Traitors Cove Bear Viewing in Ketchikan booking from $499.00

Traitors Cove Bear Viewing

Overview

Island Wings Air Service is owned and operated by Alaska veteran pilot Michelle Masden, who started flying in 1977 and began her business in Ketchikan in 1993. Island Wings takes the time and makes the effort to help you realize your Alaskan dreams. Share our love of flying through our vast Alaskan wilderness. Experience the freedom of flight over the wild grandeur of the mountains, the islands and the endless sea. In business since 1993, Island Wings takes the time and makes the effort to help you realize your Alaskan dreams. Our focus is the quality of your experience. From the handling of your reservation, to the equipment we operate, to the places we visit; we don't compromise and neither should you. The total time for this tour is 4.25 hours including: the flight, three hours onsite at Traitors Cove Bear Viewing Observatory, and fifteen minutes for the pick-up and drop-off.

City: Ketchikan

Fri 20 Sep

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Starting at $499.00

Make a reservation

Fri 20 Sep

Starting at $499.00

Make a reservation

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What's Included

We operate well maintained six-passenger DeHavilland Beaver floatplanes

Guaranteed window seats for all passengers

Voice activated, noise cancelling headset for each passenger

Interactive narration with your Pilot

Pick-up and drop-off by Island WIngs van from the Ketchikan Visitors Bureau on Cruise Ship Berth 2

US Forest Service Special Use Permit for Bear Viewing within Tongss National Forest

All inclusive tour

Additional Info

Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Please wear layered clothing and comfortable walking shoes.
All passengers MUST provide us a contact phone number when booking or call us at (907) 225-2444 to confirm a tour time.
Passengers travelling via cruise ship MUST provide their cruise ship name to us so that appropriate arrangements can be made.

What To Expect

Tongass National Forest

Between July20th and September 30th you can visit the bear viewing observatory at Traitors Cove. Fly by floatplane along the beautiful waterways of the lush Tongass National Forest across Revillagegedo island to a US Forest Service maintained trail and the Margarete Creek Bear Viewing platform. Bears can be seen plunging into the rushing water to retrieve their meals of wiggling salmon. This is a perfect opportunity to photograph Alaska's real fisherman in action! In addition to bears feeding, you will also see bald eagles picking over the scraps left by the bears and of course, the real stars of the show, the salmon as they battle their way upstream to spawn. Your journey will be accompanied by the Island Wings bear guide who will provide information about the flora and fauna along the way. Combine a short hike, beautiful scenery and a magnificent wildlife experience in one trip. This is a four hour tour that includes a floatplane flight, a one mile drive by van on a US Forest Service road and a short hike along a boardwalk trail to the viewing platform. Be sure to wear comfortable walking shoes and bring plenty of camera batteries! The US Forest Service restricts access to Margarete Observatory by permit. As a result, only small numbers of people have the opportunity to visit this beautiful site, so book early! The four hour Traitors Cove bear viewing tour includes: a thirty minute flight each way and three hours at Traitors Cove. All tours include complimentary ground transportation to and from our dock which adds fifteen minutes to the beginning and the end of your tour. For this four hour tour you will need to budget four and a half hours total time. Season: July 20th through September 30th.

Cancellation Policy

All sales are final. No refund is available for cancellations.

Traveler Photos

Reviews (29)

