Alaska Uncovered Podcast
Welcome to the Alaska Uncovered Podcast with your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming. Jennie brings you accurate, helpful and entertaining information about Alaska Travel and Life in Alaska. Guests include Alaska travel experts and Alaska business owners, guides and interesting Alaskans. Jennie is a born and raised Seattleite, a former Alaskan and spends several weeks in Alaska each year. She’s an experienced guide and the Founder of the Alaska and Washington travel website, Top Left Adventures. Jennie is joined by occasional co-host, Jay Flaming, her husband for more than 20 years. Jennie and Jay met working in tourism in Skagway, Alaska and also lived in Juneau and Fairbanks together. Jay lived in Fairbanks for 8 years before meeting Jennie in Skagway and grew up in Yellowstone National Park.
Alaska Uncovered Podcast
Amazing Bear viewing options that are not Katmai and Brooks Falls with Rust’s Flying Service
Cole Chambers from Rust’s Flying Service joins Jennie to talk about three fly in bear viewing options that are not at Brooks Falls, but just as amazing and maybe better. Of course we talk about Katmai and Brooks Falls a bit too.
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Jennie, welcome to the Alaska uncovered podcast with me, your host, Jennie Thwing, Flaming, my occasional co host and full time husband, Jay and I bring you accurate, helpful and entertaining information about Alaska, travel and life in Alaska. Before we start the episode, we would like to thank our Patreon members for making this podcast possible. You can join them at the link in the show notes. We are so grateful for your support of independent podcasts. Enjoy the show. Hi everyone. Jennie, here before we jump in today to today's episode, I wanted to let you know some really exciting news. So rust Flying Service and K2 aviation, they are sister companies. Rust provides all kinds of cool flight scene opportunities out of Anchorage and k2 does flight scene in Denali, they are offering listeners of the podcast a discount on their tours, which is so exciting, and I am so excited that you'll get this. So discounts on flight scene are really hard to come by. So this is a really big deal. It is 10% off with a code. So to book, you'll go to the show notes. There's one link for k2 and one for rests, and you follow those. And then when you book your tour, you're going to use the code Alaska uncovered, and I will put that in the show notes as well. So super exciting. Don't miss this great opportunity to get a discount on rusts and K2 all right, here's the show.
Jennie Flaming:Hello, everybody. Today we are talking about alternatives to bear viewing, or not alternatives to bear viewing, alternative ways of bear viewing that are not at Brooks, falls and cat my National Park, and even though that is an awesome place to see bears. It's the place people know about the most, and there are other options. So over the next like six to eight months, we're gonna have at least two and maybe three episodes like this where we talk about some of the other options. So if new bear viewing ideas sounds good to you, stick around.
Unknown:My guest today is Cole chambers, and Cole has been on the podcast before, back in February, in Episode 54 Cole came on and we talked about flightseeing in Denali National Park, and she works at k2 aviation and Rust's Flying Service, those are sister companies that provide amazing flight scene trips in Alaska and and Cole already shared a little bit of her origin, Alaska origin story in that episode. So we're going to talk about something a little different to warm up today, but go back and listen to that one if you want to hear more about how she got to Alaska and her story in Alaska. So Cole, welcome back to Alaska. Uncovered. Thanks for being here.
Cole:Hi Jennie, thanks so much for having me excited to be back. Yes, it's always so fun to have an excuse to talk to you. All right.
Jennie Flaming:So today, since you already back in February, in that episode where we were talking about Denali, you shared a little bit about your origin story in Alaska, so I thought today it'd be fun to hear about your personal favorite or memorable bear encounter in Alaska?
