How to Camp with Bears at Brooks Falls
“Peak a Boo” - a tiny spring cub seeks comfort under its mother at Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park, Alaska.
Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park offers some of the best bear viewing in the world. According to the National Park Service, an estimated 2,200 brown bears live within Katmai National Park. Every summer, hundreds of thousands of sockeye salmon run up the Brooks River to spawn. This epic food source attracts bears, multitudes of which can be seen fishing for jumping salmon at Brooks Falls — an iconic Alaskan sight. Brooks Falls is hard to get to but well worth the jaunt.
Brown bears fish for sockeye salmon at Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park, Alaska.
Many tour services offer fly-in day trips to Katmai National Park from King Salmon, Homer, or even Anchorage. These trips are not only expensive but allow for only a few hours to enjoy the bears. During peak day-trip hours, the viewing platforms get busy enough that there is a waitlist for and time limits at the bear-iest spot in the park.
Overnight trips offer a much more relaxed option for bear viewing. No power walking or stress is required when you have mornings and evenings to enjoy the bears at your leisure without the crowds.
Now, if you are willing to spend loads of money — and wait at least a year to be accepted into the Brooks Lodge lottery — you can spend $1,125/night (2024 price) for an Alaska Rustic (read: bare-bones) cabin with bunk beds. A more economic and adventurous option, however, is to enjoy the fine camping accommodations provided by the National Park Service. Seriously, these are some nice campsites.
This is your guide to planning and reserving camping and travel accommodations for Brooks Falls.
Camping reservations are managed by the National Park through the recreation.gov website. The one and only established campsite close to Brooks Falls at Katmai National Park is called Brooks Camp.
Making reservations for next summer on recreation.gov is the official competitive winter sport of Alaska. So let’s discuss winning strategies to maximize your chances.
Key date & time: Tuesday, January 7th at 8am AK time — Brooks Camp opens for online reservations. For the ENTIRE 2025 season. While the park is open May 1 to October 31, the main season is June 1 to Sept 17. The month of July is generally considered the best for salmon runs and bear activity. July dates sell out as fast as Taylor Swift concert tickets.
Courtesy of the National Park Service
Some tips for success on recreation.gov:
Make an account at recreation.gov. Time is ticking when you select dates, and you could lose your spot if you have trouble making an account or paying.
Use a laptop or desktop computer. This is too competitive to fumble around with your thumbs on a phone.
Find fast wifi. Game on.
Find the Brooks Camp page on the recreation.gov website. Refresh your browser early and often. The “Reservations Closed” banner will disappear when reservations become available.
What to do when Brooks Camp reservations open up:
FIRST STEP - Change date to your preferred start date! Default is January, which is NOT what you want.
Change group size! (Up to 6)
Select start and end dates on the calendar! This is a bit unintuitive since you already specified a start date. But you must click dates on the calendar twice: click start date AND click end date.
Start checkout. If you are accepted on any date range and are off by a day, do NOT go back and change dates. You will lose your spot. Guaranteed.
Will ask for first and last names of everyone in your party (put anyone’s name, can change at any time later).
Keep checking for the next 15 minutes if you miss out on dates. Some people fail to check out on time or otherwise release dates that were held.
Image of the reservation process for Brooks Camp on recreation.gov - note the start date and group size, which you must specify, in the upper lefthand corner.
Recommended Trip Duration:
2 nights - plenty if you just want to see bears + do some hiking (like Dumpling Mountain, right by camp)
3 nights - plenty if you want to fish the entire stretch of the Brooks River + see bears + do some hiking
4 nights - just enough time to head to the Valley of 10,000 Smokes for an overnight backpack + bears + fishing
After Making Camping Reservations:
Make travel arrangements from King Salmon, the closest major airport to Brooks Camp. There are two options: a) floatplane or b) water taxi. Unless you dislike flying, would recommend you take advantage of the opportunity to fly in a small bush plane. Prices are similar, and name one thing more Alaskan! Katmai Air offers roundtrip flights from King Salmon to Brooks Camp for $450. Katmai Water Taxi Services offers roundtrip boat rides for $330. Both flights and water taxis fill up, so do not delay making these plans. One-way flights and water taxis are available if you would like to mix and match flight/water taxi times, but you must call to reserve.
Book Alaska Airlines flights from Anchorage to King Salmon. The cheapest way to book is using Alaska Airlines miles. If you do not yet have an Alaska Airlines credit card, the signup bonus includes enough miles to cover a roundtrip from Anchorage to King Salmon and could even cover part of your flights from the Lower 48 to Anchorage. Flights between Anchorage and King Salmon generally are not completely full. So you can wait to book. Would suggest, however, you check that King Salmon flight times are agreeable with your preferred floatplane/water taxi times.
If needed, book accommodations in King Salmon. Only if you need to stay a night in King Salmon on either end of your journey. Bear Trail Cabins is one option. Lodging in King Salmon fills up quickly, so do not wait on this.
Make arrangements for fishing guides or Valley of 10,000 Smokes. Brooks Lodge offers amenities to Brooks Camp(ers). If you are a competent fly angler, the Brooks River offers plenty of fishy holes, easy wading at normal flows, and stupid good trout fishing. Brooks Lodge has a small fly shop, but I would suggest you bring flies and tackle from a local Anchorage fly shop (like Mountain View Sports or Mossy’s). Brooks Lodge offers guided fishing if you would rather learn from an expert. Another offering is transportation to the Valley of 10,000 Smokes. A bus makes one day trip daily and is available for drop off and pickup if you desire to camp or backpack. Guide services and the bus to the Valley of 10,000 Smokes will fill up for peak Katmai dates. Call or email Brooks Lodge to arrange.
Miscellaneous Travel Tips:
The bar at Brooks Lodge is a helluva watering hole.
Brooks Lodge offers daily breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Expensive but worth it to take a break from camping meals.
Showers are available at the lodge.
Floatplanes have a weight limit per person, so weigh your gear to avoid surprise overweight charges.
There is no cell service in Katmai, so bring some walkie talkies.
If Your Travel Party Changes:
As mentioned, you can change the names listed on the Brooks Camp permit at any time. But if the permit holder herself can no longer make it, you should be more careful. Katmai NP rangers have been relaxed, in the past, about letting you update names of who is going without the permit holder being present. This is how you could to transfer to a friend while retaining the original reservation through recreation.gov. Call ranger station ahead of time to confirm just to be safe. Can also just cancel on Recreation.gov for a partial refund. You will make the day of the next person who stumbles upon available dates online.
Interested in adopting an (image of an) Alaskan brown bear? Prints are available in the print shop, including Tim’s favorite images from Brooks Falls available as stationery.
A rare litter of four brown bear cubs at Katmai National Park, Alaska