If I Were Going...: Silver Salmon Creek Lodge: Bear Paradise

The beach in front of Silver Salmon Creek Lodge

After years of trying to rebook a stay at Silver Salmon Creek Lodge (SSCL) for some premium Brown Bear viewing, we were finally on our way back.

On our way!

The Lodge, which sits on the western shores of Cook Inlet, offers "fully catered" stays in various sizes of cabins. The (rather pricey but worth it) stay includes transportation to the Lodge, Bear viewing led by experienced guides and delicious gourmet meals. SSCL also offers remote tent camping, but I prefer the hot showers and freedom from dragging lots of gear around.

Reachable only by plane or boat

Although located inside Lake Clark National Park, the Lodge is on 40 acres of private “in-holding” land. That means that the property was owned before the Park was established and is now grandfathered in.

Owners David and Joanne Coray are excellent hosts. David moved to Alaska in 1952 with his schoolteacher parents when he was just one year old. His family lived in the bush until his father died in a plane crash (it is hard to find an Alaskan family where someone didn’t die in a plane crash, fishing accident or other tragedy).

David, Joanne and Oliver Coray

Then, he moved to the Kenai Peninsula, where he graduated from high school. He studied psychology at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks and worked several years at a group home for troubled adolescents before buying and renaming the Lodge in 1983. Over the years, he has enlarged and improved it.

Joanne met David when she brought her mother to the Lodge in 1991 for a fishing trip. She had just moved to Alaska to work as an ER physician in Soldotna, Homer and Kodiak. Since marrying David, she balances her medical practice with life as a lodge host. Their son, Oliver, is a wilderness guide.

This was our third trip to SSCL. The first was a two-night visit in 2015 at the very end of the season.

That visit was during a Salmon run

The second was in June 2022 on a fly-in adventure that landed by the Lodge, but was not associated with the Lodge.

Scott at Silver Salmon Creek, 2022

This visit would be a three-night stay! Even more time for Bears.

Getting There

The first time we went, we flew in from Soldotna, a very short trip. This was also when we learned that SSCL has no airstrip: just a nice flat beach great for small wheeled plane landings.

Unloading our sweet ride

Therefore, the tides dictate the flight schedule. Tides also impact bear viewing; I’ll get to that later.

This time, we flew from Anchorage, which takes about an hour. I highly recommend this route. The view from the plane on the way was spectacular. We saw …

The mudflats at the top of Cook Inlet ...

... Beluga Whales swimming in the Inlet (I couldn't get a photo) ...

... Mount Redoubt, one of Alaska’s 90 active volcanoes ...

... offshore oil rigs ...

... and, the stunning coast of Lake Clark National Park

The Lodge

SSCL is situated where Silver Salmon Creek flows across the wide, flat beach into the ocean. Bears gather there to eat the Salmon swimming upstream to spawn.

Before and between Salmon runs, the Bears feed on the luxurious sedge grass that grows between the beach and the Lodge.

Sometimes they graze like cattle

Plus, the Bears feed on razor clams that they dig up on the tidal flats.

Clamming

The Lodge tries as much as possible to take advantage of the natural resources available to them. The employees pick spruce nibs for cooking and dig clams, competing with each other for the biggest haul. They told us that clamming was a favorite work assignment. We didn’t see them digging, but I did watch as they were cleaning and prepping the large clams on the back deck. They said that, because the clams are so large, they require lots of soaking and rinsing to remove all the sand.

This is NOT a favorite chore

We had yummy razor clam chowder for lunch the day we arrived and a fresh Salmon a staff member had caught the final night.

The cabins vary in size (and, I suspect ambiance, although I have been in only one). I am not sure, but I think they added more cabins since our first visit.

This cabin looks new

We had the same cabin in 2023 that we had in 2015. I don’t know if that was a coincidence or part of the special charm of the place. But, we really liked Halibut Hut, a cozy little cabin that faces the ocean and is a favorite teething spot for the local Bears.

Halibut Hut and the Bears from the porch

The main Lodge has an upstairs room where meals are served and a downstairs area with a warm cookstove where meetings are held and folks hang out.

Scott heading to the main Lodge

The first time we visited, parts of the Lodge had already closed for the season. This time, with everything in full swing, we also got to visit the Wheelhouse, where cocktails and hors d’oeuvres are served each afternoon.

The Wheelhouse

It’s not unusual to see Bears walk across the open area between the cabins and the main building. But, the Lodge isn’t the point. It’s the Bears!

The Guides

As I mentioned, part of the experience is professional Bear guides. They take you around the property on an ATV or guided walk.

ATV access; that's our guide, Dave, driving on the right

I suppose you could find Bears on your own, but the guide helps keep you safe (or make you feel like you're safe) and ensures that you respect the Bears. Plus, the guides are extremely knowledgeable about Bears, Bear behavior and tidal action (important or you could get stranded).