Cole:You bet so. Living in Alaska for for over 20 years, I've had a few, few and far between. Though there's, you know, people think Alaska and that bears are just maybe all over the place. They're definitely there, but they're they're trying to avoid you at any cost, unless you're on one of the bear tours. So my favorite bear encounter, though, was probably 15 years ago, fishing on the Russian River down on the Kenai Peninsula. And so that is usually June. I worked in the service industry at the time my boyfriend, then now husband, we were working all day, and we're very excited to get down for the salmon run to catch our allotment of salmon for our freezer. Right? And so we drove after work, camped a short while, and got up fairly early in the morning and hiked down to the river. And the way Russian River works is as you wait in line to get into your to your parking lot and your camping spot, and then there's trails head on down to the river, and there's fishing all along it, you find your great little spot, what you think might be a good fishing hole there, and and start casting in. And we're fishing for red salmon, the Russian River reds. And so we had been there maybe an hour, and I'm going to guess it's starting to be about eight in the morning now, maybe an hour. And here comes. We see down the trail this beautiful brown bear that comes down, and we're catching nothing. We're having I'm not having any luck at all. This bear walks into the water, first try, sticks his face in and pulls out this beautiful salmon. And it was at a distance at this point. And you know, we laughed about it, yeah, you know, what a great Fisher, fisherman this, this bear was right? And as we It stayed down there fishing, and it was at a safe distance, so we weren't too worried about it. And then we saw some fellow fishermen coming down, and the bears started to walk towards us. And what had happened is there was another trail on the other side of the other side of the bear, and more people had come down that way. So the bear was really trying to avoid us, yeah, so when it passed by, came down to where, little closer we were. So we kept moving. And then there was a crowd of people. And we knew, well, this is, this is a little bit challenging. There are people on either side of it, so we just decided to go back up to the campground. Well, the bear made that same decision. Oh, here we are in a group now, just two of us, and it followed us all the way up. At one point it got a little too close to us, and we had to turn. And we locked arms, waving our waving our arms up, trying to make ourselves look big and and slowly backing up. And here we are in our waiters and our fishing gear, with our backpacks, right, and trying our run, yeah, right. And it was pretty intense. I remember my husband at one point saying, you keep going. And if I'm going to keep here, waving my arms, you keep going up to the campground, and if I don't come behind you, then get help and come down. And I'm panicking at that point, right? But the bear stopped, and they kind of had a little, a little just staring at each other staring contest, and then my husband was able to back up, and we continued on. We took went to a spot where went to the left, and the bear stopped at that point. Watched us go left, and it went right, and we were never so pleased. Is that right? Oh, man, and I will say the bear was never aggressive towards us. I believe it was just trying to get off the trail at the same time. And because we remain calm and did everything we were supposed to do when you see a bear, everything turned out okay, but I will say that was the closest we ever came in the 20 years, and that we live, that we that we were up there and fishing on the Russian, on the Russian. And I will say that I will now only look for bears on on a bear viewing tour, right?
Jennie Flaming:That's like it, yeah, if you're looking for an an uh unescorted, unsupervised, potentially scary bear encounter, like the Russian River is not a bad spot.
Cole:Yes, yes, they usually coincide pretty good there. We've seen them all along, almost every time we've fished down there. But yeah, closest we've ever, we've ever actually come to one. Oh, man, that yes, I am certain that got your heart rate up. And I feel like, um, you know, if you're listening, it's really important to run from a bear if he didn't know that before.
Unknown:And I think that perhaps wearing waders helps reinforce that point. That's really tricky to run in waiters
Cole:Anyway, yes, you are so right. I don't think we would have been able to do that right. So that helped with doing the right thing.
Unknown:All right. Well, thank you so much, Cole for sharing that story. I feel like that is such an Alaska story.
Cole:You know, at the time, we felt it was a rite of passage. You know, absolutely had our bear encounter and and it turned out, okay, yes, well, I'm very, very glad that I did.
Jennie Flaming:So, we're talking about bear viewing tours, a little more controlled situation, than what you described. Which is, which is great. So first of all, for everybody listening, way back in episode four. So only the fourth episode of this entire podcast in March of 2023 there's an entire episode about visiting Katmai National Park and going to Brooks Falls. So if that is what you're interested in, definitely go back and listen to that episode. It's with a ranger who I met when I was visiting there, and also one of the tours we're going to talk about today, which is the trip that rusts does to Lake Clark is also one that I did an episode about at the end of October. So there are some other episodes where we can go back to more details about some of these things, if you want to. So Cole, can you just talk first of all about the different bear viewing options that rusts offers so based out of Anchorage, for everybody listening like, what? What are they? And then we'll go into a little more detail about some of them.
