Visiting Katmai National Park and Preserve with Anchorage Aero

Where the Grizzlies Dominate

About Katmai National Park and Preserve

Katmai National Park and Preserve spans over 4 million acres, making it one of the largest national parks in the United States and one of Alaska’s endless, true wonders. The National Park is located close to the village of King Salmon in Alaska’s southwestern peninsula. The park is most notable for its Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, and having the densest population of grizzly bears in the world. When visiting during the salmon run in July, it’s likely you’ll see upwards of 20 bears at the Brooks falls viewing platform!

Katmai National Park and Preserve is named after Mount Katmai, a stratovolcano whose caldera collapsed after the Novarupta eruption of 1912 and which is now a 2 by 3 mile wide lake. The park is home to 18 volcanoes, seven of which have been active in the last century. Katmai National Park and Preserve is smack dab in the middle of the Aleutian Mountain Range running through most of southwestern Alaska. If flying to the park, you will be able to take in the beauty of this mountain range from the air!

How To Get To Katmai National Park and Preserve

Alaska is known as the “Last Frontier” for a reason. Its climate, wilderness, and remote areas make it very difficult to access most of the state, especially by vehicle. Katmai is no different. There is no road that leads to Katmai National Park and Preserve. Access to the park is gained via boat or floater plane.

The majority of visitors to the park enter via plane from Anchorage to King Salmon. King Salmon is located about 290 miles southwest of Anchorage. Once you land in King Salmon you will take a 20 minute floater plane flight, landing on the shores of the park entrance. This is the easiest (and maybe prettiest) way to access the park. This is how we chose to arrive when we visited Katmai. We flew with Anchorage Aero and had the best experience.

Access to the park is also gained via power boat leaving from the nearby villages of King Salmon and Naknek. The parks headquarters are located in King Salmon, 30 miles from Brooks Camp, where all visitors are taken to upon arrival.

Choosing Anchorage Aero

Choosing Anchorage Aero for our experience turned out to be the very best decision and likely a large reason we loved our trip so much!

Booking with Anchorage Aero

Booking a reservation was seamless and can be done directly here. The process is pretty explanatory, with choosing dates based on availability. We suggest booking in advance if you can! We went on July 5th, 2022 and there were plenty of bears, but we had heard the salmon and bears had just arrived a few days before us.

Anchorage Aero was extremely communicative and sent out calendar invites after booking our reservations. We were given all details about what we needed to bring, what time to arrive, and how we would be eating that day! You can’t easily bring a ton of food or packed lunch to the park, so it was great knowing that lunch was included in our reservation. The food at Katmai was also a top notch buffet with excellent options. During our trip, we had tacos, but the staff informed us that the meals change pretty often.

Flying to Katmai and Weather Delays

Weather in Alaska is always changing, so it’s best to not only be prepared with your clothing, but also with your patience. The night before our trip to Katmai, we were emailed that we would be delayed in the morning due to forecasted fog. Truthfully, we had just flown in the day before and could use a little extra sleep, so we weren’t too upset about the few hours of sleep we were gaining.

Anchorage Aero safely assessed the weather and sent us out safely after a couple hours of delay. We flew to King Salmon which took about 1 hour and 45 minutes in a 9 seater plane. The views were EPIC from the plane and we suggest you bargain with the pilot for either the co-pilot seat or the one in the very back for some added leg room.

Once in King Salmon, we had to wait about 45 minutes for the fog to lift and we were on our way in a 5 seater float plane! We had never flown in a float plane before (Britt has plane anxiety and motion sickness), so the fact that these flights were smoother than commercial airlines was amazing. This flight took about 15-25 minutes and felt too short in our opinion because the aerial view was really amazing. On the flight Nick was even able to spot moose trekking through the marsh land below us.

Brooks Falls and Grizzly Bear Viewing

As stated earlier, Katmai National Park and Preserve is home to the densest bear population in the world. This is due to the many rivers, lakes, and abundance of salmon in the water systems. While bears typically roam near the cabins and waling areas, brooks Falls is the hot spot destination for bear viewing within the park and honestly in the world.

When arriving at the park you are required to take a 20 minute bear safety class in order to proceed into the park. A pin is handed out so the rangers know that you have attended the class.

July through early September (particularly early July) is known as the annual salmon run in which salmon swim north to breed. The brown bear population roam the Brooks River and in particular Brooks Falls to fatten up for the winter. Brooks Falls is a viewing platform stationed right next the main waterfall where bears position themselves to catch salmon as they make the jump to the top.

When arriving at the platform you will be placed on a waiting list for your turn to access the main platform. While you wait, there is a covered waiting area and viewing platform down river with great sights of bears in their environment.

Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes

The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes is a 40 mile long ash filled valley formed during the 1912 Novarupta eruption of 1912. The eruption was the largest volcanic eruption by volume to occur during the 20th century and resulted in the collapse of Mount Katmai’s caldera, and over 100 earthquakes occurred. The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes is filled with ash flow from the eruption and in some points can reach up to 700ft deep.

When you arrive at Brooks Camp follow signs for the shuttle that takes you down to the valley. It is the only way to access the valley and the safest way to not encounter bears on your journey.

Other Activities in Katmai National Park

Katmai is a great location for hiking, fishing, wildlife photography, bird watching and visiting the parks many volcanic regions.

Check out our other Alaska posts here!