micheal_kelly

Pal, Although Denali is close to Fairbanks you won't find the bears fishing there any time, they live off of berries and squirrels. The transportation charges to get to bears that feed on salmon is going to be high starting from Fairbanks. My favorite place to photograph bears is Pack Creek in Southeast Alaska. You would have to get to Juneau first. Then to charter the local float plane to get to Pack Creek is about $400 usd for the plane which can hold your complete party of 3. The permits to visit are difficult to get but if you are flexible on the time you might be able to get them. They cost $50 per person, from the U.S. Forest Service office in Juneau. You can also use a guiding company like www.akdiscovery.com to get there. Maybe you can plan a stop-over in Juneau on your flight to or from Fairbanks. Katmai is a great place to photograph bears also but it is indeed expensive to get out there. Have a great trip.

There is much more to Katmai than the bears. The park was originally created for the volcanic interest rather than the bears. The sculpted canyons created by the weathering of the pumice beds is a great landscape subject. There are no longer any "smokes" but it is still a great place to visit. The eruption was bigger than Krakatoa and the ash fell in Seattle more than 1000 miles any.

 

The airfare is high and your quote sounds normal. Be aware that there a LOT of bears in Brooks camp. I am not trying to scare you away but you need to be prepared. The bears are not just at the falls but all through camp. They have more rangers than I have seen anywhere just to do bear traffic duty. You must follow good bear etiquette and keep yourself and your sleeping gear clean of food smells. Put your food away at night in the food lockers. There will be bears walking through the campground at day and night.

 

Don't get any DEET on your gear, I wouldn't put it on you either it can cause brain damage, it is nasty stuff and will eat plastics.

 

Bring a head net. If you decide to camp out on away from Brooks camp be cautious about crossing streams many are deep and they fill rapidly during rains, they lose people due to drowning.

 

KATMAI is a very special place and you will have a terrific time.

Lila,

 

Thanks for your comments. I too have been told by a Staff member at Glacier Bay National Park that I must pay a $100 fee to take pictures in the park even if I am only hoping to write an article and submit photo's. I was polite but after I hung up the phone I got more and more angry, that I was impacting the resource no more than anyone else yet I was being discriminated against.

 

In light of your comments it seems the staffer was wrong and there was no need for me to get angry. But I took her for her word. How many people have been charged, incorrectly?

 

There is no excuse to not follow the rules. Also your clarification about the use of models and props etc requiring a permit makes perfect sense. But there are enough folks here on Photo.net, yourself included, that have been incorrectly informed that restrictions apply to their photography activities in the NPS system that in fact do not apply that it appears the Park Service has a problem instructing their employees as to the correct application of the law.

 

It is certainly our responsibilty to be civil and to respect those trying to protect our natural resources. But anyone in authority has a big responsibilty to CORRECTLY interpret and apply the laws. I think you can understand how some folks would get testy if told incorrectly that they needed persmission or a $100 fee to take pictures.

 

Cheers