If you read our last post about our visit to Homer, Alaska you read a little bit about our bear viewing tour adventure. I wanted to dedicate a post to just that experience because there was a lot of information we kind of glazed over and it was a pretty big excursion! We have had the opportunity to see so much wildlife in our time in Alaska and it's always thrilling to see bears. We have seen a few grizzly bears around Denali National Park and the Yukon and we've seen black bears in Valdez. There have even been sightings of these bears roaming neighborhoods not far from our own while we've been here! But we wanted to see the "big bears" and we knew the best place to go would be southeast Alaska - home to the Coastal Brown Bears, to be exact. While all grizzly bears are brown bears, not all brown bears are Grizzly Bears. Coastal Brown Bears are a subspecies to the interior Grizzly Bears - the main difference being their diet. Coastal Brown Bears have access to different types of food than inland brown bears, aka marine food. Because they have more access to more food, they are much larger than other Brown Bears. There are many different places you can go to see these bears in action in the summer - loading up on food before going into hibernation. We chose Homer because of the easiest and most affordable access. Once you get to Homer, you'll find quite a few companies offering bear viewing tours. We booked in advance with Alaska Bear Adventures. One thing to keep in mind with booking with any tour group is that weather here is very unpredictable and will impact your tour if it gets a little iffy. We were glad we planned for a few days in Homer because part of our group booked a tour that ended up getting canceled due to weather so we were all glad to have an extra day cushion so they were able to rebook for the next day. The crew at Alaska Bear Adventures is always watching the weather and they also have to work around the tides, which I will explain about in a minute. But because of these things, there is not really a set schedule for their tours. They ask you to check into their office the day before your tour is booked where you will weigh in and receive the time of your tour for the next day. On the day of the tour, we arrived at the airstrip office where we received a training brief as well as the provided waders. We waited for the pilots to come in and got a little Q&A in with them before loading into our 6-seater bush plane and taking off. It was about an hour flight from Homer to Lake Clark National Park - one of the most remote national parks in the US as it is only accessible by boat or plane. We landed right on the beach - thus the need to work around the tide schedule - and saw a bear clamming right from the start! Our little group of planes landing on the beach scared the bear off into the grassy, kind of marshy area (we were glad to have our waders), which is where we walked to after getting out of the plane. The guides were extremely knowledgable of the area and the wildlife and were happy to answer any questions. We were told to walk in a single file line so as not to look intimidating while approaching the bears. We came up to the bear we had previously seen on the beach and we were quiet and cautious and he only seemed curious about us more than anything. We had a little bit of an adrenaline spike being so close to a big bear in the wild and it only got higher as he came closer to check us out. Our guide has us all kneel down to make us look less intimidating and the bear was satisfied and hung out and munched on grass and scratched his belly while we oohed and ahhed and basked in our amazing surroundings and experience. The bear eventually sauntered past us, up into the trees, maybe to take a nap up in the mountains. We had brought binoculars and watched him and another bear as they disappeared into the trees. We walked around back to the beach to see if other bears had come out but no such luck. It was then time to get back in the plane and enjoy a beautiful flight back to Homer. We saw rafts of otters floating in the ocean and even a beached whale. A couple more tips: we had booked the "Short and Sweet Tour" and it took a little over 3 hours. I do think if you can hack it, the longer tour would be worth it! If you struggle with motion sickness, be prepared. They are small planes and weren't the smoothest ride. We had an incredible experience and this tour will go down as being another epic once-in-a-lifetime Alaskan adventure that we will hold in our memories forever. We hope you find this helpful and inspiring! As always, we’d love to answer your comments or questions! If you're interested in a one-on-one chat to help plan a custom trip to Alaska, check out our options here! Make sure to pin this post so you can come back to it later and we'd love to have you join us on Instagram to come with us on our day-to-day adventures! Until next time, make sure to get out and enjoy where YOU live!
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AuthorWe're just a military family enjoying where we live, one PCS at a time. Follow us as we explore our current home, South Carolina, and beyond. The world is our backyard. Archives
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