that later in the season, when the salmon are running, you can almost always see bears if you get up early enough. Unfortunately, we were too early to see them there.

I had bears cross right in front of buses, and near the roads. Pure chance sightings. And not common. Very low percentage of my trips.

These bears photographed look like they're right there...but of course, with zoom lenses, they could actually be farther away. I would love to see them up close like this (but in the safety of the bus! ;-) ) -- but yes, I imagine it's pure chance sightings. Wonder if some years, there are more than others.

We saw this guy on the highway between Skagway and Emerald lake. He was just hanging out looking for food.

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Out of Juneau this month I did a fly in 1 day trip to Admiralty Island booked through the cruise line-expensive but so worth it. Check to see if your cruise line offers it or google Pack Creek brown bears.

You can also do a 1 day fly in to Katmai National Park to see the bears at Brooks Falls-view them first on explore.org. July is good for viewing at the Falls and Sept for feeding on the dying salmon in the river.