You have to take a float plane to get to Brooks Lodge. This is the one we flew in.

The pilot has to make sure the load is balanced. He tells each passenger where to sit. Here's Eric in the copilot's seat. He got the best view as we flew in.

This is the view we saw each day. Alaska is spectacular!

We saw our first bears as we landed. Here are some bears along the beach, taking a snooze behind some float planes.

This mother bear is teaching her cubs how to fish. It's not easy. They're slippery!

This bear is waiting by the falls for a salmon to swim by.

This bear has made a catch. The bears have their own technique. They catch a fish in their paws, turn it around, peel off the skin, then eat it from the tail down. Just like we eat a banana! Our bears didn't like the heads. They let them float down river while they looked for another fish. The seagulls didn't mind. They had a feast.

The Falls is a good place to catch salmon. Do you see a rock in the middle? That's a bear!

Those red streaks that you see under the water are salmon. They turn bright red as they swim up the river to spawn. The fish who get past the bears will die after they mate and lay their eggs. We saw many dead fish that the bears hadn't touched.

You've seen the movie Jaws! This is the bear version: Paws!

We observed this mother bear and her cubs from a bridge by the falls. She wanted to fish, but she was wary of the big male bears in the area. Male bears are a threat. They will kill the cubs. When a big male gets too close, the mother bear will call her cubs and leave the area.

Here are the cubs. They need to eat and get fat to get through their first winter. They usually stay with their mother for two years. They have a lot to learn before they can survive on their own.

This is one of the last bears we saw; a big male glimpsed through the trees. A mature male brown bear can weigh one thousand pounds. That's a lot of bear!

Eric and Doris had a wonderful time at Brooks Lodge and hope they can return again some day. Who knows? The bears may inspire more books

If you want to learn more about Alaskan brown bears and their environment, do a web search by entering <brown bears> <Katmai National Park> or <Brooks Lodge>. You will find many sites with lots of information, plus lots and lots of pictures.