King Salmon
King Salmon is a village of 300 people (2020) on the Alaska Peninsula in Southwestern Alaska. It is the gateway to Katmai National Park and Preserve, and a government, transportation, and service and shipment center for the commercial red salmon and sport fishing industries.
Get in
Flying in is the only practical route, as the only roads into King Salmon are not connected to the rest of the Alaskan road system.
🌍 King Salmon Airport (AKN IATA) is to the southeast of the village.
Alaska Air and Grant Aviation are the primary two airlines that service King Salmon. You can fly in from Anchorage or Dillingham with Alaska or smaller nearby communities with Grant Aviation.
Understand
The King Salmon Visitor Center, next to the King Salmon Airport, has maps and brochures for area National Park sites, area Fish & Wildlife refuges, Bristoal Bay Borough, Lake and Peninsula Borough and the local community. A National Park Service video focusing on Katmai and Aniakchak and several other films are shown. Park staff are available to provide information and answer questions. Exhibits showing life cycles of salmon, indigenous subsistence techniques and geology of the area as well as an interactive map. Its shop sells clothing, books, pictures, and cards. It is open daily from June 1 to mid-September.
Get around
- Alaska Eagle Eye (beside the airport), ☏ +1 907 246-2277. Vehicle rental, GPS equipment, outdoor gear. Vehicles are often booked well in advance.
Do
- 🌍 Katmai National Park and Preserve, Office: 1000 Silver Street, Building 603 (Katmai is almost exclusively accessed by plane or boat), ☏ +1 907 246-3305. A park larger than Connecticut that has 18 volcanoes, 7 of which have been active since 1900. It is one of the best places in Alaska to view grizzly bears in the wild.
- Fishing and jet boat tours along the Naknek River
Sleep
- 🌍 Antlers Inn and Sockeye Cabins (within walking distance of the airport, two restaurant/bars, the coffee shop, grocery store and the bank), ☏ +1 208-569-7482, antlers.sockeye.reservations@gmail.com. Refrigerator or mini-fridge, microwave, and coffee-pot. Laundry facilities. Suites & apartments have full kitchens, washer and dryer. Inn from $285, cabins from $270.