Three summers ago, four of us went to Brooks Falls, in the Katmai Nat'l Park up in Alaska to fish for Sockeye and whatever else we could scare up. It was just the beginning of Sockeye season, so the bears were just beginning to show up. We weren't there 15 minutes when we saw our first Brown Bears and they were a common sight throughout our 5-day stay.

Down where the lodge is, there were mostly Sows with cubs and juvinile bears. Up at the falls, in the prime spots is where the big boys hung out and there were some pretty big bears up there. Some of them old, shaggy and scarred up, some of them in really prime shape.

The most memorable encounter was fishing our way downstream from just (a reasonable distance) below the falls. We were fishing for rainbow, as the salmon hadn't worked their way up to the falls in mass numbers. I was starting to have some luck on some nice rainbows and I, too, fell behind my three friends. I got to a spot in the river where it made a curve to the left against a high, read that unclimbable, bank. At this point, a lone juvinile came to the riverbank from the flat side of the river, about 50 yards upstrem from me. I made some noise and it looked like it saw me. I started moving down stream.

The bear started moving downstream along the low bank. I moved downstream, but the bear moved a little faster and pretty soon, it was uncomfortably close. I moved with a bit more purpose and would have liked to cross the stream, but had to go down stream to get past the high bank. As I was angling down stream to get to where I could get out on the other side, the bear came up even with me on the bank. The river is not a big one. The bear was about 50 feet away at this point.

I came to a little dry gravel bar and got out on it, deviding my attention between the bear and where I needed to go. The bear headed toward the gravel bar. I got to the end of the gravel bar and the bear came to the other end, where I had just been; now, it was only about 30 feet from me. And it was only looking at me.

I didn't know quite what to do at that point. I couldn't go anywhere fast. I didn't want to turn and start crashing through the water, but I didn't like standing there that much either. I raised my jacket up over my head and tried to look big, but the bear wan't too impressed. It just kind of kept looking at me, moving its head left and right.

The next thing I knew, the bear just took a lope or two and was within about 10 feet of me before I could either sh!t or go blind and then it stood up. It seem about 12 feet tall (even though pictures taken later prove it to be small, compared with the adult bears). I actually felt my knees get weak. It had these pig-looking eyes and it just kept looking at me and wobbling its head.

I had no other choice than just to back up into the water. That's what I did, trying to keep one eye where my next foot would go and one eye on the bear, but not looking it right in the eyes.

I remember how lucky I felt that the bear didn't immediately follow me. It finally went back down on all fours and stared and waved its head. Once I got about 50 feet away, it started shadowing me again, both in the river and along the bank. I was making pretty good time downstream now. But the bear just kind of stayed about the same distance.

I finally caught up with my friends who had seen most of this happen from about 100 yards down stream. When we all got together in a bunch, the bear started across the river toward all of us and really got close to one of my friend's father, who is about 68 years old.
Since I now had the opportunity, I was the farthest away I could get.

Finally the bear just recrossed the stream and wandered off into the bushes.

That was about as much bear as I want to see. Brooks Falls really is remarkable. The bears are everywhere. They all seem to fish differently. Some swat at the fish, some snorkle for them, others run full speed downstream and then pounce. That is something to see - a big bear crashing down stream, chasing a huge school of salmon. The big adults at the falls stand on the rocks with all that water rushing around them and catch jumping salmon in their mouths. You can watch the mother bears trying to teach the cubs and the cubs at various stages of development starting to try to catch fish. Not all bears are real good at catching fish. But some of them are very good.

There is no real strict control over you on the river. You have to go to a class and learn how to behave. You're supposed to stay 50 yards away from single bears and 100 yards away from Moms with cubs. But they can sneak up on you even when you are being as observant as you can be and still fish.

They can be a real pain when you are trying to fish. Sometimes you can fish for a good long time without being interrupted, sometimes there seems to be bears coming around every time you get a fish on. The bears have the right-of-way and you just have to break your fish off and back away until they move on.

I think the lodge has been open since the 50's and they've never had a real incident. Mostly, its the same bears and their descendants year after year. The adult bears mind their own business. Its the juviniles, like the one that shadowed me, that might get their curiosity up about you.

You really have to be aware of the bears all the time. One morning, we were just getting out of our cabin. We went out the door, turned left and there was a big old bear, right up on the porch. The rangers will chase the bears off the porch, but almost any other time, even if the bears are blocking you from getting to your plane to leave, you just have to wait until the bears move off. It's a remarkable experience!