Cole:Yeah, great. Rusts, as you know, has been around a long time. So Rust's Flying Service, we've been up in operation since 1963 and so over 60 years experience on Lake hood, which is the world's busiest seaplane airport. So with that, we have access being out of Anchorage. We have access to a lot of different directions. And at one point, we realized that we can fly to these amazing bear viewing locations. And so it started with readout Bay, which is one of our six hour tours and starts earlier in the summer. So we offer two departures a day to that location, and that's our only bear viewing tour that's not in a national park, but it is in a nature preserve, yes, a wildlife preserve. So that is the first one we started with. And then, of course, we added Katmai, due to demand. That's what everyone had seen on National Geographic or Discovery Channel. Yep, and, and. And then we started the lake Clark, that you mentioned, Lake Clark, a full day bear viewing, Lake Park, National Park. And then our most recent one that we've added. And I think I say recent, but I think we've, we've been at it about five years now, maybe six years now is Redoubt Bay, and that is at the southern end of Lake Park National Park, and that's another six hour tour. So we have two six hour tours and two about 11, approximately 11 hours.
Jennie Flaming:Okay, so Katmai obviously is amazing. One thing for people listening to know is, like any bear viewing tour, it's important to book really far ahead of time. We'll talk about that more in a few minutes. But especially Katmai because, like Cole was saying, that is in very high demand. So Cole, you only offer Katmai trips for bear viewing in July, right?
Cole:Yes, that's absolutely right. So our bear viewing, we never guarantee bears in any of the locations we go, but we only go to those locations when the bears are most active, yeah, and bears are following the food source, right? And so what we have discovered with cat my is, is that while bear viewing can be there, can be seen there from July, and sometimes into late August, even September, you might have one or two still around, yeah. Prime bear viewing is in July, yeah. So that is when we decide to make that our window for Katmai so that's, you know, 31 days of bear viewing. Occasionally we'll have a trip at the very end of June or at the very beginning of August, but July is the prime time that we head down that direction.
Jennie Flaming:Yep, yep. And how far ahead do those tours book up?
Cole:That's a really great question. So, you know, we've seen the window, as people are booking earlier and earlier every year. It used to be in wood start in January. We're getting a lot of requests already. We've opened sales in October, yeah. So we already have some sold out days for cat my for 2025 Yeah, and some requests for 26 already.
Jennie Flaming:Yes, wow, yeah. So if you're listening and you know you do want to go to Brooks Falls, you really have to get that. Don't wait till January to book that like that totally matches what I've seen Cole even with other companies. there's just such high demand at that time. So, yeah, okay. And, um, so late Clark, again, we you know, I had a in depth episode about going to Lake Clark with you guys, which I'm just gonna say again, was absolutely amazing. Um, what would you say about how far ahead to book that one and what months is that tour offered?
Cole:Yeah, great question. And I'm so thrilled you had a chance to experience the lake Clark National Park bear viewing that that is, I just think, a really beautiful place. And so for that, the window is much larger. We start that tour in August, and it goes to late September, and a lot of times, demand dictates how late the lodge might stay open. We partner with read out Mountain Lodge for that one or and so with that, we sometimes will get requests toward the end of September, and they'll push it a little bit and allow us to keep going, because the bears are still active there. There's just not the demand that late in the season, generally, because, yep, the Alaska summer season is slowing down, right? So, so we really have about two months to offer the lake Clark, and that's at the end of summer.
Jennie Flaming:These first two that we've talked about so far are national parks. So I'm just going to add they're great for people who want to do bear viewing, and who are, you know, chasing national parks. They are longer tours, and that is because of their distance from Anchorage, right, compared to the other two that we're going to talk about in a minute. Is that right?
