~ Katmai National Park, AK ~

There's a principal accepted as truth in the wildlife photography community. We call it the "last day principle."

As the name suggests, a photographer can always count on the best action, the epic light, or the shot that makes a trip to occur on the very last day. It doesn't matter if you've been there for 90 days. The best stuff happens at the end. The series to your left is no exception.

We had four days of good wildlife encounters. Our photo tour in Alaska's Katmai National Park was undebatably a success. But it was that final, last-minute trip up the river where the best action was sure to happen.

" The bush plane arrives to take us home in 4 hours... who's in?" Josh and Allan were takers. So, off we went slogging up the river among the trout fishermen.

Not even a half-hour's time had elapsed when it all started. Josh and Allan looked upriver where I pointed at some movement on the far bank.

"Cubs!" Allan shouted. There were two of them and a very active mother.

"It was like finding gold," Allan later described when trying to convey the level of adrenaline in that moment.

The next two hours of action were unforgettable. The little spring cubs stayed on their line down the river toward us. They stopped directly across the river from us and playfully climbed all over their mother. Curiously watching us out of their periphery, they wondered why we we just stood there in the river.

Mom darted into the river from time to time for a snack. By snack, please read 30" sockeye salmon sushi! Made me jealous. The cubs carefully noted all her fishing techniques—stealth dives from the bank, splash-scaring them into a small circle, even snorkeling—knowing their time would soon come to catch for themselves.

We returned to the lodge grinning and chimping at our camera's 2.5" displays just in time to reconvene as a group, carry gear to the plane, and take flight from Naknek Lake home to Anchorage. We journeyed back filled with stories, images, and that intangible sense of awe that leaves you itching to return.

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