Katmai Park’s headquarters is located in King Salmon, with a summertime office at Brooks Camp, near Brooks Lodge and a campground -- all located near the mouth of Brooks River where it empties into Naknek Lake. Farther upstream, at Brooks Falls, is an elevated walkway that allows visitors to watch bears at close range without significant risk of physical contact. Also good is nearby Margot Creek.
Many visitors reach Brooks by flying from Anchorage to King Salmon in a Peninsula Airways (PenAir) jet, then traveling to Brooks Camp by bush plane or by boat up the Naknek River. Others fly from in from Homer.
This is one of the world’s most popular bear viewing sites (nearly 10,000 visitors per year, with up to 200 - 300 per day during the seasonal peak). Brooks River and other rivers in the area are also famed among anglers for their enormous salmon runs.
Another famous salmon river in the area is Kulik, a short tributary draining Kulik Lake into Nonvianuk Lake. Although this river is too deep to offer prime fishing for bears or prime viewing opportunities, you can expect to see numerous bears per day during the peak season. Expect these bears to be relatively wary of people, in part because they are subject to limited hunting pressure. For Kulik River lies at the border between Katmai National Park, where hunting is forbidden, and Katmai National Preserve, where hunting is allowed.
Near the northeastern border of the Preserve are Funnel and Moraine Creeks, as well as McNeil River -- all famed for bear viewing.
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King Salmon & Katmai Natl. Park
