Behind The Scenes At Katmai–The Riffles Platform

A bear and a bird in the riffles downriver

My last “Behind The Scenes At Katmai” post highlighted photographs taken of and from the Lower Platform, just across the floating bridge from Brooks Lodge, in Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

This post shows you photographs taken from the Riffles Platform.  This place is sort of like the middle child of viewing platforms in the park.  Everybody either sees lots of action at the Lower Platform or the more iconic Brooks Falls Platform, so they may tend not to spend as much time at this platform, located just a few hundred yards downriver from Brooks Falls.

Looking upriver toward Brooks Falls

The Riffles Platform received its moniker from the numerous small, shallow rapids (riffles) in front of and to the sides of this viewing area.  Our photo tour leader informed us that this is the area where we would see sows with their cubs because, unless desperate for food, the sows would stay clear of the falls where most of the males staked out spots.  While I was there, I did not see any momma/cub combos – I saw those at the Lower Platform.  What I did see were younger, more inexperienced bears and older bears looking for easier fishing.

To me, the Riffles Platform was analogous to an overflow parking lot at an event venue – when the Brooks Falls Platform got too crowded, people would come on down to this platform.

I didn’t see as much action at this platform as I did the others, but what action I did see yielded some very nice images.

Next post:  The Brooks Falls Platform