Ninety-five percent of brown bears live in Alaska, and Lake Clark National Park and Preserve possesses a healthy share of that percentage. Brown bears live both inland and near the coast in this national park and preserve, making this a prime location for bear-viewing opportunities. Multi-day guided wildlife and photography tours, as well as one-day outings are offered for watching these big brown bruins, some with adorable little cubs in tow.
Brown bear family unit, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve / Rebecca Latson
Are brown bears the same as grizzly bears? The bears in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve certainly look like the grizzly bears you might see in Yellowstone or Glacier national parks, with that characteristic dish face and shoulder hump.
Brown bears and grizzly bears are the same species (Ursus arctos). Grizzly bears are considered a separate subspecies (Ursus arctos horribilis), even though it’s generally thought the differences between the two are a bit arbitrary. Yet, there are slight differences between the brown bears of Alaska and the grizzlies in the Lower 48. These variations relate mainly to diet and winter denning. Grizzly bears in Yellowstone, for instance, live far inland and do not have access to the high-protein, high-fat bivalves and salmon along the Pacific coast available to the Alaskan brown bears. As such, their size and weight will differ. Brown bears in Alaska can weigh well over 1,000 lbs / 454 kg after a successful season fattening up with the help of those salmon and clams, in addition to berries, and grass-like sedges, while grizzlies in Yellowstone may weigh between 200 – 700 lbs (91 – 318 kg) prior to hibernation.
A coastal brown bear, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve / Rebecca Latson
There are also temperamental differences between the two. During certain times of year when the salmon are running, a belly full of fish (or the promise of a full belly) means the brown bears at this national park and preserve are far more intent upon the fish and less likely to acknowledge your presence as you watch them do their thing. They will, of course, always be aware of your presence.
Watching the photographer watching her, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve / Rebecca Latson
While there’s not much difference between coastal brown bears and grizzlies, there is a difference between inland versus coastal brown bears.
Coastal Brown Bears
A brown bear family unit at the estuary of Silver Salmon Creek and Cook Inlet, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve / Rebecca Latson
Think of the estuaries (where rivers meet the sea along the park’s Cook Inlet coast) as the sophisticated urban areas of a city. Plenty of choices from which to dine. Food is plentiful practically year-round, from ripe berries on bushes, to high-protein sedges, to clams on the beach, to salmon with their high fat content returning from the sea to spawn. Occasionally, a whale or other marine carcass may wash up onto the beach.
It’s locations like estuaries where you will see high concentrations of bears. The park reports “biologists have counted as many as 219 brown bears within a 54 square mile area on the coast in recent years. There are few other places in the world where you can find as many bears living in such a small area.” Plenty of food sources for these bears engender a more tolerant attitude toward one another, other wildlife, and even humans.
The energy-rich diet of Lake Clark's coastal brown bears allows the largest males to reach weights exceeding 1,000 pounds (453.6 kg) by the time they enter the den to hibernate. Most adult males typically weigh 600-900 pounds (272 – 408 kg) by mid-summer, while females average 1/3 less in weight. This is carried on a frame 3-5 feet (0.9 – 1.5 m) tall at the shoulder and 7-10 (2.1 – 3.05 m) feet in length.
Bears also like predictability, and they get just that along the coast.
According to park staff:
Bears in Chinitna Bay and Silver Salmon Creek see people nearly every day they are not in hibernation, and the people behave in a very predictable manner; landing, walking, fishing, and eating in the same places day after day. Bears here do not have a history of acquiring food from people, nor are they hunted or injured by people, which makes us about as interesting as a raven or a gull from their point of view. This combination of plentiful food that allows for a high population of tolerant bears living close but not to close to human communities creates the perfect bear viewing opportunity that you will find in few other places in the world.
Inland Brown Bears
The habitats in the inland portions of Lake Clark are far different from the coast, and the bears behave accordingly. There is less food inland. There are no salt marshes with protein-rich sedges and no tidal flats with yummy clams. While boreal forests and open tundra are crisscrossed with salmon-bearing rivers and lakes, allowing inland bears to chow down on fat-rich salmon like their coastal brethren, these bears must travel further to access such spots. As such, inland bears rely more heavily on berries, roots, insects, and ground squirrels for their diet. While these bears will never encounter a beached whale to feast upon, it is more likely to scavenge a caribou carcass or bring down a moose calf; though these are not steady sources of food, but rather an occasional treat.
This scarcity to more and richer food sources mean brown bears living inland are going to weigh less. They are also going to be more solitary, eschewing larger gatherings because of open conflict resulting from intense competition for food sources. These brown bears revert to their solitary nature and do not gather in high numbers. They will interact with fewer individuals in their lifetime than a coastal bear, and are less tolerant of the presence of those they do encounter. They are also more likely to react to people from a greater distance, so extreme caution should be applied when exploring the park’s interior. If you are planning to visit Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, it’s wise to check out the tips listed on the park’s Staying Safe In Bear Country page.
Bear Viewing
Entertaining their human audience, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve / Rebecca Latson
Below are the best locations for viewing brown bears, per the park staff.
Chinitna Bay
Located at the southern end the park's Cook Inlet coast, Chinitna Bay offers world class bear viewing. Visitors may be able to see as many as twenty coastal brown bears from a single location.Crescent Lake
Located in the heart of the Chigmit Mountains, Crescent Lake is a sport fisherman's dream. During the salmon run, brown and black bears also frequent the shorelines in search of the plentiful fish.Silver Salmon Creek
Located midway down the park's Cook Inlet coast, Silver Salmon creek offers outstanding sport fishing in addition to world class brown bear viewing.Shelter Creek and Tuxedni Bay
Also located along the park's Cook Inlet coast, these two areas provide rich bear habitat, though they are more difficult to reach and thus less frequently visited by people. Bears that are not accustomed to the presence of people are less likely to tolerate close encounters. Exercise extreme caution if you visit these locations.
To facilitate logistics and simplify planning for a bear-viewing trip to Lake Clark, you should check out the guide services on the park’s Directory of Commercial Visitor Service Providers.
If you are a photographer, a Google search will list numerous few bear-viewing photo tours and workshops. While these tours won’t necessarily pay for your airfare, they will handle the logistics of eating and sleeping during your trip, in addition to reaching those prime photo op spots.
Brown Bear Photo Tour Featured On The Traveler
Per my first Traveler article for 2014, I reserved a spot on a tour with eight other photographers to fly to Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, Alaska, in August, to photograph the bears. I've returned from an awesome trip and have a little something to say about photography there.
To read more about this photo tour, head to this page.
Got milk? Lake Clark National Park and Preserve / Rebecca Latson
