Friday, July 2, 2010

Brooks Lodge

Brooks Lodge is world-famous for the salmon run up Brooks River and the opportunistic bears which feast on the spawning fish. The lodge mainly attracts fishermen, but there were a few of us who were there just for the bear-viewing off the platforms overlooking the falls.


Later in the summer, the bears stand in these falls and wait for the salmon to leap up the waterfall into their open mouths. They become greedy and fat in the short summer before they fall asleep for months on end. The bear presence wasn't at its peak while we were there, but we still had lots of great sightings. One bear blocked our path when we were out on a cultural tour of the area, and Daniel and I saw a big bear just five yards below us under the viewing platform. We even had a bear perform some tricks for us!




The presence of bears increased towards the end of our trip, so much so that our flight home was delayed by a 'bear jam'. We were unable to reach our plane for boarding due to a rather curious bear...

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