Makenna Lake Clark National Park
Lake Clark National Park is one of Alaska’s 8 National Parks. Most of Alaska’s National Parks are remote and difficult to get to, with Lake Clark not being an exception. There are no roads to the park. The only way to travel to Lake Clark is by boat or seaplane. With over 4 million acres of Park and Preserve lands, you might be surprised to find it is one of the smaller parks in Alaska.
Getting only approximately 16,000 visitors per year, it is one of the nation’s least visited National Parks. There are many things you can do here, but the number one activities are bear watching and fishing. We chose to do a bear-viewing tour, and after visiting, it’s my opinion that more people need to know about this magical place and plan their own visit. Teeming with mountains, lakes, rivers, and wildlife galore, Lake Clark deserves a place on everyone’s bucket list.
Brown Bears vs. Grizzly Bears
Like many people, I assumed there were only 3 types of bears in the world: black bears, grizzly bears, and polar bears. So when I started researching for our trip to Alaska, and I kept seeing talk of “brown bears”, I naturally was confused. Here is the definition from the Lake Clark National Park’s NPS website:
“Brown and grizzly are common names for the same species; the difference between the two is geographic location, which influences diet, size, and behavior. Those that live in coastal areas are called brown bears, while typically inland bears that have limited or no access to marine-derived food resources are called grizzlies. Both have the distinctive large shoulder hump, long curved claws, and a wide head with a concave profile, often described as “dish-faced.” In Lake Clark, both coastal and inland bears are of the subspecies Ursus arctos horribilis, and generally we refer to them all as brown bears, although either term is acceptable.”
https://www.nps.gov/lacl/learn/nature/ursus-arctos.htm
The more you know!
Bear Viewing in Lake Clark National Park
Due to the remoteness of the park, there aren’t as many activities to do in the park as compared to other parks with road access. One of the most popular things to do in Lake Clark National Park is a bear viewing tour.
Alaska is home to 95% of the world’s brown bear population, with a large number calling Lake Clark home. Biologists studying bears in the park have counted over 200 bears within a 50 square mile area on the coast in recent years, making bear viewing a popular activity to partake in at Lake Clark.
Tour Operators
There are MANY tour operators that offer bear-viewing tours to Lake Clark National Park. So many in fact, that the NPS website has an entire directory of authorized concessionaires to guide these tours, found here. When researching for our trip, I looked at several options. There are a handful of companies that offer boat tours, and several more than offer flightseeing tours.
JBear Tours
Originally, we had planned to do a flightseeing tour to Lake Clark. We had many boating excursions planned, and I wanted to do something different for this. We booked with JBear Tours and were so excited to go out with them as I had a great experience with them throughout the booking process. To book with JBear Tours, the cost is $895/person. Unfortunately, due to some new FAA regulations, they were grounded waiting for clearance to fly on the week we were in Homer. We quickly were able to pivot though and found another tour operator via boat.
JBear Tours was extremely helpful in getting us rebooked with another company. Ashley called Bear Viewing Alaska and took care of everything for us. She booked it herself so we didn’t have to worry about that, and refunded us the difference in cost. I was extremely impressed with how professional and friendly she was, and we hope to be able to book with them on our next trip to Homer!
Bear Viewing Alaska
Bear Viewing Alaska was the tour we ended up on. This was a boat tour to Lake Clark National Park rather than a flying tour, which meant instead of 6 hours, it turned out to be about an 8-hour tour. Bear Viewing Alaska runs under the parent company Alaska Ocean Pros, which also offers fishing charters. The cost for this trip was $550/person.
Our Bear Viewing Experience In Lake Clark National Park
We were on a small fishing vessel, the Casino, with 5 other couples, the captain, and a certified bear guide. The day started with a 2-hour ride across Kachemak Bay, through Cook Inlet, over to Lake Clark National Park. It was a bumpy ride for most of the way, with 3-4 foot waves, which the captain told us was very typical, maybe even mild. I would not recommend this if you are very prone to motion sickness, or if you are, definitely take a motion sickness medication prior.
