BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

Make sure you can outrun him!

62sprk Loc: Illinois

Tell your friend to travel by the train system. My family and I went 3 years ago, in July, it was the most talked about experience of the trip. We flew in to Fairbanks and traveled to Anchorage over a weeks time. AWESOME!!

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

He has to time his trip with the salmon run - I think late June or early July. He should check with the flight service he is going to use. He may be flying out of Homer - homer is a nice little town to spend a few days in. He could go halibut fishing or sea kayaking if he is interested in those things. We did that, then spent a few days in Seward, and then went to Denali for three days. It is a fantastic place!

fourg1b2006 Loc: Long Island New York

Sounds like it will be exciting.

MarciaES

We went to Alaska in June 2016. Great weather! Be sure to take the Tundra Wilderness Tour up to Denali. We saw lots of animals (eagles, bear, etc.) and had 3 straight days of no clouds. Since it was such great weather the bus driver took us to the other side of Denali and it's even more spectacular than what you usually see! I realize we were very fortunate to have weather like that.

Bultaco Loc: Aiken, SC

I've been to Katmia twice in July. I'd suggest a mono pod and a 150-600 lens shooting from the deck at the falls. It's an amazing place. It's about a mile walk from the plane to the falls.

TGanner Loc: Haines, Alaska

Haines in Southeast Alaska is the undiscovered country, and the Alaska of most folks' dreams. www.TimeNSpace.net

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

I was in Anchorage in June. Some mosquitoes in Earthquake Park, but otherwise not an issue. The weather was great. The light all day was a little hard to get used to.

LessN2 Loc: Texas

If your friend wants to see bears in the rivers catching salmon, he will have to find out when the salmon are expected to make their run upstream!
We were up there this year from 21 July - 4 Aug. Weather was perfect. Our day in Denali was overcast, and a few sprinkles of rain. Worked out perfect for seeing Moose, Grizzly Bears (12 total), most had cubs and a few singles. We saw a boat load of caribou and dall sheep.
The salmon were starting their run and bears had been reported to be headed to the rivers.
We couldn't see Mt Denali while in the park, too many clouds. When we got to Talkeetna, the Mt was still covered, but later in the day/evening we saw nearly totality. Less than 30% of the visitors see totality, it quickly became covered in clouds again. They say it makes it's own weather due to the 20,320' elevation.

thomseninc

Your photographer friend needs to do some research. If he is interested in seeing bears fishing for salmon the time window is fairly short. I believe they only run for about a three week period, sometime in July. Don't trust my response (or most others here on the Hog) - do some more serious research to get the real story. You can watch live video of Brooks Falls here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5mu_febWXg. There were a few bears in the river when I just checked (and a few salmon jumping), but nowhere near the level of activity as two months ago. Good luck.

Blaster34 Loc: Florida Treasure Coast

Was just there for 10 days this last May, traveled from Seward, Whittier to Denali and many points in between. Weather was cold, wet but the animals were amazing, they were everywhere. You name it, we saw it...moose, bears (Black/Grisly), sheep, caribou, eagles, ptarmigans and many others. Sister visited in late July/August a year of so ago and didn't have as much luck with seeing wildlife. We were told and found out weather can be very unpredictable May through June but wildlife was extremely abundant. From a beautiful day in Denali to a snow storm in Alyeska in the south, had to be prepared. Scheduling another trip back when Moose have their antlers, likely September or later but would go back in May, early June in a heartbeat. Make sure your friend takes camera protection gear, weather can change in an instant. Its an extremely beautiful and wild country...so much to see, it can't be done on a whim, need to plan, plan, plan

Blaster34 Loc: Florida Treasure Coast

Yes you were lucky, we were there at the end of May, first of June this year and we had rain, rain, rain interspersed with a few hours of sunlight daily, although on our Denali trip the weather was quite nice but mountains were covered the entire day. You are right, animas everywhere in May/June

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

Just to clarify a point regarding weather, 2017 has been the worst summer, weatherwise, that we’ve had in years. Typically, the weather is best in June. Just not this year.

Blaster34 Loc: Florida Treasure Coast

Thanks, looks like I'll have to give it another whirl next May/June, thanks

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

Hi, I did this trip last September, very late in the season, at Katmai National Park. By late September most of the fish have passed through the falls so not much chance of getting those "hey, I got that fish" shots of the bears in the falls, but absolutely no one else there but us. The difference with this trip, led by Carl Donohue of Alaska Expeditions, was that we spent five days in the water in full length waders moving around with the bears, who were all very busy eating what Salmon was left. We camped in the campground in tents, very cold and the hot water was not available as we were the last people there for the season and the camp was shutting down. I got wonderful bear shots and it was truly the experience of a lifetime...loved every minute of it, even when I fell into the water and almost dumped all my equipment, “only the Tamron 150-600 lens on the tripod at the time was affected and I had a second long lens along on the trip. Always be prepared. I believe that no one else does this kind of trip but Carl. Of course, there are lodges to stay in (Brooks Lodge is one) and you can go earlier in the season to try for that classic bear catching the fish shot. After the first day I did not bring the tripod any longer, just shot with the 80-400 handheld and sometimes a teleconverter on it. Worked out fine for me. The people with me, all men, did lug their tripods along as well as very high-end fixed long lenses, although by the last day we were all hand-holding our gear. If he stays in a lodge he will be confined to photographing from the two platforms and the roadway/trail (Brooks Falls Trail), and there are many bears in the road at times. One platform (Riffles Platform) looks over the larger mouth of the river and one looks over the falls (Falls Platform). The shooting area is very limited and I've heard very crowded at Brooks Falls during the peak season. There was a lot of water last year to wade into and around in! I've included a couple of pics so you can show him a few things. It all depends on what kind of trip you want to have. I'd recommend this trip if you are adventuresome, daring, and not too finicky about things....the food was fantastic: I wanted to take the cook home so I could eat good there, too. Two of the guys on this trip are going again this year, may be there right now in fact.

Campground area


Our group in the water


A fairly close up bear


Me, wading through waist deep water with gear