Cole:Yes and no. So that's a great point. The National Park is a big selling point, and so we do have one of our, one of our six hour tours that's also in the National Park. It's just not in the title. So the Redoubt bay is end of Lake Park, National Park, and is a little bit of a further flight. But I'll go into detail as to why we offer that as a as a two a six hour departure, and offer two a day. So with but Katmai absolutely we are one of the few companies that goes direct to Katmai from Anchorage. Yeah. So one thing I think is important to mention on on any of our tours, it's kind of a dual tour, because you're getting the float plane experience, or the flight seeing experience, yep, and then you're getting the bear viewing experience. And so you're still getting on all of our flights. Everyone has a window seat, everyone has a two way headset to communicate with their pilot, to hear that amazing commentary along the way and ask questions in real time. And Katmai is one of those that really bright and early in the morning, and it's a two and a half to three hour flight each way. Yeah, the scenery is a long way, There's some areas that you can boat over. There's other areas that you're going to fly commercially, to King Salmon and then take a smaller plane, yep, over to King Salmon. But we fly our planes direct to Brooks, falls to Katmai. And then Lake Clark. Lake Clark is about an hour and 10 to 15 minutes each way, and so where both of those tours are 11 to 12 hours, you get a little more time fair viewing at Lake Clark because it's closer as far as the planes go.
Jennie Flaming:Yeah, and I will say that's something I really loved about the lake Clark tour. And talked about that in the in the episode in October, is how much time you have on the ground, to see bears and experience the park like that isn't always something that's available. And I really love that about that tour.
Cole:Yes, me too. Me too. It's always a favorite of mine to be able to go out and spend the entire day there and yeah, really get the time with your guide. It's a it's a really unique experience and a little more, a little more intimate, yep, for sure.
Jennie Flaming:Okay, we're going to take a short break, and when we come back, we're going to talk about some a bit more off the beaten path bear viewing options with Rusts.
Unknown:Hi everyone, Jennie, here. I hope you are enjoying this conversation with Cole. So far, these trips that we're talking about are all so wonderful, and I just wanted to remind you that if you want to book one of these trips, rusts is offering a 10% discount on flight scene, which is a big deal because flight scene is expensive and it's hard to get discounts. So if you want to take advantage of that, head to the show notes. Follow the link to rust or k2 aviation, which is flight scene in Denali, and follow that and then use the code Alaska uncovered, and the code is also in the show notes. Okay, back to the show
Cole:okay. And we are back with Cole Chambers from rust Flying Service, and we're talking about bear viewing options from Anchorage. And we are getting beyond, just Brooks, falls and Katmai and even beyond, Lake Clark to talk about a couple other places as well that you can go bear viewing with Rusts. I feel like for someone who wants a little bit of a shorter day, you know, six hours, like you said, and someone who really wants to focus on bear viewing and kind of where that happens isn't as important, I feel like your other two tours are really great options, so I'd love to talk about those a little bit, and especially the time of year, because I Know those tours kind of build you out to more, a longer season of bear viewing, beyond just the time at at Brooks Falls. So let's talk about that. Which one do you want to start with? You know, let's start with Chinitna bay, because that's what we open our season with. Awesome. Tell us great. Well, so Jennie the bay, again, that's our newest addition to our bear viewing collection. We recognize this location. I think 2018 is when we started. It might have been a little earlier than that, and and we started to look at an alternate tour that might have bears earlier in the season. Yeah. And we knew of this area, and we knew there was a lodge there that was already conducting bear viewing tours. So we reached out to Bear Mountain Lodge, and it's a family owned operation, and and they said, Well, why don't you come on out and check us out? And we there, we formed this amazing bear viewing experience. And so what's really unique about Chinitna is it's located at the southern end of Lake Clark National Park, so you're still getting that national park experience, yep, but it's her only coastal bear viewing where the bears are not relying on a salmon run. And that's why we can start this tour in mid May, because the bears are coming out of hibernation and there's already a food source. So those bears are along the beach, and they are feeding on sedge grasses, those beach grasses right there. They also dig for clams, and they are amazing to watch when they dig those giant claws into the beach, into the sand, and they're able to pull up the clams so quickly, and calories that way. I mean, that is just really, that was really stunning to me. Yeah, and, and so that, that is why we get to start that one, and that's why the bears are there nearly