North to Alaska, Part 2 of 2 - Time Out #213

As we left last Sunday's installment, our traveling trio (grandchild, Maya, 9, bride, Debbie, and myself) were in Alaska's largest city, Anchorage, where we stayed 2 nights in a hotel near their international airport. Early the next morning, we were shuttled to the nearby terminal to board a commuter flight. To our total surprise, because we were flying a small aircraft to King Salmon, about 300 miles southwest of Anchorage, we did not have to pass through a TSA inspection area. In today's traveling world, not having any TSA airline requirements to pass through, was really strange to us!

Once landing at a remote airstrip in King Salmon, we were transported to our housing accommodations for the next 5 days, the King Salmon Lodge (KSL). For being in a wilderness area, KSL is an excellent choice for a place to stay, has a nice restaurant, and a multi-slip boating dock, along with excellent fishing guides available for hire. After we deposited our luggage at the lodge, we were taken to the local float plane dock on the clear/cold Naknek River. It had been several years since my bride and I had ridden in a float plane. Ms. Maya had never been in one, but during our time in King Salmon, we had the privilege of riding in 6 different size float planes. I rode in the co-pilot's seat twice, an excellent place to see the beautiful country about a 1,000 feet below!

After a 30-minute flight, our aircraft easily landed in large Naknek Lake, and taxied, via its 2 large attached pontoons, to the quiet shoreline at historic Brooks Camp. We were greeted at the entrance there by several National Park Service (NPS) personnel, working in famous Katmai National Park (KNP) KNP and Preserve is about 4 million acres, and was named a U.S. National Monument in 1918, and was elevated to National Park status in 1980.

Before visitors are allowed to enter the park, the NPS requires them to undergo a 30-minute bear orientation class. It consists of a video, and a power point presentation by a NPS safety ranger. The teaching session was incredibly in-depth, and absolutely necessary in order to have maximum safe interaction between the park's human visitors, and the hundreds of brown bears, literally everywhere in KNP. Once we stepped through the swinging gate onto the new, elevated, bridge/walkway spanning the mouth of the Brooks River, we were definitely in bear country! In the 3 days we spent in this natural wonderland, we probably saw well over 50 brown bears of all ages and sizes. Most of the times we watched the majestic creatures, they were totally consumed with catching the thousands of spawning salmon in their attempts to swim upstream against many natural obstacles. Several of the bears we watched were less than 20 feet away, as we were positioned above them, looking down. Almost all the human visitors had their cameras constantly snapping incredible photographs! On the .6/mile walk via a gravel trail to Brooks Falls, many visitors encountered bears on the trail, but we did not, and we walked this up-and-back trail twice. The humans are, figuratively-speaking, in the zoo, and the animals---brown bears, bald eagles, wolves, porcupines, etc.---are looking at us from the "outside"---- while they are in their secure, wild habitat. One full day inside KNP, we took a NPS-led excursion on a 46-mile, 4-wheel drive bus tour, seeing "The Valley of 10,000 Smokes". This is an area deep within the huge park that was affected by very large volcanic eruption in 1912, and is now a breathtakingly beautiful place to visit and photograph.

Two other full days while we were at our lodge, we hired a professional fishing guide who took us out in his well-equipped boat, to fish for king salmon in the fast-flowing Naknek River. We caught several salmon, and it was a very exciting experience, especially to watch our Lady Maya catch them, with a little help from Justin, our guide. Lots of those classic fishing photos were captured, too, of course!

Our time was over at magical Katmai/King Salmon, so we retraced our path, flying back to Anchorage, then to Juneau, where we returned Ms. Maya to her parents. We then flew homeward-bound to Seattle, Oklahoma City, and, finally, Our Town, U.S.A.. It is ALWAYS good to get back to our nest-of-rest home. .

Wow, what an adventure, and the many memories we made in our mind's eye forever!!