Katmai is located in a vast and remote southwest corner of Alaska. Katmai National Park and Preserve occupies over four million acres in a spectacular country. The park is the destination of the largest population of protected brown bears and it is also one of the best bear viewing spots in the state called ‘Brooks River Falls’. You can almost see up to fifty bears at the falls and up to eighty to a hundred bears usually gather on the river. The visitors would mainly come to view and study about the bears and their habitats.
Katmai is the world’s largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century where you will find the valley of ten thousand smokes. Looking inside the boundaries of the park there are important spawning and rearing ground for Bristol Bay Sockeye Salmon that helps to support one of the important and largest salmon runs in the world.
Katmai’s landscape has multi-lake watersheds with uncontrolled rivers and streams. It is the laboratory for knowing or studying the effects of volcanism, climate change, and many other large-scale landscape processes.
Brooks River Falls
Looking at the Brooks River Falls, it is located near the Brooks camp which is centered on the private lodge inside the park. Here you would see the trails to the falls and the rivers with viewing platforms on the falls and you can see one more which is closer to the lodge and is near the shallow stretch of the river. Before everyone visits the park, you will have to see the videos of the park service on bear safety and so you will know what are the things to do. The visitors will be more during the peak season and they are guaranteed to see the bears while feeding, sleeping, resting, and playing. There are many attractions in this park-like fishing and volcanoes.
Fishing– You can enjoy fishing during summer and the guiding companies will provide transportation to the remote rivers and lakes if you would like to do fishing in different areas.
Volcanoes– You will have to take a short bus ride from Brooks camp to the valley of 10,000 smokes. And you will be able to see the ash-covered region which started from inches to many feet. The landscape is completely covered by the ash and now it is changed by the eruption.
Activities to do in the Katmai National Park
- Bear watching
- Boating
- Hiking
- Camping
- Sportfishing
- Sailing and private yacht charters
Accessibilities in the Katmai National Park
Katmai National Park and Preserve is wilderness with maintained hiking trails and with less than six miles of designation. Though it is wilderness, accommodations and other facilities do exist.
How to Reach Katmai National Park
Katmai is located on the northern Alaska Peninsula, northwest of Kodiak Island and southwest of Homer, Alaska. Most destinations in the park are accessed via air taxi flights from Anchorage, Dillingham, Homer, King Salmon, Kodiak, and other nearby Alaska towns and villages. Much of this area is rarely visited but has incredible opportunities to explore wilderness. The other way to access the park is by boats which can access the Pacific coast of Katmai.
Places to Visit in Katmai National Park
Katmai is a less visited national park, as it is remote and difficult to reach. The park is wild, rugged, and remote and the best place for adventure seekers. This national park offers the best wildlife viewing. You get to see brown bears head to the rivers, to feed on salmon during summer there are plenty of places to visit in Katmai.
- Brooks Falls
- Brooks River
- Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes
- Savonoski Loop
- Naknek Lake