all summer, because, again, they're not waiting for a salmon run, or they don't leave when the salmon runs over, because they still have that food source. Now there is a late run, salmon run that they certainly enjoy, and the bears partake in it. There's a creek that comes down right next to Bear Mountain Lodge, and so we'll get some that bear viewing. Every once in a while, they'll see the bears fishing for salmon as well that. But the sedge grass is in the clays. And so when we're heading down there, that this tour is about an hour and a half by each way. And this is our only tour that's not done in floats. We actually take a wheel plane. And so we have these really big hunter tires, or sand tires, that are going to land on the beach directly in front of Bear Mountain Lodge. Cool. And then upon Yes, very cool. And then upon arrival, we're met by sometimes the owner, sometimes the guy, and they're going to get a brief overview of the day, or the six hours, but they're going to be on the ground three hours, because it's an hour and a half flight each way, yep. And then they're going to get onto a modified mini school bus that they have equipped with four wheel drive, and it's going to travel down the beach to where the bears were most active and so, and that is why we really offer this for two departures a day, because it's they're going to actually travel down and and get to where you're going to view these bears. Yep, and and so with that, it's a little more direct, so we're able to really get some amazing bear viewing in on the three hours on the ground. Yep, and so. And we wanted something that would fit every, nearly every schedule, because not everyone's in Anchorage for a full day. So we wanted that opportunity to be able to offer a way for people to get out and see these magnificent animals. And so with that there, the bears sometimes can be, can be very close up and walk in front of you, maybe, you know, 20 yards, and you'll get some amazing photographs. And sometimes they're a little further out because the tides out, and they're digging for the plants. And so the guides have spotting scopes help for those distant ones. And a lot of times you'll go to multiple stops, you'll get out of the bus, and you're viewing these bears. And then they'll say, Let's travel down the beach and see if we can go to this other location and check this out. So they're really great at at working that the bears are focused on eating, just like all of our bear viewing tours. So they're not paying a lot of attention to us while we're there, but this is another place where there might be a few other planes that have flown in privately, but we're the only ones that Bear Mountain Lodge welcomes and so.
Jennie Flaming:So again, it's that. It's that intimate experience with your small group, yep. And what is the group size for that tour? Yeah?
Cole:that's a great question. So we take, we have two aircraft that we can take, and one of them, and that varies year to year, depending on what we're using for other tours. But one of them is dedicated, is our air van, and so we call it that. We call it the bear van.
Jennie Flaming:I love it,
Cole:so that that we can seat six plus the pilot. And then we'll, we'll take either a De Havilland beaver or to tablet otter, depending on the season. But we do max they, they Lake Clark, there has a does have a max number of people, and that just went to, in fact, last year. And I believe, I believe it's 11 or, I'm sorry, 13. That sounds right. One group, yeah, and so, that's what we take per day. Sometimes we don't early season or later in the season. We don't have that many people going at once, so we may just take one aircraft rather than the other, right? Than actually would have at that point.
Jennie Flaming:Yeah, and you know, I'm glad that you talked about that Cole, because one thing I love to talk about with folks with bear viewing is is Katmai, you know. And I don't want to make it sound like I'm putting down Katmai, because it is a beautiful, incredible place there at Brooks Falls, but it is very busy. You know, sometimes people have to wait quite a while for their turn to get out on the platform, and then there's a ranger that's like, your time is up, you know, you gotta go. And that's one thing that's really cool about some of these other tours, is that that is not really an issue. It's a small group and, you know, it's a more intimate experience, I think, is the word that you used, and I think that's really cool.
Cole:Yeah, I think that's a really good point, because I'm with you, Katmai is incredible. We would never discount it. But yeah, a lot of people don't realize that there are a lot of other options out there, and to have that experience where you know you're you have a guide that's with you, and you're able to ask questions and learn about the bears that you were seeing. A lot of times, these guides have been there, you're after here, and they feel you, you get that, they can say, oh, that, that bear, right? There is siblings with this bear, this mama and cubs over here, yeah, and, and you get kind of a little bit of a history of them, yeah, you can find out what we're seeing, learn more about their food source. Yeah, I just, I like that aspect of it. And I mean, I would never turn down an opportunity to go to Katmai.
Jennie Flaming:I wouldn't either.
