Alaska's regions
Western Alaska
Salmon, gold and tourism in a land of prehistory, bears and volcanoes
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Katmai National Park
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Park has its bear-watching deck overlooking the Brooks River, as well as bus tours and hiking in the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, the ashy residue of the 1912 enormous explosion of Mount Katmai, or Novarupta.
Lake Clark National Park invites explorers to follow its trails, on both land and waterway.
Attractions
Kodiak (population 6,544), a Gulf of Alaska island that is America's second largest island, has a long history of Russian settlement (they came for sea otter furs). Visit Alaska's oldest building here, as well as a rocket-launching spaceport.
Unalaska / Dutch Harbor (4,051), in the near Aleutian Islands, is the country's busiest fishing port. It was bombed by the Japanese in World War II. The Museum of the Aleutians has valuable exhibits. Fishing boats focus on crab and pollock.
Nome (3,493) was created a century ago in a famous gold rush, and gold is still mined near town. In fact, you can pan for gleaming flakes of gold on the sandy Norton Sound beach east of town. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race ends here each year in mid-March.
Lodging
Hotels and B&Bs are available in the region's larger towns, such as Kodiak, Nome, Unalaska, Bethel and Dillingham. Wilderness fishing and hunting lodges are plentiful.
Climate
Southwestern Alaska's climate is famous, a stew of fog, rain and wind created by the collision of cold and warm currents in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea. Inland weather is drier, but the temperatures away from the water are more extreme. The nicest weather comes in early summer.
May, June and July often have the best combination of dry skies and warmth (July high temperatures in the low 60s). Kodiak and Unalaska, however, still get several inches of rain during those months. Nome is a lot drier, with temperatures reaching the midteens in March and mid-60s in July.
Get there
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