And comes up with the prize!

A big male interrupts his salmon feasting to court a female (females are roughly half the size of males).

The two bears mate midstream. The scar across the male's back is from some skirmish with another male, probably over a fishing spot.

Aerial view of the entire Brooks River, with the falls in the middle and Brooks Lodge at the far left. To get to the falls, we had to walk about a mile, crossing the river on the bridge near its mouth, and then follow a trail through the woods on the far side of the river. You can't see that trail, but you can see the elevated walkway at the end of the trail leading up to the falls; the walkway keeps visitors above/away from big bears that are taking breaks from fishing - or carrying their fish into the woods to consume.

A better look at the three locations that have observation platforms, from which visitors can observe and photograph bears safely: 1) the Falls, 2) the "Riffles" just above (downstream from) the Falls, and 3) the bridge across the river just before its mouth at the top. You can also see the Brooks Lodge at the top left.

This is the mouth of the Brooks River (viewed from the opposite direction as the previous photo), with the bridge and Brooks Lodge clearly visible. The amazing thing about this photo, however, is the gray/black pattern in the water, which is made by thousands upon thousands of salmon converging to make their way up the River to Brooks Lake at the other end. If you look closely, you can trace the gray stream of salmon all the way up the river.

The Falls, as seen from the Riffles platform downstream.

People watching bears from the Riffles platform, with the Falls in the distance. The Riffles area was far enough away from the big males - yet shallow enough that salmon could be caught - that is was commonly occupied by sub-adult (like "teenager") males and sows with 2-4 year old cubs just learning to catch fish.

A sow with three cubs fishes at the Riffles. When not watching out for threats (big male bears), they almost constantly stare into the water at their feet, seemingly mesmerized by the constant parade of salmon swimming by.

Cubs seldom catch fish on their own, most often simply plunging into the water at the grey shadows unproductively. But when mom catches a fish, one of the cubs is often quick to make off with it (as the little fellow on the left is doing).

The bears spent considerable time standing on their hind legs, not only watching for danger, but often simply to get a better view of their surroundings.