Cole:But yeah, other tours, they're really fantastic. And a lot of people, you know, I always say when I when I'm out on the road, and I'm talking about our bear viewing tours, I said, you know, unless you're going to Alaska to view bears, a lot of times it's when your trip is set or your your date, right? Yeah, dictate which tour you're going to go on because, because, again, they follow the food source. And so that's what's available at the time. And we never have anyone come back and say, oh my gosh, that wasn't worth it. That was, yeah, that was, that was amazing. Yeah, there's amazing bear viewing all summer long. Yes, and how late in the season do you go to Jennie Bay? So we go there. And it varies a little bit. We start mid May, and that's so long as we have the runway ready, depending on snow and all of that, especially the first one of the season. But mid May, and then we run that one really through about mid August. And they do see bears a little bit later in the season, and that's something I should mention too. You know, I'm mentioning all the lodges that we work with, if someone really wants an in depth bear view experience and has the time and the means, these are all great lodges to actually look at and book a stay there, yes, as well. And that wouldn't be through us. That would be through the laws directly. But that's another, another way that when people say, Oh, this is all I want to do is see bears. And I always say, yeah, if you have a chance to overnight, you really should do that. Yeah, for sure, absolutely. And you know, I'll just add to you that that lodge partnership that you have is is important for things like being able to pee in an outhouse instead of in a bush.
Jennie Flaming:Yes, very good point. So like, it's awesome to have an awesome guide which you do, which is great, because pilots are amazing and give you a lot of great information. But like, you know, it's wonderful to be on the ground with, like, a person who's really just doing guiding around, bear viewing, you know, it's really cool.
Cole:Is really cool. And and another thing that one another reason we we partner with these, with these lodges, is first off, they have the knowledge. Like you said, you they know those bears. They they've they've studied the bears. They're able to give you great information. But Alaska is also at a point where weather can move in and it doesn't happen. You know, it's happened twice, I think in the whole 11 years I've worked with the company, but these lodges have a space if, for some reason why they moved in and we were not, we decided it wasn't safe to fly back to Anchorage. They would, they would be prepared to welcome our guests and to feed them and to house them. And so that is a big deal. That is a big deal so, and and these are really unique locations, family owned businesses. And it's gives people also a chance to get out in that Alaska that they've envisioned. So before people come to Alaska, they have a mental picture of what it's going to be. And when we pull people, they always say they want to see mountains, wildlife and glaciers. Those are the top three. Generally. And to get out to these locations on the flight down, you're definitely going to see some glaciers, probably there's some volcanoes, amazing mountains. And then you touch down and you're on the beach in front of these remote launches, or on a pontoon boat in front of this with these lodges. And it delivers it is that wilderness that you crave? Yeah, it's really cool.
Jennie Flaming:Yeah, yeah, for sure, I totally agree. Okay, well, cool, last but not least, let's talk about Redoubt.
Cole:Yeah, so, so we have Redoubt Bay bear viewing, and so we partner with readout Bay Lodge on this one, and that's not to be confused with readout Mountain Lodge. Yes, we partner with for our national park tour. I was just gonna mention that, and you beat me to it, like, just heads up, this is a different location. Yeah, it's, yes, it's, sometimes you're just like, oh, wait a minute. What? Which one are you talking about now? So read out Bay is our longest running bear viewing tour. And it's about, it's our shortest flight, so it's 45 minutes each way, but it's, again, out of Anchorage. It doesn't take long to get into the wilderness. And so you the pilot's going to fly down, again, amazing flight, see on the way, and then touch down on Big River lakes. And that's where Redoubt Bay is located. And you you touch down Lake, and you taxi over, and then you see this beautiful lodge nestled up on this embankment, and you realize that's where I'm going to stay for for the duration of this tour. And it's, it's pretty amazing. Yeah, so the the team's going to come down and read our read our aircraft and our planes, and then they're going to meet their guide, have a quick restroom break again. You get to use those very clean facilities there at the lodge and get a safety overview. And then they're going to head out on a covered pontoon boat. And for Redoubt Bay, the bears generally come down to one central location. And so they're going to head over to Wolverine creek that comes down into the