Katmai National Park and Preserve: Kayaks, Sockeyes and Bears, Oh My!

It’s amazing to think: out of one of the most volcanically active and toxic regions of the world sprouted perhaps the most startling landscape of brightness, color and fervent life. Katmai National Park and Preserve, eons ago a volatile range of volcanoes, today a beacon to those who say Mother Nature has a twisted sense of humor, a bastion for adventure-seekers and dynamic wildlife. At Katmai, the landscape bursts with light and the hope for peace between humans and animals thrives with a vigor unseen in many other places in the world.

Katmai National Park: Tranquility Among Species

At the southern edge of our northernmost territory, toward the very bottom of the Frontier State, there is a vast expanse of magnificent land that’s seen many changes in its lifetime, from the shape of its surface to the people who’ve called it home.

Located on a peninsula 290 miles southwest of Anchorage and roughly the size of Wales, Katmai National Park and Preserve is ground zero of the great eruption of Novarupta in 1912. Built atop 700 feet of once poisonous volcanic matter, Katmai revolves around the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, given its name by the scientists who studied this formerly toxic wasteland after the ash settled.

Now, Katmai National Park and Preserve is safe for tourists, animals and plant-life alike, all of which coexist harmoniously in this remarkable valley. Sea cliffs cast shadows over golden beaches and jewel-like lakes, which are prowled and mined by two of the greatest predators alive, the moose and the brown bear. Visitors of Katmai National Park bear witness to the hunting habits of these enormous beasts, observing up close aboard kayaks the bears’ adept fishing tactics.

When you take a trip to Katmai National Park, you can expect to walk the shoreline and graze elbows with bear cubs who don’t mind your presence; just be sure to give them the right of way. Book your journey to one of America’s stunning prides of the north, and see for yourself what it’s like to stand side by side with the wild!