Above and Beyond Alaska — Local services in Juneau

What an experience! A truly exceptional day at Pack Creek. Great communication throughout the booking process with Above and Beyond Alaska (which you should plan as far as possible in advance). Once I read about this place, I could not skip the chance to do this with my family and I am so glad we did. Matteus was our guide and was great throughout the trip. We were blessed with beautiful weather in early August and the plane ride in was absolutely breathtaking. Takeoff and landing on the water were smooth as butter. Circling in over Pack Creek at low tide, we spotted a sow and her two cubs on the shoreline digging for clams (our guess). Landing, near shore, we saw another bear in the distance. A short hike to the Pack Creek shoreline viewing station gave us our first glimpse of a sub adult attempting to catch a salmon. Great fun watching her hone her skills and finally catch one. While she was eating, the sow and two cubs starting working their way in from the shore and eventually moved the sub adult off her catch and finished it up. All three made their way into the forest and another sow and cub worked their way in from the now rising tide. At the closest, Matteus told us we were approximately 80-100 yards from the bears in the creek. The bears here at Pack Creek are habituated to humans(you can search for more info on this) - they do see you, but it doesn't seem to affect them - or at least the ones we saw. It's pretty amazing when you think about how close you are able to observe these magnificent creatures in relative safety in the wild. After a couple of hours at the mouth of Pack Creek, we had a light lunch and proceeded to hike into the interior to the Observation station. The trail is well maintained and it was a beautiful hike through the forest. There are some elevation changes over the course of the mile of hiking and if you have any medical issues, they could get exposed here - a mile of hiking with elevation changes will likely feel further than you think on a hot (mid 70s) day. Although we did not see any bears at the observation tower, I still think the hike was worth it. The forest was beautiful and Matteus was great at detailing what we were seeing along the hike. A group that was coming down the trail as we were going up did see the one sow with the single cub we saw earlier - but they had moved on when we came to the reported spot. Later, coming back to the beach to meet the plane - the tide had noticeably risen and the earlier viewing area could not longer be reached by the beach we had traversed. However, we were able to spot a male brown bear (according to Matteus) working his way back into the mouth of the creek where we were earlier and could view him through binoculars. In total, we saw 7-8 bears that day (two from quite a distance) and the rest up close (80-200 or 300 yards or so). It's possible, the bear we saw after landing was the same sub adult we observed fishing later on. We were very fortunate to see what we did see that day and (imho) you have to approach it knowing you may not see any bears on a given day. You will have to decide if that is worth the gamble to you. It was definitely the highlight of our trip. Thankyou everyone at Above and Beyond Alaska who worked to...

this company did a wonderful job for my wife and this week on our Waterfall Creek bear viewing trip from Juneau. starting even before our arrival in Alaska, they were very responsive to my questions and concerns through email, text, and by phone. we were informed with plenty of notice that we may experience a need to reschedule our trip due to weather (which we had prepared for by having a free day both before and after our scheduled trip) and this did occur. fortunately for us our rescheduled day broke with high clouds and warm temps. slightly unfortunately, this brings about low fog, which is a problem for float planes. but our guide, Myles, who also picked us up from our hotel, was right upfront about this issue. so our original delay of thirty minutes eventually became about 3 hours while the fog lifted. they kindly drove us back to the hotel with a plan to repick up for our later departure. then it was finally time to load into the plane. we were provided with rubber boots due to our having to step from the plane into water at the shore on arrival, a place to leave anything we didn't want to have at the viewing site, a nice souvenir water bottle, and hearty snacks/lunch to enjoy in the wild. and rain gear was made available should we want or need-which we didn't. the seaplane is quite an experience especially if you've never had it before. but it provides some really spectacular views of the Alaska wilderness around Juneau, including of Mendenhall Glacier, and the island and waterways on our travel path. We were even able to see a few humpback whales from the air. after about 30 minutes we descended to a beautiful calm bay and disembarked for a 15 minute or so walk (after some snacks) into the viewing site along a river near the base of the falls. the company had a group onsite before we arrived so all total there were about 11 folks with our arrival. before we even set up at the site-where folding seat cushions with backs were provide as we sat on the ground-i was able to see two juvenile (2 yrs old?) brown bears moving after fish in the river. paying us no mind as it was food they were interested in. Myles gave us all the details on how to handle our time at the site and answered all our questions easily and comfortably. a great asset to the company. over the next 4 hours or so we watched the two juveniles, a mom with last years cub, a large solo male(?), and another mother with twin cubs from this year. we were never without a bear to watch the entire time we enjoyed at the site. in my opinion, from start to finish, Above and Beyond Alaska was a first class operation. we booked far in advance and our highest expectations were truly met. weather can't be controlled but these guys handled working around it beautifully so our trip was still a total success. don't hesitate to book with them if bear viewing is on your Juneau...

Our day excursion to the Fortress of the Bears on Admiralty Island with Arthur and Noah was excellent from start to finish. First, we are VERY grateful ABAK moved our day outing from the very rainy and cloudy Monday we had signed up for to a beautiful clear, sunny, and cool Wednesday. Arthur's overview of what to expect and how we should behave, complete with maps and images to clarify, was all one could want and did indeed prepare us well. The float plane trip to Admiralty Island was stunning, and my sister and I got to take turns as "copilots," one on the way out and one on the way back. Two bears were on the beach when we landed, and we were able to watch them in their home throughout the day. Arthur and the ranger who met us explained that they were a courting male and female. Another group had arrived before us. Their behavior likely spooked the male, who seemed intent on getting the female to retreat into the forest, away from us humans. However, the female would have none of that. As the bears passed in front of us on the beach, the male rose up on his hind legs and roared his displeasure. Nevertheless, he followed the female as she made her way down the beach toward Pack Creek.

After the second ranger on duty a bit inland along the creek gave us the okay, we walked down the beach toward Rock Creek. Arthur made sure we noticed the bear footprints in the sand. He also coached us as we quietly turned inland along the creek and joined the second ranger, who had a telescope set up to enhance our viewing. We sat quietly and watched them graze, watched the female take a dip in the creek and then roll in the grasses, and saw the male gradually become more habituated to our presence. They slowly moved across the meadow, grazing as they walked, toward a path into the forest. The male disappeared from view, but the female found a comfortable place in the shade for a nap. After awhile, the male decided he too should come out to find a place near her for a snooze. For awhile, he kept looking our way and grazing. Then he too settled in for a nap, finally ignoring our presence. After watching them sleep for awhile, and also seeing a deer on the other side of the creek, we headed back to the spit where we had started out and had our lunches. After lunch, Arthur and Noah led us to the trail to the observation tower so that we could experience being in the forest, laugh at the sign that the bears had chewed on, and see bear fur in the sap on a tree.

The whole day was magical. I feel extraordinarily blessed to have spent a day with two bears in one of the most beautiful places I have...