into the lake, and bears, there's a Santa run right there, so that's where the bears are feeding. And this tour starts June 1, and it carries also into August, so again, a good portion of the summer. Yep, it's our second one to start in the season. So you've got Chinitna bay in May, and then we start Redoubt Bay in June. Yeah, they've been doing it a long time. They do have overnight guests, so they have built a day lunch to welcome our guests, because lunch was included in this particular tour as well. Nice. So, yeah, we have two departures, so that morning, one goes out, they're gonna do their bear viewing first, and the guides are tremendous. It's really a cool experience too, because there's a salmon there. So you also have a lot of local Alaskans that go out to fish that area, yeah. So it's not going to be watching the bears fish. Well, you're also watching Alaskans fish in the same the same area, yeah, which is really quite cool, yeah. So amazing photography. Whereas we don't see as many bears as we might see in some of the other locations, we generally see them very close up, because of where we can get the pontoon boat and where they're feeding, of course, at a safe distance. But that is some of the some of the photographs we have are just incredible. Yeah. Also, one of the locations that we see both black and brown bear.Black Bear typically earlier in the season, and then Brown Bear move in. But we've got you get, you get that opportunity to see both, because they're both very prevalent in that in that area. Yeah. The other cool thing about, I think that's cool about Redoubt Bay, is they have this area called muskeg. And if people don't know what muskeg is, it's it's almost like a floating landscape. So lichens and mosses that and vines that grow on top of the water, and so they'll take the boat over at times, and guests can take off their shoes and socks and roll up their pant legs and walk on this floating landscape with their guide, and it feels like you're it's very cool. It feels like you're walking on a water bed. And so anyone that books that tour, I always say, Oh, I skip out the muskeg, because it's really, they have a really beautiful spot there. And then there's also, for birders, amazing birds that come through there. They see the occasional moose, that kind of thing, while you're out on the on the river, yeah. So we call it, we call it a Redoubt Bay bear viewing and big river lakes tour, because, again, it's that, people wanting to see Alaska wilderness, and this is a really great spot to do that. So yeah. And then at the completion of their bear viewing, then they'll have a lodge prepared lunch inside the day lodge before flying back to Anchorage. And then our afternoon tour does it the opposite. They'll come and have their blog prepared lunch first, and then go out for bear viewing after lunch.
Jennie Flaming:awesome. That's really cool. And by the way, for those of you listening, I'll put a link, of course, to Rusts in the show notes. One of the cool things that they have on their website, and I really appreciate that you you have this Cole is a calendar view that kind of says, okay, which tours are available in one spot. That's like, which tours are available in which month? Um, which I think is great if you're trying to figure out, like, I'm already committed to my trip on June 10. Okay, what are, what are the options that are available at that time? I think that's super helpful.
Cole:Yeah, that's a really great point. You know, I was just talking to some travel advisors this weekend. I was telling them to check out the calendar. That's your best cheat sheet when you have clients coming, and then to make sure they have time in Anchorage. And so that's another thing that I wanted to mention today. Is if you have a organized tour, perhaps with one of the cruise lines, or you've organized your own land tour or through the Alaska railroad, you want to make sure maybe you come in a day early or stay a day later. Generally, you have enough time to experience the bear viewing, because we'll let people say, I'm coming to a last I really want to bear view, and then we'll look at their itinerary, and they haven't scheduled to come in a day early or stay late, and they have very they don't have a full, you know, six hours to do a tour, or definitely not a full day in Anchorage. And Anchorage is an amazing city. There's so much to see and do as well. Yeah. So even if your tour has a day in Anchorage, a lot of times it's you're going out to, you know, the Heritage Center or the museum, which are you don't want to miss those either. Yeah, so to schedule that extra time in order to be able to do the bear viewing?
Jennie Flaming:Yep, I totally agree with that Cole and my friend Valerie, who I know you also know, because she also helps people plan their trips to Alaska, and she was on the podcast last week, and has also been on it before, at the very beginning. And one of the things that we always joke about is when people say, How many days should I spend in Anchorage? She says, One Day More than you think you want.
Cole:Oh, I love that. I love that.