This will be under water in a few hours

And, they are brave enough to drive those ATVs over hills and through Silver Salmon Creek.

Water fills the ATVs when you cross (we all wore rubber boots)

In addition to having the same cabin as 2015, we also had the same guide, Dave. He was delightful, helpful and lots of fun on both visits. As a fellow photographer, he is also sensitive to a photographer’s needs.

Dave, Scott and two fellow travelers

The Lodge also offers guided lake and stream fishing, Halibut fishing and Puffin tours during the appropriate seasons. Scott fished the first time we visited, but not this time (there weren’t many fish yet). We did go on a fabulous Puffin tour, which I will discuss in a later post.

The Bears

But, what about the Bears?

They were fabulous and none were more engaging than Crimped Ear and her two new cubs.

Finally, after years of looking I got to see some first-year cubs!

We spent so much time with them that they deserve their own post. So, I’ll talk about the other Bears here and that cute trio later.

Almost as soon as we arrived we saw Bears on the beach digging for razor clams.

A nice welcome

Dave told us that different Bears have different clamming techniques. They all use their forearms and long claws to dig deep, deep into the sand to find the clams.

Digging uses the Bear’s huge shoulder muscles that create the characteristic hump

Razor clams are more mobile than other types of clams, so the Bears have to work quickly and precisely or the clams will get away.

Once the Bear catches a clam, it pulls it up to eat. Some delicately pry open the shells and just eat the meat; some consume the shells and all.

Picking out the meat with those enormous claws

They work quickly while the tide is out, eating hundreds of clams and leaving shells strewn across the beach. It takes a lot of the 60-calorie clams to power a 500+ lb. Bear.

Mothers share their catch with their cubs, but also teach the babies to dig for themselves.

Learning young to fend for itself

Bears use the Beach for other activities, including …

Running

Romancing

Scavenging (that Flounder looked ripe!)

Strolling

Playing around, which is common among young Bears

These two may have been the youngsters we saw in 2022 playing on the same beach The horseplay can involve sparring or just a stand-off ...

Dave said these guys play all the time

Once the tide comes in the Bears leave the beach ...

Heading back to the field

... and move back to the field of sedge grass where they munch and nap.

A favorite treat

Little Davy and his mom

The Bears that come to SSCL are, for the most part, regulars. The guides know them and they know that the visitors are not a threat.

The staff has named some and not named others. One peculiar naming situation is Little Davy and his mom. The cub (two-year-old when we visited) is randomly named Little Davy. Dave couldn't say why or who big Davy was. His mom has no name.

Why she doesn’t get a name is also a mystery

I already mentioned Crimped Ear, so named because her ear curls slightly.

It's not that noticeable

One of the big boars is called Cub-Killer. I won’t elaborate there.

This is a big boar; I am not sure if he's Cub-Killer, though

We spent almost our entire time at SSCL on Bear “hunts,” moving from the beach to the fields and back again as the Bears moved about. We had some great time with Little Davy and his mom, who would probably be “releasing” him soon so that he can begin life as a grown-up Bear.

They stuck together

At the end of our visit, we found that a big boar (Cub-Killer?) had chased Little Davy up a tree and was camped at the bottom preventing him from getting down.

Little Davy and his tormentor sleeping below

Mom was lurking nearby, but didn’t have a way to rescue him. I don’t know how the issue resolved. It is possible that Little Davy finally got hungry and climbed down to be met by the watchful boar and a possible fatal outcome. It is possible that the boar gave up and wandered off. It is possible that this event triggered release from mom.

I hope he was OK

Dave told us that it is common for cubs, their moms and young Bears to climb trees at SSCL to avoid boars. I had always been told that Brown Bears don’t climb trees.

I assure you they do

Among the many things we had fun trying to photograph was the several times we saw Bears cross the many sloughs that traverse the wide grassy plain between the beach and the Lodge.

It's a wet environment

It was always a matter of angle and timing. One of our fellow visitors who was paired with us as one of Dave’s charges, missed every time.

I nailed it!

When people see my Bear photos many express discomfort with the proximity we have to these bruins.

This is not cropped!

Are the Bears dangerous?

This guy's wound attests to their ferocity

I have been MUCH closer than this

Yes and no.

The Brown Bears at Silver Salmon Creek, some of which are huge, are busy gorging themselves. In the spring, they eat to overcome weight loss during their winter's sleep and in the late summer, they eat to bulk up for winter. They are so focused on food that they really don't seem to care about the people watching them.

Plus, since Bears are territorial and creatures of habit, most of the ones you see at Silver Salmon Creek are "regulars" ...

... so they are used to humans ...

They are still curious (that's Scott's green bag)

And, that makes SSCL a great place for Bear viewing. According to the SSCL website, fully half of the people who visit SSCL come back. That’s how good it is.