Yesterday I finished most of the major packing I wanted done. I am sure as this final week here progresses I will be adding things to the suitcases but for the most part I am now packed. So it is time to start sudying. I recieved a handbook and thought I would share some facts with all of you.
King Salmon Alaska is a bush city as it is only accessible by air. The brochure says I should mail all nonperishible foods and save my baggage for frozen and perishable foods. Well thats not going to happen as I have the supplies for a year with me. Wonder how much perishables are going to cost. Anchorage is the largest city in Alaska and contains half of the population This is where everone goes to get supplies. Great, as the brochure says it cost around $300 to $500 round trip to Anchorage.
Fifteen miles down the road is the town of Naknek with 575 people (King Salmon has 450). Ten miles down the other direction is Lake Camp where a few cabins and a boat ramp is located. It is the start of Katmai National Park. That is the extent of roads.
Brooks Camp is 30 miles by air from town and is the hub for the park and the only way to get there is by float plane. There is a lodge and campground and in July the park gets a large number of visitors when the bears arrive. There is a buffet at the lodge and a gift shop that has film, mailers, souvenirs, clothing, candy bars, pop and fishing gear. The Alaskan History Association sells eduction materials and Katmai logo items. Prices, they warn, are based on the remoteness of the location. In other words, expensive.
There are endless opportunities for hiking, boating, fishing, and wildife viewing. July and August is said to be grand swimming time. You can join the brown bear club which is like the polar bear club elsewhere and to be a member it is said you must swim once a month while there. (They are just kidding, I hope) You can charter an air taxi for a few $100s an hour to go to remote areas of the camp. Restaraunts offer good food at "bush" prices. The Brooks Camp buffet is $12 for breakfast, $18 for lunch and $28 for dinner.
Mosquitoes, whit sox, a type of biting fly, and no-seeums are numerous and some people have mild allergic reactions to the white sox bites so they say to bring benedryl. See I knew there would be things I would pack this week.
I can use my government computer for personal time before 8am and after 5pm and they work 99% of the time. There are public phones in numerous locations that can be accessed with a calling card so that works. Hopefully our house will have a phone and internet. No word on that yet but I am hopeful.
At the end of the brochure was a list of items they suggested to bring and a book list. Awesome. I copied the book list for you just in case your interested.
Partial List of Katmai ResourcesThis list is by no means a complete list of all the relevant information related to Katmai, but it is a starting point to basic Katmai knowledge and resources. Up to date information on Katmai National Park and Preserve can always be found from the park website at www.nps.gov/katm with links to some of the following sites.http://www.nature.nps.gov/im/units/swan/
Staying Safe in Bear Country: A Behavioral Based Approach to Reducing Risk. Wild Eye Productions, 2001 Video
Bear Facts The Essentials of Traveling in Bear Country
http://www.fs.fed.us/r10/tongass/forest_facts/safety/bearfacts.htm
Field Guide to the Pacific Salmon (Adopt-a-Stream Foundation) by Adopt-A-Stream Foundation and Robert Steelquist (Paperback - Aug 1992)
Alaska Department of Fish and Game Wildlife Notebook Series Juneau: ADF&G Public Communication Section, 1994.
http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/pubs/notebook/notehome.php
All about Alaska’s Birds can be found at Alaska Bird Observatory
http://www.alaskabird.org/
General Information related to many topics can be found at Alaska Science Forum University of Alaska Fairbanks
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/text/index.htmlHistory & Culture:Isolated Paradise: An Administrative History of the Katmai and Aniakchak National Park Units by Frank Norris, Anchorage: NPS Alaska Support Office, 1996.
http://www.nps.gov/katm/adhi/adhi.htm
A Naknek Chronicle: Ten Thousand Years in a Land of Lakes and River and Mountains of Fire by Don Dumond, NPS Publication 2005
Tourism in Katmai Country by Frank Norris NPS Publication available online
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/katm/index.htm
Building in an Ashen Land: Katmai National Park and Preserve Historic Resource Study by Janet Clemens, Frank Norris. Anchorage: NPS Alaska Support Office, 1990.
http://www.nps.gov/archive/katm/hrs/hrs.htm
Buried Dreams: A Rise and Fall of a Clam Cannery on the Katmai Coast by Katherine Johnston
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/katm/clam.pdf
National Park Service Legacy for information regarding the history and legacy of the National Park Service
http://www.nps.gov/legacy/
The National Park Service and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 (Administrative History) by G Frank Williss 1985
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/williss/adhib.htm
Alaska Native Heritage Center Web Links – Great links to all cultures in Alaska
http://www.alaskanative.net/25.asp
Looking Both Ways: Interactive Exhibit on the Heritage and Identity of the Alutiiq People of Southern Alaska
http://www.mnh.si.edu/lookingbothways/29 National Park Service Geology & Volcanoes:Alaska Volcano Observatory University of Alaska
http://avo.alaska.edu
Griggs, Robert., (Historic National Geographic Magazine Articles on 1912 Eruption)
…1918 The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes: an account of the discovery and exploration of the most wonderful volcanic region in the world: National Geographic Magazine, V.33, n.2, pgs 115 – 169
…1922, The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes: Washington DC, National Geographic Society, 340 p., 3 sheets, scale unknown
…1921, Our Greatest National Monument: The National Geographic Society Completes its Explorations in the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes: National Geographic Magazines, v. 40, n.3, pgs. 219-292
…1917, The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes: National Geographic Society explorations in the Katmai district of Alaska: National Geographic Magazine, v 31, n 1, pgs 13-68
Alaska’s Deadly Volcano. National Geographic – a video about the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes & Novarupta Volcano 1994
Witness: Firsthand accounts of the largest volcanic eruption in the Twentieth Century by Jeanne Schaaf - Anchorage NPS Lake Clark-Katmai studies center, April 2004
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/katm/witness.pdfWilderness:National Wilderness Preservation System - Great Site!
http://wilderness.nps.gov
Wilderness.net non-profit site about wilderness management
www.wilderness.net
Leave No Trace Ethics
www.lnt.org
Wild by Law (Wilderness Video) 52 Min Arthur Carhart Wilderness Center a film about different viewpoints of Wilderness
Arthur Carhart Wilderness Center - http://carhart.wilderness.net/Alaska Geographic Association Bookstore:www.alaskanha.org
A number of high quality guidebooks are available on birds, flowers, mammals, tracks, fish, and general park information. You can obtain a basic library set that could be taken to the field during your trip to greatly enhance a trip to Katmai. The park cannot recommend any certain series or book, so find one
A number of resources can be purchased from the Alaska Geographic Association (AGA) www.alaskanha.org . AGA is a cooperating association with Alaska’s National Parks, whose mission is to support education and interpretation in Alaskan Parks. A portion of the sales directly supports public lands in Alaska.Search the web for the following subjects to find books, DVDs, and other useful information: Alpine Tundra / Boreal Forest•
Brown Bears / Bear Viewing•
Sockeye Salmon•
Rainbow Trout•
Wilderness•
National Historic Landmark – Brooks River District•
Subsistence•
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA)•
Volcanism – Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, Nov
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