Theodore Roosevelt Presidential LibraryPublic Lands Directory

Alerts and conditions

All clear. The managing agency, the National Weather Service and wildfire reporting show no current alerts.

Overview

A landscape is alive underneath our feet, filled with creatures that remind us what it is to be wild. Katmai was established in 1918 to protect the volcanically devastated region surrounding Novarupta and the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. Today, Katmai National Park and Preserve also protects 9,000 years of human history and important habitat for salmon and thousands of brown bears.

From the National Park Service

History

The designation history for this site (every law, proclamation and order, and the administration behind each) is being researched and checked by the Library’s historians.

What to see and do

Activities

  • Boating
  • Camping
  • Backcountry Camping
  • Canoe or Kayak Camping
  • Fishing
  • Fly Fishing
  • Food
  • Dining
  • Picnicking
  • Flying
  • Guided Tours
  • Hiking
  • Backcountry Hiking
  • Hunting and Gathering
  • Hunting
  • Paddling
  • Canoe or Kayak Camping
  • Junior Ranger Program
  • Wildlife Watching
  • Park Film
  • Shopping
  • Bookstore and Park Store
  • Gift Shop and Souvenirs

Browse hiking, biking and paddling routes on AllTrails

Plan your visit

Hours

Katmai National Park and Preserve: Katmai is open 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

Getting there

Katmai National Park & Preserve is located on the northern Alaska Peninsula, northwest of Kodiak Island and southwest of Homer, Alaska. The park’s headquarters is in King Salmon, about 290 air miles southwest of Anchorage. Unlike most national parks in the United States, Katmai is almost exclusively accessed by plane or boat.

Visitor centers

Campgrounds

  • Brooks Camp Campground (32 sites) — reserve

Weather

Located between the stormy north Pacific Ocean and the even stormier Bering Sea, the Katmai region is often a battleground between weather systems. When you visit, be prepared to encounter all types of weather. On average, wet and cool conditions predominate in spring, summer, and fall. Winters are drier and colder.

Phone: 9072463305

Whose lands these are

These lands are the ancestral and present-day homelands of Native nations. A section on whose lands these are is being prepared with tribal review. In the meantime, Native Land Digital offers a starting point.

Photos

Bear standing at the edge of a waterfall while a salmon is leaping towards it.
Bear catching jumping salmon · NPS/David Jacob
Three bears walk near a sleeping bear
Bear family walks near sleeping bear · NPS/Bryanna Plog
lake inside of an ash and glacier covered volcano
Mount Katmai caldera · NPS/Roy Wood
meadow in foreground and snow capped volcanoes on the horizon
sedge meadows and volcanoes at Hallo · NPS/Michael Fitz

Pair it with