Jennie Flaming:Me too. I love it because it's like, there, you know, Anchorage is a city, like many other cities in the United States, in many ways, as far as, like, you know, there are stores and restaurants and, um, however, there are. So it's such a fantastic base camp or hub for visiting Alaska. And I think sometimes people really overlook that, um, as far as how, how straightforward it can be to just have some time in Anchorage. Because, like you said, you can go the Alaska Native Heritage Center, you can go to the anchorage museum, but you can also do these really cool wilderness adventures, like Bear viewing or a helicopter tour, or like glacier trekking. You know, all those things are available based out of Anchorage, and it's so straightforward and simple to arrange them that way that?
Cole:Yeah, I totally agree with that. That's a really great point. You know, more and more people, I think, are realizing they can make anchorage a home base for a good portion of their Alaska visit, because we're so centrally located, so but, but given that extra time to be able to explore into and to take part in the bear viewing tours.
Jennie Flaming:absolutely. Well, Cole, before we wrap up today, I would love to know what is a piece of advice that you would like to give to potential visitors who are planning to do bear viewing or hoping to see bears on their trip to Alaska. What do you want people to know?
Cole:a good question there. So, like we said, a book early and yeah and give your time. Give yourself time and encourage in order to to enjoy the experience. One thing I think I should touch on is that we start our bear viewing tours very early in the day, and a lot of times we start those before we've even had time to check the weather for the day. Yeah. And that can be a source of frustration for for guests arriving and there's a delay, but it's because we want to make sure we make the most of the day. Yeah, so we'll get there about an hour earlier than any guests arrive, and we start right away. And the way we start checking, we check the weather in many different ways. So we use satellite imagery. We have webcams stationed throughout Alaska that we use to make sure the flights clear. The flight time is clear to get down there, we talked to the lodges early morning and saying, Hey, how look? What's the what's the cloud coverage? Like, what is it? Is it fogged in, the lake bogged in or that kind of thing. And then we also have pilots that go out and just kind of do a quick flight in the morning and check things out. Yeah. So there's a lot of things that we're doing to ensure that it's going to be a clear flight, a safe flight out there. Because, of course, safety is number one priority always, yes. But there may be delays when you come for your for your bear viewing, or there may be a day that we have you there already and we realize that the weather's not going to cooperate and we have to cancel the tour. Yeah, and so I like to be upfront with with people about that, because we hate it just as much as you do. Yeah, there may be times sitting at our office waiting for that weather update, and just be prepared for that, because we're doing our best to get out there as early as we can and so, and if we have to cancel, we're going to do our best to look and see if there's any other day that we can get you out or or can we, can we go in the afternoon? If there's spots there, there's not always room to reschedule those. And so I think just being I like to set the expectations as far as that goes. Yeah, we've been doing this for 60 years, and we wouldn't still be doing it if we had to cancel all the time, because I don't want to give that impression at all. But I do want people to realize that as they come in, especially for those those morning tours, that we need a little time. And if there is a delay, it's just because we're checking all the boxes, yeah, to get you out there and make sure you have a fantastic day. Yeah?
Jennie Flaming:And you know that is such good advice, really, for any tour that involves flying and going to remote locations is, I think, you know, the goal is for it to be a smooth experience for guests, and so guests don't always see all those things that are happening behind the scenes to ensure a safe and good day. And yeah, I think it's hard because people have to plan really far ahead of time, but then also be flexible in the moment. I know that's really tough, but it is just part of of life with any kind of bear viewing experience or really, any flightseeing experience,
Cole:yeah, yeah, yeah, that's absolutely and, and, you know, we do our best to keep everyone updated. And you know, we're in, we're in. It's people are up very early, and, yeah, their coffee hasn't kicked in yet. And our guests are very patient and they understand. But I just, we like to let people know ahead of time. Yes, that's kind of the system you're going to come in and check in, and then while you're doing that, we're checking all those other things to make sure we're good to go right. Most of the time we get off without a hitch, and no problem, but there could be some delays due to weather.
Jennie Flaming:That's great advice to just be ready for that well, Cole, thank you so much for coming back to the pod and talking about bear viewing today and all this wonderful information. Thank you so much for being here. Jennie, thank you so much for having Me. It's always a great time.