woolfItaly

Sep 2019

I’ve joined Traitor’s Cove bear viewing with Island Wings company with my family (my parents 65 and 66 years old, and me 36) on 11 September. I have to say that everything was perfect, from the beginning to the end! I’ve written several emails to Shona to have some informations about the tour and what to bring and she always replied me very soon. We arrived early in the morning (8:00 a.m.) at Ketchikan airport. Our tour was scheduled to begin at 10:45 but weather forecast wasn’t good at that time, so Michelle anticipated our tour. We were picked-up by Jensen directly at ferry dock. We discovered that he would be our tour guide for the day. During the short ride from the ferry to the seaplane he gave us some informations about the city. When we arrived we had the opportunity to leave our big bags in the office so we could bring with us only what we needed for the tour. Before getting on the seaplane Michelle and Shone told us to take off some clothing layers because even if outside the weather is cold, on seaplane the temperature are hotter, and if you feel too hot you could suffer of airsickness. And they were absolutely right, keeping only my thermal turtleneck I felt comfortable. It was our family first time on a seaplane, I suffer a little bit of claustrophobia and I was worried of a so small airplane, but I have to say I had no problems at all! First there are very big windows on the plane so you feel like the space is much bigger, second Michelle is a great pilot, the take off and landing was very smooth, much more than on traditional airplanes! The landscape flying to Traitor’s cove and when we arrived was amazing, even if the weather was not so good. After landing we took a van for a short ride to the path that goes to the observatory platform. It looked like being in a fairy wood, it was magical! Jensen was awesome and during our easy walk gave us several informations about plants, berries, mushrooms and obviously bears! At the observatory platform we aren’t lucky, and we don’t see any bear, but several salmons, blu jays and bald eagles. While we were there (there was only my family and Jensen) arrived another group. Finally a bear spotted, at a cascade few steps before the platform. We remained there several minutes, with the other group to watch the bear, but he was lazy and looking around not really convinced to catch a salmon. The first group left, and we remained other minutes to watch the bear and finally che caught the salmon! The other group left too early and haven’t seen the scene. Island Wings is the company that let you remain the longest time in Traitor’s Cove to have more chances to see bears. You have to keep in mind that are wild animals, is not a show with a timetable, so the more time you spend there the more chances you have to see bears! Than we moved with the van in another place were the landscape is absolutely amazing, a postcard one! And there we had the chance to see a mama bear with her two cubs and and another bear catching a salmon!!! At the end we have seen 5 bears in total, and for the period is a good sight. If you want to see more bears you have to go at the beginning of the salmon season, when bears just awoke and are hungry! At September they are quite fat and not very motivated to find other food, but as I’ve said, we have seen 5 bears, not bad! At the end of the tour Jensen showed us a place where to have lunch and brought us there. I suggest Island Wings because they: 1. Let you stay at Traitor’s Cove more time than the other companies, so you have more chances to see bears, and see them in action. 2. Michelle is a wonderful pilot, we always felt safe with her, and during the flight you can talk with her, you have not a recorded voice as happens in other tours. 3. Jensen is an awesome guide, gives you a lot of informations about nature and its inhabitants. Is obvious that he loves his work, he is always enthusiastic when he sights an animal, like us! Thank all Island Wings staff to have made our experience fantastic!!!

443debbiep

Sep 2019

After much research, we booked Island Wings last February for our September,2019 excursion. We had Michelle as our pilot. She was highly professional and she gave us the most amazing flight to Traitor’s Cove. After arriving at Traitor’s Cove, we were met by our guide Jenson.... he took us on a beautiful hike through the Tongas National Forest to an amazing creek where salmon were literally jumping out of the water and happy black bears came in & out having their tummies filled with all they could eat!! It was a magical & surreal tour to be so close to these incredible creatures and see them at home in their natural habitat. It was an experience that we will never forget.... thank you Michelle & Jenson for accommodating our shortened ship schedule so that we didn’t miss our experience!!

Alanahamada

Sep 2019

We jumped off our cruise ship and caught the floatplane from SeaWind Aviation to Traitors Cove and was accompanied by our bear guide who was amazing and knowledgeable. I can’t remember his name but I will post a photo of him, he was awesome, we definitely felt safe. He walked us about 3/4 of a mile through the island, the bears are wild so they can cross your path anytime they would like. When we first started we came across 1 bear near the water at a further distance. When we got the bear viewing platform where the salmon ladder was, there were no bears in sight. The bears aren’t guaranteed, since it’s in the wild they can cruise wherever they like. We sat there for a while waiting, at one point I thought we were going to miss them but finally we had a female come up and catch a fish right in front our eyes. It was so cool to see! Then another black female bear came up and started to feast. This was the coolest thing to watch, they are so smart! We were very happy to choose this excursion.

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