Ask a merganser & they can tell you, being a mom is hard work. Mergansers know it can take a village to raise their offspring, & they will share nests & chick rearing to spread the work around.
Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, caregivers, & mother figures.

NPS photo/B. Lutes

🎶Maybe she's born with it, maybe it's evidence of a healthy river ecosystem🎶

Sow 128 is no stranger to the keystone species of Sockeye Salmon.

NPS photo/N. Boak

“Bursts of gold on lavender melting into saffron. It's the time of day when the sky looks like it has been spray-painted by a graffiti artist.”
― Mia Kirshner, I Live Here

NPS Photo/K. Mahoney

Park staff aren't the only folks arriving in Brooks Camp this spring.

The Katmai maintenance team are already in camp preparing for the summer season.

Today one of the maintenance rangers captured a photo of this mystery bear inspecting the riverbank.

NPS photo/D. Derby

'Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true'

-When You Wish Upon a Star, Cliff Edwards.

NPS Photo

Weekend hair 🤚 don't care.

Maybe you are coming out of a long winters rest, or maybe just a long work week, either way, embrace the quaff.

NPS photo/R. Taylor

Geological mysteries are the best mysteries.
Katmai is home to the Savanoski Crater, a circular formation whose origins remain a mystery. One theory is that it was formed by a meteorite impact. Another is that it's a maar of a long forgotten failed volcano.
NPS photo/ K. Critz

'The sun shines brightest on Fridays because it knows that the weekend is here.'
-Anthony T. Hicks

NPS photo/J. Koster

Did you know that in 1965 and 1966, NASA travelled to the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes for astronaut training.

Learn more here: ow.ly/PaGL50QUvpO

Photo 1: NPS photo/R. Taylor
Photo 2: Courtesy of NASA

“Spring is the time of plans and projects.”
― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Happy Spring Equinox!
Spring still feels a whole lot like winter in Katmai, but spring is right around the corner.

Photo Courtesy Anela Ramos

“The mountains crouched at every horizon like dark sleeping animals, their backs whitened by snow.” - Annie Proulx

Do you embrace the winter or slumber through it like a bear?!

Brooks Camp in winter splendor, by Mark Boles
#annieproulx #winter slumber #winter #winter days

Fun facts!
Did you know porcupines are good swimmers? Their quills are hollow making them act as a natural flotation aid.

Porcupines are the second largest rodent in North America, beavers being the largest, and adults can weigh up to 25 pounds!

Photo courtesy of Maurice Whalen

...and the award for leading sow in a river goes to (drum roll)

SOW 128!!

Some might say she was to 'method' in her performance this year, but you can't deny that her hard work paid off in the end.

Happy awards night!

NPS photo/F. Jimenez.

Another week is in the books. It's time to stroll into the weekend.

Photo courtesy of J. Paluh

What was it like to experience the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century? Read about in Witness.

In Story of a House, archaeologist Don Dumond recounts the discovery, excavation, and reconstruction of a prehistoric home site along Brooks River.

ow.ly/8jbS50QGtVj

The look you give when someone tells you they're just going to 'wing it' for their trip to the park.

It's best to have a back-up plan when visiting Katmai.

Explore 10 tips on how to plan like a ranger by visiting: ow.ly/a7HF50QwuAi

📸NPS N. Boak

Rangifer tarandus granti
Better known as Caribou. Or Reindeer. What exactly is the difference?
Well, that depends. In Europe, these animals are known simply as reindeer. In Alaska & Canada, reindeer is a term only used for these animals if they are semi-domesticated.
NPS photo

1) Moraine Creek and Funnel Creek, also known as Crosswinds.
2) Hallo Bay, a pasture by the sea.
3) Geographic Harbor, a costal retreat.
4) Brooks Camp, home of sow 128, the fat bear champion of 2023.
Learn more here: ow.ly/ptXx50Qwzzx

สู้ สู้ (suu suu!)

Thai word to encourage you to keep going, not give up, & fight on.

Ermines embody the สู้ สู้ spirit.

These little bundles of energy travel nine miles at night, swim, & leap twice their standing height.

NPS image by Theresa Bielawski #สู้สู้ #thailand

“Rest but never quit. Even the sun has a sinking spell each evening. But it always rises the next morning. At sunrise, every soul is born again.” Muhammad Ali

NPS Photo/A. Willingham