From the air, a look at Alaska’s hidden corners

Without small planes, Alaska would be even lonelier than it is already – and travelers wouldn’t get to see so many gorgeous mountains, lakes and rivers.

The footage and stills in this video come from my trip to Katmai National Park in July, a journey that involved four flights on small planes. Besides the Anchorage takeoffs and landings (three on land, one on water), I had the fun of taking off and landing in the hamlet of King Salmon; the outpost of Brooks Lodge (which might be the capital of brown bear-watching in North America); and the Kulik Lodge angler’s retreat. (At 0:57, you’ll glimpse a keg of beer (untapped) in the back of the plane. At 1:10, you’ll see a floatplane line-up at Naknek Lake.)

Step this way for the full story on the visit – along with dozens of great bear photos and video from Times photographer Mark Boster.

“A Minute Away” is a video series in which nothing much happens -- except you see the world, and hear it, and get a minute’s respite from workaday life. (Actually, some are as long as 1:40.) These are casual moments without talking heads or narration – just natural sound from Machu Picchu, Red Square, the Yucatan, an Alaska float plane or the reading room of the New York Public Library. We add new ones weekly, and we’ve got more than 60 of them now, so if you’d prefer a full hour away…