Alaska's regions
Western Alaska
Salmon, gold and tourism in a land of prehistory, bears and volcanoes
Alaska.com
Western Alaska is a crossroads of continents, where North American and Asian cultures meet and sometimes collide.
Western Alaska -- from the coast of the Bering Sea and Pacific Ocean inland to a line from Kodiak Island north to the Arctic Circle -- has for millennia been the home of Inupiat, Yupik, Aleuts and Athabascans.
Anthropologists seem to agree that the first North Americans either walked across the now-submerged Bering Land Bridge or boated across what is now a 55-mile gap about 13,000 years ago and then spread across Alaska and down the continent.
In the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands, volcanoes and daily earthquakes remind everyone that Mother Earth is alive and kicking.
Wildlife
Brown bears helped make Kodiak Island and Katmai National Park famous, but the bears are almost everywhere in the region.
Other large land mammals include moose, caribou and wolves. At sea, watch for humpback, gray and killer whales, as well as sea lions, seals and sea otters.
Nine national wildlife refuges in Western Alaska provide nesting grounds for millions of migratory birds.
Outdoors
Western Alaska was made for people who love outdoor activities.
Kayakers and rafters savor Western Alaska's nine national wild and scenic rivers. Wood-Tikchik State Park, near Dillingham, is the state's largest state park. Remote Aniakchak National Monument, which has a fine rafting river, is the country's least visited national park.
Anglers pursue enormous rainbow trout and fish for salmon in Kodiak and Bristol Bay-area streams thick with kings, silvers and reds. The state record halibut, a 459-pounder on display at the Anchorage airport's north terminal, came from Unalaska. Hunters match wits with bears, moose and caribou.
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