This Remote National Park in Alaska Has a Grizzly Bear Camp — Here’s What It’s Like to Spend the Night

Alaska is known as “The Last Frontier” for good reason: less than one percent of the state is inhabited by people. With a timezone just four hours behind New York, it’s hard to believe that you’re still in America while experiencing the beauty of its remoteness, natural landscape, and of course, its wildlife.

Planning a visit can be daunting because it’s impossible to see everything the state offers in a single trip — especially if you’re looking to spot wildlife. However, expedition companies like Natural Habitat Adventures create experiences for travelers to access areas that are otherwise unreachable. This includes the adventure I embarked on: staying at a grizzly bear camp on the shore of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve.

Natural Habitat Adventures specializes in eco-friendly, small-group nature and wildlife tours all over the world. Partnering with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), its focus is providing immersive experiences in natural habitats, often in remote environments with conservation and sustainability as their priority.

My long yet rewarding journey to get to bear camp started by flying into Anchorage and then taking another flight to Homer, Alaska, where I spent the night. This was followed by a bush plane flight, which only allowed 35 pounds of personal luggage per person, to Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. The 45-minute flight to the national park captures the heart of Alaska in one glimpse — flying over active volcanoes, massive glaciers, and endless views of pine trees.

The bear camp sits on the park’s shoreline within an electric fence, and guests always stay with a guide outside of the campsite. I was greeted by two naturalists, husband and wife Mike and Jessica Morgan, who were my guides for the next four days.

The group was small, with just 13 guests of various ages (there were retirees, too) and backgrounds. No matter what walk of life people came from, the common thread among us was our love for watching grizzly bears in their natural habitat, uninterrupted.

During the three days at bear camp, the daily schedule included breakfast, bear viewing, lunch, bear viewing, dinner, another bear viewing, and slumber. While it sounds repetitive, it didn’t get boring.

Apart from the excitement of seeing bears, there were leisure activities like happy hour and educational presentations woven into the itinerary.

The meals, under the helm of chef Chris Nau, were excellent, with dishes like veggie scramble and pancakes for breakfast, bean chili and sandwiches for lunch, and pork chops for dinner. (A standout dish for me was the salmon dip served as an appetizer.)

The tent accommodations at camp are rugged luxury: a twin-size bed with an emergency toilet (just for liquid excretions) and a space heater for when it gets cold at night. Morgan even prepared rubber water bottles filled with hot water to keep us warm — a thoughtful touch that went a long way. There are two communal private bathrooms with showers, which are very clean.

Arguably the biggest adjustment was that there was no cell phone service on the campgrounds, but this turned out to be a pleasant surprise, as it was the first time in recent memory that I was forced to be in the moment.

Jessica Morgan, who has been a bear guide in Lake Clark National Park for three summers and has worked as an expedition leader for Natural Habitat Adventures for four summers, told Travel + Leisure that Lake Clark is a unique place to see bears.

“Lake Clark provides one of the most intimate bear viewing experiences in the world because of the dense population of bears that congregate due to their food abundance. Their food source of sedges, clams, salmon, and berries is so abundant that as long as they are well-fed, they go about life as normal,” Morgan, who previously worked as a bear guide in Yellowstone National Park and Canada’s polar bear country in Churchill, Manitoba, said.

My first bear spotting was intimidating (because these creatures can run up to 40 mph) and beautiful. The experience felt surreal since I wasn’t at a zoo or in a car, but out and about in a remote national park watching these majestic animals in their territory. My initial fear wore off quickly and transformed into gratitude — I felt so lucky to be there.

For fellow explorers, my advice is to be patient. We saw about eight bears per viewing but on one occasion, I saw around two dozen in a meadow. And on one of our last viewings, I was lucky enough to have a mama bear and cub walk right by me. Had this been my first sighting, I would have been scared but by the time this happened, I was well-informed about their behaviors.

“These bears have multi-generational experience of humans acting in predictable ways (i.e. viewing from the same park sites, walking at a slow and methodical pace, and always avoiding startling a bear),” Morgan said. “The reason we can get close to the bears without being intrusive is because we sit and observe them going about their daily life.”

Seeing these powerful animals up close was one of the most exhilarating moments of my life. And being completely cut off from reality — I didn’t wake up to social media notifications, texts, or news alerts — even if just for a few days, felt as if I was living in a snow globe with big brown bears among the serene backdrop of a meadow with endless mountain ranges. I embarked on this adventure expecting to see bears, but I didn’t expect to find so much peace and tranquility.