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

Sat 21 Sep

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Starting at $499.00

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Sat 21 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)

ikedeb

Sep 2019

This was a bucket list trip a long time in planning. Thanks to everyone at Island Wings for making a fantastic magical day! From the numerous emails I sent and promptly answered by Shona, our pickup at the dock, the spectacular float plane flights with Michelle and Adam and our fun loving knowledge guide Jensen I knew we had made the right choice with island Wings. The walk to the viewing platform was very beautiful - the old trees, ferns & moss hanging from the trees. Seeing the bears in their natural environment and so many salmon in the creek - stunning! We really appreciated the length of time we spent at the viewing platform compared to other groups who came and went while we were there. Highly recommend and if we ever get back to Ketchikan we will do a Misty Fjords flight with Island Wings without hesitation!

Response from Host

Sep 2019

Dear ikedeb, Thank you so much for the glowing review on your trip to Traitors Cove and for flying with us! I am so grateful to have the crew of people working together with me at Island Wings.... Adam, Kelly, Jensen and Shona all work incredibly hard to make the entire business run smoothly. "It takes a village" as they say and I am a very lucky gal to have such a great team! So happy to hear you enjoyed your time in the old growth forest with the bears! It is a very special place and wildlife being wild do not always show up on que. For this reason we allow our clients to spend more time at the viewing platform than any of the other companies who offer tours to Traitors Cove. Wishing you many more "magical bucket list" items coming your way! With much gratitude! Michelle, Adam, Jensen, Shona & Kelly

Karen L

Aug 2019

Once in a lifetime shore excursion. Took a floatplane to Traitors Cove where a group of 7 took a short hike to a black bear observation platform to wait for bears. From the platform we were able to observe bears catching salmon from the creek and having their lunch. We were fortunate to see multiple bears coming to the river to feed. This location is set up perfectly for bear viewing and our guide, Jensen, was able to spot them and help everyone see the black bears against the dark rock. Much better than shore excursion through the cruise as our group was small and quiet.

Response from Host

Sep 2019

Dear Karen L, Thank you for your sweet review regarding your trip to Traitors Cove Bear Viewing! I'm happy to hear you enjoyed your time watching the bears! It is a really lovely spot with the Tongass National Forest. Our tours are longer in duration than any of the other operators who conduct tours to Traitors Cove. The reason for this is, as you know, the bears come and go and come and go from the viewing area, so its nice to spend some time there watching the show. The shore excursion sold though the cruise ship only stay on the platform around 20 minutes. Our tour has our guests onsite at Traitors Cove for a full 3 hours, of the total 4 hour tour. Most operators are trying to fit more tours in per day so their tours have to be shorter. Thanks again for choosing us to fly with! Hope you get to enjoy many more adventures in the wild! All the best, Michelle, Adam, Jensen, Shona & Kelly

vcd2013

Aug 2019

We had gone with Island wings 5 years ago to Annan cove, where we were lucky enough to see many black and brown bears. This time we went to Traitor's cove because it was later in the season and Annan cove was not available. We saw around 8 black bears feeding, which was very exciting. At Traitor's cove there is no brown bears, or you are less likely to see them. Both places are a good choice to see bears but seeing both black and brown bears was great. Islands wings has an excellent service, they keep in contact before the trip to make sure you understood where you meet them or if there is a change in schedule. The airplane ride before arriving at the cove is spectacular and planes well kept. There were 8 of us so we were divided in 2 planes plus 2 more persons in each plane.

Response from Host

Sep 2019

Dear vcd2013, Thank you for the awesome review and especially for returning to fly with us once again!! I am happy to hear you enjoyed your trip to Traitors Cove as well as Anan! It IS fun to be able to see both brown and black bears at one location, however the past 3-4 years we have not seen any brown bears at Anan at all. I am not sure why this has changed, but for some reason the brown bears have moved on to another location?? That being said it is still a good place to see black bears. The are three big differences between Anan Creek Bear Viewing and Traitors Cove Bear Viewing: 1) the trail at Anan is much longer and more uneven for walking compared to Traitors Cove which is a short, easy, mostly level walk, 2) the loading and unloading area at Anan is much more challenging on and off the rocky beach compared to Traitors Cove which has a dock for unloading/loading passengers and 3) the price for Anan is much higher because of the longer flight time to get there. Thank you again and wishing you many more great days wherever your travels may take you! All the best, Michelle, Adam, Jensen, Shona & Kelly

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