A cooling dip with the bears at Alaska’s Katmai National Park

Today’s “A Minute Away” video -- “Bathing bears, falling man, Naknek Lake, Alaska” -- comes from Katmai National Park, where bears spend the long days catching and gobbling salmon every July.

To reach one of the best spots to see these marvels, you need to catch a float plane to Naknek Lake, the star of this little video. You get some epic Alaska scenery, a brief look at bears strolling and frolicking in the water (watch a bear’s head pop up from the water at 0:27), and a chance to join me as I fall on my face in the tall grass on Dumpling Mountain (0:43).

You’ll find more about this rare place in our article on Katmai, Brooks Camp and coastal brown bears -- along with dozens of great photos and a video by Los Angeles 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…