First Viewing Opportunity
Upon arrival at Lake Clark, the boat pulled up to the shoreline and we disembarked onto the parkland. We walked a short way to a viewing area, where we got to glimpse our first brown bears. Overlooking a large meadow at the base of a towering mountain, we spotted about half a dozen bears grazing on the grasses. Most were off in the distance, so we utilized our binoculars to get a closer view.
It was absolutely fascinating to watch these apex predators in their natural habitat. They were all varying sizes and colors. Our guide informed us about the bears of the area, pointed out boars vs. sows, and told us about their feeding strategies. We were there at the beginning of their summer season when the bears had just come out of hibernation.
At this time of year, they are in the coastal areas feeding on grazing on the grasses and digging for clams. Later on in the summer, the bears will head inland to feed on the salmon runs. As we sat there and watched, we saw another handful of bears emerge from the trees. After watching these bears for a while, we set out back to the boat in search of more bears a little closer to us for a better view.
Our Closest Encounter
While we were watching, the captain was out searching for other bears at a closer distance. He took us to another spot of beach where he had seen some about 60 yards away. We disembarked the vessel on the beach and walked a short distance to the viewing platform. I have a very clear memory of when we crested the small hill to look over the meadow. I let out a huge gasp because a mama bear and her cub were RIGHT THERE. They were so close to where we were I was absolutely shocked. Approximately 40 yards away sat a mama brown bear with her 3-year-old cub, and just to the right of us was a second mama with her 2-year-old cub.
I took hundreds of photos of these magnificent animals. We all sat there and watched them graze for close to an hour. Despite them being relatively close to us, I had no fear. The bears looked right at us as if they were thinking, “So?” and just kept on grazing on grass. They did not give two hecks about us. Our guide did carry bear spray, but he told us there has never been a bear attack in Lake Clark National Park on record.
My favorite photo from this experience is pictured to the right. This happened when the lighter sow and her cub pictured above, started to move off in the direction of the other two. The other two responded by standing up on their hind legs as if to say, “This is our corner, you stay over there.” It was such a cool behavior to see and I was so happy I was able to snap a photo of it!
The Hanky Panky
Our final viewing experience was to a third area situated in the trees. Upon arrival, there was another tour group there, which told us that we were in for a treat. Way off in the distance, we got to witness two bears mating. What a thing to see in the wild! We also got to observe a male courting a female, and she was not having it. She said, “No thank you sir!” and just kept running away from him. We all felt bad for the poor fella.
More Than Just Bears
Sadly we were then out of time and had to start the journey back to Homer. We all loaded back up onto the boat for the 2-hour ride. On the way out of Lake Clark National Park, they took us into a little cove where there were tons of harbor seals and puffins! When we began to approach, the seals made a mad dash for the water from shore. If you’ve never heard the sound a harbor seal makes when it tries to move on land, it is hilarious. I can’t even describe it but it was the funniest thing. We even got to see another mama and baby seal! So many babies in Alaska at this time of year.
We were hoping to see some whales on our way back across the inlet, but sadly they didn’t want to come out that day. However, we did get to see plenty of sea otters, including more babies, and even a raft of them! It is called a raft when hundreds of otters come together and hold hands to stay together. Probably one of the cutest things you can ever see.
Arriving back in Homer, we disembarked the Casino and thanked our captain and guide for a wonderful experience getting to view Alaskan brown bears in the wild at Lake Clark National Park.
Final Thoughts
I cannot recommend doing a bear-viewing experience enough. It was truly incredible to be so close to these amazing apex predators in their natural environment. There are many tour operators to choose from out of Homer, and I don’t think you could go wrong with any of them. It is a more expensive excursion, but well worth it in my opinion.
Want to know more about the town of Homer? We spent two days camping there, which you can read all about here!
Have you been bear watching in Lake Clark National Park? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below!
