Katmai NP: Kinak Bay & Geographic Harbor, June 30

We woke to an alarm … that we set so we had time to get ready for an early Zodiac adventure.

Map showing where the ship parked in Kinak Bay for the first of our two Zodiac adventures today. The second area that we explored was Geographic Harbor, on the map to the southwest.

Our Zodiac slot was in the first group out, at seven AM. And we were lucky. Our guide took us to a small bay, Hidden Harbor, and we spotted a brown bear almost immediately.

First big brown bear, walking along the shore

We watched it walk and swim a bit along the shore for a while, until it disappeared into the shrubs. It disappeared completely. A giant bear became invisible. This made us wonder how many bears were hidden in the vast amount of vegetation that surrounded us.

Hidden Harbor scenery

We moved on and saw another bear! Our gleeful guide called the other Zodiacs so they could see it, too. This one was bigger but farther away than the first. Both bears were fast walkers and almost never stopped or stood still.

Second big brown bear

So, we scooted along the shoreline, enjoying the astounding glacially carved landscape when we saw a beautiful red fox. This guy was skinny, looking for food. Our boat kept pace with the red fox for a while, but then we had to get back to the cruise ship.

Pretty red fox. Ryan, our guide, explained that both foxes and bears like to scavenge shorelines at high tide, seeking any unlucky creatures that washed up with the tide. Sounds yummy. Not.

The fox was harassed by a murder of crows, probably protecting their nests. The fox ignored them, but the humans got a good chuckle.

What a ride! And all of that happened before breakfast.

Similar map as previously, now showing where the cruise ship parked in Geographic Harbor for our next adventure.

Coming into Geographic Harbor on the cruise ship, we saw lots of little, heavily vegetated islands, some with birds on them. Big snow covered mountains in the background.

The little islands disappear with rising tides.
A nearly vertical stream cuts through both rock and vegetation.
This island is for the birds.
Views around the mouth of the harbor, including a small shack for park rangers.
Zodiacs exiting the cruise ship
Rugged terrane
Vertical columnar joints in the rocks
Look at that columnar jointing! Evidence of thick lava flows cooling evenly. The terrane around this area is strongly influenced by the old volcanic layers as well as the 1912 eruption that formed the “Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.”
Abundant waterfalls formed from melting snow frame the harbor.
Snow fields are bright white; the light gray areas are remnants of the thick volcanic ash layer from the 1912 eruption.

Our Zodiac saw some unexpected excitement as we started back. The motor started gasping and stalling, indicating we were out of gas. We had already lost our partner Zodiac, making us isolated, alone on the water. Our driver, Brandon, tried calling other Zodiacs and the cruise ship, but no one answered. He opened up a metal box at the front of the boat and took out a lot of stuff to get to the fuel tanks. After moving the fuel line to a new tank and resetting the valves, he could not restart the motor. Finally, with help from another Zodiac driver, we were on our way back to the ship. Apparently it takes a lot of pumping the bulb in the fuel line to refill it at the motor.

The driver was unhappy.
A Zodiac going at high speed back to the ship, splashing the passengers.
Finally, we saw the cruise ship again.

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