Patty Salkeld of Portland has been voting for years in Explore.org’s spirited Fat Bear Week competition. Starting Tuesday, she will once again join millions of viewers, glued to a live webcam at Alaska’s Katmai National Park & Preserve , and pick her favorite wild brown bear bulking up on salmon before hibernation.

For this year’s 11th annual tournament , which runs Sept. 23-30, Salkeld has an advantage in sizing up the bears to fill out her tournament bracket : She’s seen some of them in real life.

In July, the retired teacher and lifetime wildlife enthusiast flew in three progressively smaller planes 2,000 miles northeast to the remote Katmai National Park .

The 4 million-acre park on the northern Alaska Peninsula borders Bristol Bay, the largest sockeye salmon fishery

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