This shootthelight.com trip was in Alaska in mid-July. We took a float plane out of King Salmon and flew about half an hour. Then we were picked up in a boat and the trip was another 45 minutes or so. The itinerary said we would be flying through Katmai Park and photographing in the Alagnak River, the Kukaklek River and Nonvianuk Rivers.

We spent one night in a fly camp at either Kukaklek lake or Nonvianuk lake. I'm not sure which one. We all wore waders most of the time and to get to/from our fly camp we had to wade through water that was almost waist high. Which was pretty fun except kind of scary because we had to carry our gear, too. I have never weighed it all but it's probably close to 30 lbs (tripod, head, sidekick, cameras, lenses etc). One little misstep or tripping on an underwater branch could have been not so good.

The weather was warm (hot) the first day, partly cloudy and cooler the next day and scattered showers the rest of the trip. I would never have believed you if you said I wouldn't mind standing in the rain to photograph animals. Never. But it really wasn't bad. I guess dressing appropriately makes all the difference. We wore chest waders, rain jackets, and had rain gear for our cameras. I never got wet and my hair never got wet :) It rained the night we spent in the fly camp but the tents stayed dry and we were able to get a fire started the next morning so all was good there.

After we left this area we flew back to King Salmon for one night. The next morning we caught a float plane over to Brooks Falls and stayed there until our return flight at 4PM. That was pretty exciting there. I'm told the fish weren't really running and there weren't many bears but I like the pictures I got there. It must really be amazing when there are many fish. We also saw a wolf at Brooks Falls. I didn't see him eating anything. There was a sign that said a wolf had been bothering fishermen. I guess fishermen are easier to steal from than grizzlies.

Most of the pictures in the album are from the river locations. The photos from Brooks Falls are pretty apparent. I'll go back through the pictures and write BF on the ones taken there. I really try to edit and to not to post a large number of photos of the same species but these bears are irresistable. Especially the action shots where there are several images that tell a story. :)

All in all, it was a very nice trip and beautiful country.