Brown Bears of Lake Clark

Trip report - tom bol photo workshops

Lake Clark National Park

Lake Clark is a remote, 4-million-acre Alaskan national park featuring towering, snow-covered volcanoes and some of the world's most pristine brown bear viewing. The coastal brown bears that inhabit the park roam freely through meadows, streams and coastal area.

We fly in small planes from Anchorage to SIlver Salmon Creek Lodge for 4.5 days of bear photography each year. The highlights of this year were photographing cubs and our close proximity to a wide range of bear behavior.

Flying over the Johnson River in a De Havilland Beaver

Cheryl documenting our landing

Jerry and Deb are ready for bear photography

Bears in the Meadows

Abundant salt marsh meadows attract the bears to this area. In mid-June bears are waking up from their winter slumber and arriving at Lake Clark to feast before the salmon runs begin. We line up in the meadows and spend hours watching groups of bears graving on sedges.

Ruger takes us to the bear action in an ATV with a cart

Peaceful bear in a meadow

Cathy setting up on her tripod

Five bears sharing a meadow

Bears on the Tidal Flats

A second vital source of food for bears in June are razor clams. Cook Inlet has the second largest tidal range in North America. Bears come from all over the area to feed during low tides. We had favorable tides each day for our group to join bears on the tidal flats. The bears are so focused on eating that they did not even seem to notice us.

Walking out to the clam beds

Reflections on the tidal flats

Fred and Cathy enjoying the sunny weather

Rainy weather is perfect for high key editing

Bear Cubs

We were lucky to have great access this year to a mother bear and her two second year cubs. One of the favorite shoots of the trip was watching the two cubs box and wrestle in the meadow for a half hour. The mother bear was very careful to keep her bears away from the other adult bears. We followed the trio as they hid in some logs on the beach and kept a watchful eye out for other bears.

Two cubs wrestling in the meadow

Andrew getting a low perspective photo

Resting and watchful

Lily Pad Lake

Lake Clark has 151,000 acres of fresh water lakes and rivers. One of the lakes is right behind our lodge. We took a group out early one morning to photograph the lily pads. We were rewarded with sightings of a Trumpeter Swan taking off several times and a very busy beaver.

Switching lenses on the lake

Trumpeter Swam running on water

Early morning light on the lake

Two Species of Puffin

We took a half day excursion by boat to photograph Horned and Tufted Puffin in flight. The ride out included numerous waterfalls and a dramatic view of Mt Redoubt behind the puffin island. The Tufted Puffin showed up in larger numbers than we have seen in the past.

Both the puffin outing and the trip to the lake gave us a chance to experience more of the variety to be found at Lake Clark.

Photographing puffin in flight

Our puffin island in front of Mt Redoubt Volcano

Chocolate lilies in full bloom

All smiles back on land

A big thank you to all the photographers who joined us in Lake Clark this year!

Bears of Lake Clark 2026

Thanks to our terrific guides from Silver Salmon Creek Lodge, Rob and Ruger

Little Rob and Ruger doing the moose pose

Want to join us on a future bear trip?

Bears of Lake Clark - June 2028 New Session Coming - Join the Interest List

Alaska Black Bears August 7-13, 2028 - 4 Spaces Available - More details