We are off to Katmai National Park

Trip Start May 29, 2009
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Trip End Oct 03, 2009


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Where I stayed
King Salmon Inn
(King Salmon hotels)

Flag of United States  , Alaska,
Sunday, August 2, 2009

We spent the morning closing up the coach and packing for the big adventure of today and tomorrow at Katmai National Park & Preserve. We parked at an off-airport long term lot, so the shuttle dropped us at the terminal entrance for Pen Air (shortened from Peninsula Air, since they serve the southwest Alaska peninsula).  Their principle hub is our destination – King Salmon.  Our first surprise of the trip is no security screening.  Apparently, they tried it a couple of years ago, but could not really staff all of the small towns served by this kind of airline, much less the separate "terminal" buildings at those tiny airports.  All of our “stuff” is packed in our day packs for carry-on (well wing-side checking), so we would have taken advantage of the lack of security if we had known ahead of time.

The Pen Air flight was a 30 seat Saab 340, quite comfortable, with beverage and snack Pen Air Terminal King Salmon Airport
Pen Air Terminal King Salmon Airport
 .  The flight attendant pointed out several sites, including a fabulous view of Mt. McKinley and Mt. Foraker. Upon arrival at King Salmon, we found the National Park Service King Salmon Visitor Center next door to the Pen Air Terminal building.  We knew that they had the Passport Stamp for Katmai, plus one for Brooks Camp at Katmai.  We also knew that we would find the stamp for Alagnak Wild River.  Much to our surprise we also secured the stamp for Aniakchuk National Monument & Preserve.  Aniakchuk, southwest of Katmai on the peninsula, has no park facilities or rangers. This visitor center serves all three park sites, well actually all five sites since a park and preserve are separate national park units.  This is a new record for us – five national park sites in one day !! We spent some time talking with the ranger in the visitor center.  She suggested that we might want to take a taxi over to Naknek on Bristol Bay to see the Bering Sea. By the way, the road to Naknek is the only paved road on the peninsula. We declined, but realized how close we were to the Bering Sea.

We returned to the Pen Air terminal to use the direct phone (there is no cell phone service at King Salmon) to call the King Salmon Inn to pick us up. We settled into a rather ordinary, but clean, old fashioned motel style room.  After dinner in the inn's restaurant we headed straight to bed.
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