When you think of Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, does your mind conjure up an image of a bear standing at the rim of a small waterfall, its powerful, toothy jaws opened wide to snatch that salmon jumping up from the frothy water?

That is the first thing people think about when the subject of Katmai pops up, but there’s more to this national park and preserve than the Alaskan brown bears, even though the park does protect thousands of these bruins along with their major food source of salmon, which fattens and prepares the bears to survive the harsh Alaskan winters.

Katmai National Park and Preserve also safeguards 9,000 years of human habitation, the dramatic volcanic landscape surrounding Novarupta and the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, and a wilderness environment supporting myriad species of mammals, birds, fish (including all five species of Pacific Salmon), and plants.

Originally established as a national monument in 1918 to protect that volcanic environment and its fascinating geology, the focus on protecting Katmai’s population of brown bears and their habitat occurred later, becoming significant enough to warrant extension of the park’s boundaries and ultimate redesignation as a national park and preserve in 1980. Now, this park is home to an estimated 2,200 brown bears in addition to any wild wanderers who may have gotten wind of the plentiful salmon swimming the Brooks River during certain times of the year.

True wilderness, Katmai is located on the northern Alaska Peninsula, northwest of Kodiak Island and southwest of Homer, Alaska. If you are thinking of driving to this national park and preserve, the expression “you can’t get there from here,” fits perfectly. Inaccessible by car, visitors either fly or take a boat. Commercial companies (including photography tour operators) offer guided one- or multi-day trips for fishing or bear watching. Those staying more than a day will spend their nights within the park at Brooks Camp, Brooks Lodge, or Grosvenor Lodge, in addition to lodging outside or near the park.

Most visitors to Katmai are solely interested in fishing or bear watching, but the park also offers such outdoor activities as hiking, backpacking, canoeing, or kayaking. Sport hunting and trapping are permitted in Katmai National Preserve, but not in Katmai National Park.

Katmai is truly wild, and every sight and sound you experience during a visit to this park will remind you of that … as will the electric fence surrounding Brooks Camp to deter the bears from joining you for breakfast or dinner.

Katmai National Park and Preserve is a must-see unit of the National Park System. It may take more than a simple plane reservation and car rental to journey to this awe-inspiring landscape of wildness, but Katmai should be on your national park bucket list for the sheer experience of viewing 900-lb to 1,000-lb (408 – 453.6 kg) bears doing their thing close-up, or wandering through a vast landscape of ash and active volcanoes, or testing your fishing skills in the park’s waters for trout and salmon, or all of the above.

Traveler's Choice For: bear watching, photography, geology