Fly in, land on a lake, and watch 2,200 brown bears do what they do at Katmai

Katmai’s 2,200 bears put on quite a show

No road gets you there. No highway cuts through the Alaska Peninsula to this place.

You fly in on a floatplane, land on a lake, and step into a park the size of Connecticut where roughly 2,200 brown bears outnumber the people by a considerable margin.

Katmai National Park and Preserve sits about 290 miles southwest of Anchorage, and it holds something you won’t find anywhere else in North America. The falls are only six feet high.

What happens there every summer is something else entirely.

A volcano built this park in 60 hours

On June 6, 1912, the Novarupta volcano erupted on the Alaska Peninsula and didn’t stop for about 60 hours. The explosion released roughly 30 times more material than the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption.

The blast drained magma from beneath nearby Mount Katmai so fast that the summit collapsed, leaving a caldera about two miles wide. Nobody died.

The area was too remote for that. Four years later, a National Geographic expedition found the landscape still steaming and named it the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.

President Woodrow Wilson made it a national monument on Sept. 24, 1918.

Forty-plus bears fish a six-foot waterfall

Brooks Falls drops just six feet, but in July, it becomes one of the most-watched pieces of water in the world. Sockeye salmon push upstream to spawn, and the bears know it.

Between 43 and 70 individual bears have been counted at the falls and along the Brooks River during peak season.

Three elevated viewing platforms connected by boardwalks put you close enough to watch a bear catch a salmon mid-air. The bears stay focused on the fish, mostly ignoring the people above them.

A 1.2-mile trail runs from Brooks Camp through the boreal forest to the platforms, and everyone gets a bear safety briefing before they walk it.

Coastal bears graze on clams and grass at Hallo Bay

Brooks Falls gets the crowds, but Hallo Bay runs at a different pace.

On the park’s Pacific coast, bears come to the salt marshes and meadows from May through July to graze on coastal sedge grass and dig for clams in the tidal flats.

The terrain is open, and the bears here have grown used to guided visitors, which means you can watch them work the flats from close range without the boardwalk setup.

Most people reach Hallo Bay by floatplane from Homer or Kodiak for a guided day trip. Other coastal areas with heavy bear activity include Kukak Bay, Kaflia Bay and Geographic Harbor.

A 40-square-mile ash field still looks like the moon

The 1912 eruption buried 40 square miles of the valley floor under volcanic ash 100 to 700 feet deep. Steam vents called fumaroles pushed through the hot ash by the thousands, which is where the valley got its name.

The fumaroles have gone quiet now, but the landscape hasn’t exactly softened.

The only road in the entire park runs 23 miles from Brooks Camp to Three Forks Overlook, where the valley spreads out below you. A daily bus runs that route with stops for hikers.

The valley floor is open for hiking and backcountry camping, but there are no marked trails out there.

Five salmon species and a wild river for fishing

Katmai holds all five species of Pacific salmon: sockeye, chinook, chum, pink and coho.

The rivers and lakes also run with rainbow trout, Arctic grayling, lake trout, Arctic char, Dolly Varden and northern pike.

The Brooks River was first developed as a sport fishing destination before bear viewing took over as the main draw.

The Alagnak Wild River, which begins inside the park, carries a federal designation as a National Wild River and pulls serious anglers from around the country.

Special fishing regulations apply throughout the park, and Brooks River has its own rules built around keeping bears and people from competing for the same fish.

Paddle 80 miles through wilderness on the Savonoski Loop

The Savonoski Loop runs 80 miles by canoe or kayak, starting and ending at Brooks Camp.

The route takes you through the North Arm of Naknek Lake, across a portage to Lake Grosvenor, down the Savonoski River and back through the Iliuk Arm.

Plan on four to 10 days, depending on your pace and how the weather behaves. The Savonoski River moves fast with braided channels, sandbars and fallen trees to navigate.

The lakes can kick up rough water during storms. Along the portage between Naknek Lake and Lake Grosvenor, Fure’s Cabin sits on the National Register of Historic Places and takes overnight reservations.

Bear encounters are common the whole way through.

Climb Dumpling Mountain above Brooks Camp

Katmai has about five miles of maintained trails, and most of them start at Brooks Camp.

The Dumpling Mountain Trail climbs 800 feet over 1.5 miles from the campground to an overlook with views across Naknek Lake, Brooks River and Lake Brooks.

Push past the overlook and you can reach the tundra-covered summit at 2,440 feet, adding about 2.5 miles each way on an unmaintained route.

Near Brooks Camp, the Cultural Site Trail leads to a reconstructed prehistoric dwelling and displays information about the people who lived here long before anyone else came looking.

In the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, rangers lead hikes down from the Robert F. Griggs Visitor Center to the ash-covered valley floor.

Nine thousand years of people before the park existed

The Sugpiaq, also called Alutiiq, have lived along these rivers and coastlines for roughly 9,000 years.

The Brooks River Archeological District, a National Historic Landmark, holds evidence of continuous human occupation going back about 4,500 years.

Archaeologists have pulled stone tools, projectile points and remains of semi-subterranean houses from sites along the river.

The 1912 eruption forced the permanent evacuation of nearby coastal villages, including the village of Katmai itself. The Amalik Bay Archeological District protects sites that go back more than 7,000 years.

Descendants of the original inhabitants still live in King Salmon and Naknek, and their connections to this land didn’t end when the park was created.

Fat Bear Week turns a remote wilderness into a global event

Every fall, before the bears head into hibernation, Katmai runs Fat Bear Week. The public votes online to decide which bear packs the most weight through the summer.

Park ranger Mike Fitz started it in 2014 as a single-day event called Fat Bear Tuesday. By 2025, it drew more than 1.5 million votes from people in over 100 countries.

Live webcams at Brooks Falls and along the Brooks River stream bear activity around the clock through a partnership between the National Park Service and Explore. org and Katmai Conservancy.

The cameras went live in 2012, and for people who will never make it to this remote stretch of Alaska, they offer a real look at what goes on here.

Bears share the park with wolves, whales and 130 bird species

Brown bears pull all the attention, but Katmai runs much deeper than that.

Wolves, moose, lynx, wolverines, caribou, river otters, beavers and both red and Arctic foxes all move through the park.

Out along the coast, harbor seals, sea lions, sea otters, beluga whales, killer whales and gray whales work the same waters the bears fish.

More than 130 bird species have been recorded here, including bald eagles that follow the salmon runs.

The rivers carry one of the largest sockeye runs in the world, and that single fact drives the food chain for every living thing in the park, from the bears down to the trees.

No road in, no road out, and that is the whole point

You fly into King Salmon on a commuter flight from Anchorage, about an hour in the air.

From King Salmon, a floatplane or boat ride gets you to Brooks Camp, where the visitor center, campground and a lodge with a restaurant and store sit on the edge of Naknek Lake. Visitor facilities run from June through September.

If you want the bears without the overnight, day trips by floatplane leave from Anchorage, Homer and Kodiak. Beyond Brooks Camp, the five miles of maintained trails end and the backcountry begins.

Four million acres with no roads, no signs and no cell service. That is not a warning.

That is the description.

Visit Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska

To get to Katmai, fly into King Salmon, Alaska, and connect by floatplane or boat to Brooks Camp. The park address for correspondence runs through park headquarters at King Salmon, Alaska 99613.

The visitor facilities at Brooks Camp operate from June through September, though the park stays open year-round. Day trips by floatplane are available from Homer and Kodiak for those without overnight plans.

Admission to the park is free, though some activities and lodging carry their own fees.

Check the official website for current permit requirements, especially for Brooks Falls platforms during peak season in July.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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