Katmai National Park & Preserve
Alaska
Tonight
🌗 46% moon
Last quarter
Hikes
Easy–Strenuous
🟢 🔴
Crowds
low
Open today
Open
Entrance
Free entry
Valley Road Closure
All 22 miles of the Valley Road is closed for construction until further notice. This is the only access road to the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes
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.
Activities
Topics
No entrance fee.
Hours & seasons
Katmai is open 24 hours per day, seven days per week.
Generally open:
winterspringsummerfallHours are reported by the park — verify before you go.
📞 9072463305
✉ KATM_Visitor_Information@nps.govConditions
Quietest months (fewer crowds): Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr
Typical crowds: low
Weather now: ☁️ Overcast, 54°F
☁️ 60°/51°
🌦️ 58°/52°
☁️ 58°/49°
Typical monthly recreation visits · NPS avg 2023–2025 — orange months are the quietest by crowds.
Quietest months
Relative crowds by month — lighter is quieter; ringed months are the calmest by crowds.
Jan
0%
Feb
0%
Mar
0%
Apr
0%
May
1%
Jun
31%
Jul
100%
Aug
78%
Sep
42%
Oct
2%
Nov
0%
Dec
0%
Log a sky reading
Measured the sky with an SQM meter or app? Add your reading (16 = city glow … 22 = pristine). Opt in under “Travelers like you” to share it on the community leaderboard.
Live conditions
Things to do
🔴 Float the Savonoski Loop · 80 mi · Depending on the route, experience, and weather, allow a minimum of 4-10 days for the trip.
Become A Katmai Jr. Ranger · Just do a few activities or complete the whole book!
Become a Not-So-Junior Ranger at Katmai
Explore Katmai by Air
🟢 Boating in Katmai National Park and Preserve
Watch Bears at Brooks Camp
Take a Guided Tour to the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes · 3.4 mi · 1000 ft gain
Hike to Dumpling Overlook · 1.5 mi · 800 ft gain
Campgrounds
Brooks Camp Campground ↗ · 32 sites
Visitor centers
Brooks Camp Visitor Center
King Salmon Visitor Center
Robert F. Griggs Visitor Center
Accessibility
1 accessible campground(s)
8 audio-described place(s)
Reported by the park — verify before you go.
Parking
Lake Camp Boat Access
Not an official safety source — always defer to NPS.gov and rangers for life-safety decisions.
By the numbers
A visual read on Katmai National Park & Preserve — its character, trails, sky, and weather.
Park fingerprint
How this park scores across the dimensions travelers care about.
Trail difficulty
Difficulty mix across this park's trails.
Trail profile
Each dot is a trail — distance vs. elevation gain, by difficulty.
3-day forecast
Daily high and low temperatures (°F).
People & stories
Figures tied to Katmai National Park & Preserve — each spans a cross-park journey.
Mary Olympic
— Alaska, Yupik, Alaska NativePelagia Melgenak
— Women, History, AkwomenPassport stamps
Mark the stamps you've collected — they show in your memory and along your routes.
🎫 Brooks Camp Visitor Center
🎫 Brooks Camp Visitor Center - A Historic View
🎫 King Salmon Visitor Center
🎫 Robert F. Griggs Visitor Center
Places to see
Amalik Bay Archeological District National Historic Landmark
American Creek
audio
Brooks Camp
Brooks Camp Auditorium
Brooks Camp Cultural Site
Brooks Camp Cultural Site Trailhead
Brooks Camp Ranger Station
Brooks Camp Visitor Center - A Historic View
Brooks Falls Platform
Brooks Falls Trailhead
Brooks Lodge
Brooks River Archeological District National Historic Landmark
Audio & media
🎧
🎬
🖼
Learn more
Congratulations to the national and regional recipients of the 2013 Freeman Tilden Award for Excellence in Interpretation and Education.
View recipients of the National Park Service Freeman Tilden Awards, which recognize outstanding contributions to the practice of interpretation and education by NPS employees.
As we reflect on 2022, we offer you 22 interesting and exciting science and nature events from parks of the national park system. From a brief, yet dramatic eruption of the world's largest active volcano to celebrating the 60th anniversary of the National Natural Landmarks program, 2022 was filled with amazing moments.
As we reflect on 2023, we offer you a list of 23 interesting and exciting science and nature events from parks of the national park system. From a dazzling “ring of fire” annular eclipse to celebrating conservation wins with the help of funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, 2023 was filled with amazing moments.
As we reflect on 2024, we offer you a list of 24 interesting and exciting science and nature events from parks of the national park system. From awe-inspiring celestial events to celebrating anniversaries and conservation wins, 2024 was filled with amazing moments.
2020 Resource brief on ten years of monitoring data for bald eagles in southwest Alaska parks and the use of the Delphi technique to evaluate monitoring methods going forward.
National park units in Alaska precede the establishment of the National Park Service in 1916. The first park unit, Sitka National Monument, was conceived in 1908, and by the mid-1920s four national monuments along with Alaska’s first national park were part of the growing park system. Discover how the early 1900s and observations of a few helped to establish the National Park Service in Alaska.
Marine debris can affect marine mammals and birds through entanglement, strangulation, and digestive blockage. In summer 2015, we conducted an extensive multi-partner project to remove over 11 tons of marine debris from remote beaches in five Alaska parks.
How Katmai National Park & Preserve connects
This park's activities, topics, location, and on-the-ground places — one hop in the graph. Drag to explore; click an activity, topic, or related park to follow it.
Park
Activity
Topic
State
Campground
VisitorCenter
PassportStamp
ParkingLot
Trail
ThingToDo
Alert
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