Epic Travel → North America → Alaska → Geographic Harbor

♦ Intrepid Top Pick!

Location: Katmai National Park and Preserve, Northern Alaskan Peninsula, Alaska

Red Tape/Notes: Review and observe all regulations for game and wildlife in Katmai National Park and Preserve – check the NPS website for current alerts and closures.

What’s Nearby? Becharof Lake,  Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes

Geographic Harbor is much less famous than neighboring Kaflia Bay, where Timothy Treadwell spent many of his summers communing with grizzlies, but it’s similar in terrain and after visiting the area you can understand why Treadwell (and the bears) like it so much. We almost had to abandon our trip, because cloud cover over the bay was compromising the safety of our landing, but our amazing pilot managed to find a small hole in the clouds and dropped through it.

This was a day unlike any other during our time in Alaska – the only day we spent on the open ocean! After landing in Geographic Harbor, we transferred to two small fishing boats and headed out in search of halibut, rockfish, and ling cod. We caught and released a few halibut, bagged a couple of salmon, and found enough rockfish to last for months. Better still (for me anyway), we saw puffins and otters!! I barely managed “evidence” pictures of the wildlife, but they’re always clear in our memories. Towards the end of the day, the clouds burned off and we had beautiful views of the harbor on our way back to the plane.

Epic Travel → North America → Alaska → Geographic Harbor