Alaska Bear Viewing Trips

PA12DRVR wrote:
I have no specific suggestions (you'll see below that I've never gone on a commercial bear viewing trip), but have some general $0.02.

1) Of course, it depends on the area, but late June is sort of a bad time for bear viewing: after they've emerged from hibernation, but before many of the fish runs that attract the great #'s of bears.

2) One will see many more bears (subject to #1) by a 4-hour flight over bear country than even on a good day at a surface-based location....I can attest to this from personal experience having landed at creeks to look at bears, but also from haveing flown over several locations in the May timeframe when it's easy to see bears emerging from dens when contrasted against the snow

3) All those bears that one sees while flying will be brown shapes with some degree of definition.

So, the Hobson's choice is to go flying and maybe see dozens of bears from a couple hundred feet up or go to Brooks lodge (or similar) and maybe only see a few bears that can readily be seen to be bears.