You Should Go to Bear Camp

Story and Photography by Brooke & Jeanie Frautschy

Do you want to experience a humbling, emotional bond with one of nature's largest land mammals? Does being outside, surrounded by snowcapped mountains and towering pines with eagles soaring above you make your heart happy? Would you be in awe to stand thirty feet from a coastal brown bear while she taught her cubs how to dig for clams?

Then add Natural Habitat's Bear Camp to your bucket list! Located in Lake Clark National Park on the Chinitna Bay, Alaska, and accessible only by boat when the tide is in, or as a passenger in a Beaver plane to land on the beach; once you get there, you will have the most memorable trip of a lifetime.

Our guide, Shawn, was a retired firefighter. Twenty years of learning, researching, watching, and walking among these brown bears, he was the best guide ever. His passion to share his knowledge, along with his calm demeanor, and expert guidance, reassured our group of fourteen, that we were safe. Shawn trusted us to follow his instructions. The bears regarded us as no threat, as they fished for salmon, dug in the mud for clams, or munched on the abundance of sedge grass.

These bears have never been hunted. We were guests in their homeland. When the tide was out in the early morning, or late evening, we carefully walked the mudflats, our boots sinking into the sediment, cameras in hand. In the afternoon, our group would hike out to one of the elevated woods, where two story viewing stands overlooked the river flowing with salmon. On the banks of the river, and filling fields below the mountain ranges, sedge grass grows abundantly. This plant is a main food source for the bears. Sedge provides protein, fiber, and carbohydrates and the bears graze all afternoon if the salmon are not running.

There really are no words to describe how all of us felt as we viewed these beautiful animals and their young. We each took an abundance of photos, enjoyed Michelin quality meals, slept in brand new heated cabins with floor to ceiling windows facing the mountains, and let the peace and quiet of the park engulf us.

For more information and to plan your own trip to Bear Camp, visit nathab.com and check out @naturalhabitatadventures on Instagram.