A couple of years ago, my husband and I went to the same area where you will be. The reason was for me to photograph the bears, and my husband’s was to see if he could entice one of the bears to eat me so he could collect my life insurance. Just kidding about the second part of that previous sentence.

My serious response is that I took my Lowepro Photo Hatchback 22L (no longer made, but you can find new ones on Ebay). It has a self-contained waterproof cover that is truly waterproof. It rains a lot where you are going, so waterproof is important. When we went, I carried a Nikon D7200, Nikon D5200, Tamron 150-600, Nikkor 55-300, and a couple of other lenses. Biggest mistake I made while photographing the bears was that I did not have a lens attached to each camera. Just had the 150-600 on the D5200 and left the D7200 and 55-300 (NOT attached to the camera) in the backpack. When at Brook Falls, I missed shots because the 150 end of the 150-600 was too long. It was raining and I wasn’t able to get the D7200 out and put the lens on it. Didn’t make that same mistake on Kodiak.

Something to keep in mind is that you can actually wear a backpack on the front of your body. This would allow you to access the contents without taking it off. If you wanted to go that route, check the arrangement out at home to determine whether or not you can shoot with that configuration.

Have fun! Send photos!
“Mike”

It will be a bit of a bear if you don't! More seriously. I personally find things like camera bags / backpacks to be a very personal thing. Clearly form factor, strength and robustness are important criteria but they apply to the bag and the carrier, so the ideal combination becomes very subjective. It's really a decision process that only you can manage.

Find something that can handle the gear you want, choose good quality brands, don't go cheap, but try to find a good store where you can try some of them on. It would most likely be worth the journey.

After a number of attacks on hikers and campers in Alaska, the Department of Fish & Game released the following advisory:

We advise that outdoorsmen wear noisy little bells on their clothing so as not to startle bears. We also advise outdoorsmen to carry pepper spray with them in case of an encounter with a bear. It is also a good idea to watch out for fresh signs of bear activity.

Outdoorsmen should recognize the difference between Black Bear and Grizzly Bear droppings. Black bear droppings are smaller and contain lots of berries and squirrel fur. Grizzly bear droppings have little bells in it and smell like pepper.

As I think I mentioned in my original post, I'll be taking two cameras with lenses attached; Canon 80D w/Sigma 150-600, Fuji X-T2 w/Fuji 18-135. That covers a pretty good range. Also, I've spent quite a bit of time researching backpacks and found a couple that have a waist strap as well as the shoulder straps plus they open at the rear. So, you take your arms out of the shoulder straps, swivel the whole thing around in front of you, lay it forward and open the back to get to the gear. A bit involved, but seemingly effective. At least the mfr videos make it look that way. I'm going to order one from B&H to try.

I'll be spending time in Alaska's Kenai Peninsula this summer photographing brown bears during the salmon run. I plan to take to take two camera bodies with lenses and CPLs already attached (Fuji X-T2 w/18-135 & Canon 80D w/Sigma 150-600). The environmental conditions will not be conducive to changing lenses or putting a bag or backpack down to swap cameras or access other gear since it's very wet in most areas. So, I'm looking for a bag or backpack that will give me the ability to store and swap the two cameras without setting it down while hiking and shooting. Suggestions?