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Katmai National Park

Photo: Mbz1 (Brocken Inaglory) / CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

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Katmai National Park

King Salmon, AK · Alaska Peninsula

About

Katmai National Park on the Alaska Peninsula is famous for its brown bears, which gather at Brooks Falls each summer to snatch leaping salmon midair, the scene behind the wildly popular Fat Bear Week. The park was born from catastrophe: the 1912 Novarupta eruption, the largest of the 20th century, buried a valley in ash now called the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. Most visitors arrive by floatplane.

Highlights

Brooks Falls bear viewing platform, where bears catch leaping salmon (peaks in July)Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, the ash-filled valley left by the 1912 Novarupta eruptionAround 2,200 brown bears, one of the densest populations protected anywhereBrooks Camp on Naknek Lake, the park hub with lodge, campground and visitor centerFly-in only access from King Salmon, no roads to the park

Getting there

1000 Silver Street, Building 603, King Salmon, AK 99613

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Curated guides that feature Katmai National Park.

The United States National Parks63 places

The United States National Parks

All 63 of America's national parks in one place: the geysers and canyons, glaciers and giant sequoias, coral reefs and live volcanoes the country set aside for everyone. From the Grand Canyon to the Everglades to the wilds of Alaska, this is the complete collection, each one worth building a whole trip around.