Updated September 27, 2026 10:15AM
Key takeaways: Outside contributor Gwen Pratesi shares a first-hand look at what it’s like to track the world’s largest bear—the Kodiak bear—in Alaska with Alutiiq guides whose ancestors have cohabitated with these massive animals on sacred lands for millennia. Alongside polar bears, Kodiak bears are considered the largest land carnivores on the planet.
As we set out by catamaran on Karluk Lake in Alaska’s Kodiak Archipelago, I am excited, though admittedly a bit nervous. It’s mid-August, and our small group is headed to the Thumb River, one of the best bear-viewing locations on Kodiak Island, the second largest island in the United States and home to the 1.9-million-acre Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. I had every reason to be trepidatious, knowing one of the world’s largest bears could cross my path at any moment.
These massive bears, a subspecies of the brown bear, are larger than other brown bears, rivaling polar bears in size—and are found only in the Kodiak Archipelago. They’ve been isolated from other brown bears, living in the Kodiak Archipelago for an astounding 12,000 years. An estimated 3,500 bears live across the island’s 3,595 square miles (nearly one bear per square mile), one of the densest bear populations in the world.
This isn’t my first time visiting Alaska to see bears in the wild. I’ve been to “The Great Land” eight times, four of which were for bear-viewing. But this is my first experience being led by the people who have lived with these animals for millennia. For this trip, my guides are all Alaska Natives from the remote Alutiiq-owned Kodiak Brown Bear Center and Lodge.
With images of Kodiak bears in my head and the breathtaking landscape around me, we hike through the temperate rainforest from the catamaran to the viewing spot on the Thumb River. The unspoiled verdant green mountains tower over grassy meadows as far as I can see, and low-lying clouds resemble an otherworldly scene from the movie Jurassic Park.
After making our way to the Thumb River, our lead guide and member of the Alutiiq/Sugpiaq community, Carl Christiansen Jr. (CJ), explains that the water levels are low because of the lack of rain, which means the salmon can’t swim into the river. When there’s no salmon, there are no bears; as they move to the coastal areas in search of fish or inland and up into the mountains looking for berries.
With no luck on the Thumb that first afternoon, we cast off for the shores of Karluk Lake, where we hope we’ll have better luck encountering one of the planet’s largest land-dwelling predators.
Kodiak Bears and Alaska’s Alutiiq culture
I’ve had the opportunity to view coastal brown bears in the wild several times in Alaska, including at Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park and Preserve, where Fat Bear Week originated, but this is my first trip to remote Kodiak Island to see Kodiak bears.
The Alutiiq community has a unique relationship with Kodiak bears, as their ancestors have cohabitated with these animals on sacred lands for millennia. Patrick Saltonstall, the archaeological curator of Kodiak Island’s Alutiiq Museum, tells me, “Alutiiq ancestors have used this area for at least 7,800 years—the earliest documented human settlement on Kodiak.”
Kodiak bears are part of Alutiiq culture and spiritual heritage, and have provided essential resources for survival, including food and warm clothes and bedding. The bears are respected for their strength, and the relationship between the Alutiiq people and the bears is believed to be connected to the spirit world.
The guides at Kodiak Brown Bear Center and Lodge, where I’m staying for four days, see these bears daily. They name them, learn their personalities and habits, follow the cubs as they grow up, and have the privilege of watching them return season after season. There’s a unique respect and understanding between the bears and the Indigenous guides, unlike other places where I’ve been for bear-viewing. The bears recognize the guides and feel safe, letting us into their world and allowing us to watch them, if only for a short time. My stay at the lodge includes six guided bear-watching experiences, so I’ll have plenty of opportunities to spot these massive bears.
A First Glimpse at Kodiak Bears
It isn’t until the morning of day two when I see my first Kodiak bear, a moment I had traveled all the way from Amelia Island in Northeast Florida to experience. From the catamaran, we can see the younger bear wandering along a rocky beach. While not as large as a full-grown bear, he was still magnificent to watch, with his glistening fur coat and huge claws digging between the rocks in search of food.
After our first encounter that day, we see bears on every outing from the lodge over the next three days. While we are not always successful at the Thumb River due to the low water levels, we see bears from the catamaran—many from just fifteen feet away: A mamma bear and her cubs fishing for salmon along the shoreline, another sow and her cubs atop a mountain ridge feasting on berries in the bushes, and the occasional boar or sow sauntering along the coast before disappearing into the brush.
We also follow two young sibling cubs recently emancipated from their mother as they play together along the rocky beaches, search for salmon, splash around in the water, and swim from one small island to another—including making their way to Camp Island. Harriett and Lloyd put on quite the show for us, including almost getting close enough to the catamaran to hop aboard.
Kodiak Brown Bear Center
Kodiak Brown Bear Center sits on Camp Island in the remote Karluk Lake region of the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. Accessible only by floatplane from the city of Kodiak, which is about a 1-hour flight from Anchorage, the lodge is located on sacred lands with thousands of years of history, ancestral village sites with 3,000-year-old sod homes, and the remains of ancient salmon camps.
Owned by the Alaska Native corporation Koniag, the intimate, all-inclusive wilderness lodge supports local youth through a unique model of Indigenous-led wildlife tourism that combines bear viewing, apprenticeship programs, and hands-on training for guides and other hospitality employees. They collaborate with Kodiak’s Alutiiq Museum, funding archaeological surveys and research. They’re also committed to minimal-impact tourism and conservation with sustainable energy efforts, including wind turbines and solar panels.
It’s a rare and special place where guests come from around the world to sleep among Kodiak bears in their habitat and see these remarkable animals up close.
Stacey Simmons, who is Alutiiq and from Kodiak Island, traveled with me to the lodge. She is vice president of Koniag Region Investments, the Alaska Regional Native Corporation that owns the lodge and represents the Alutiiq people on Kodiak Island.
“The bears are what bring many people here,” says Simmons. “But the deeper story is the connection between the land, the water, and the Indigenous people who have called this region home for countless generations.”
During my three-night stay, I also meet with Saltonstall and his team at a nearby active archaeological site. He is excited to share the Alutiiq Museum team’s findings from the current dig with our group: They have just discovered well-preserved sod homes at a fish camp and village they estimate date back 1,500 years. While some of the fish camps they’ve found around Karluk Lake were seasonal, Saltonstall tells us some of the villages were probably occupied for several months of the year. Saltonstall and the archaeological team believe this village was occupied as late as October and used to harvest late-run red salmon.
Saltonstall tells us how the team from the Alutiiq Museum shares the information with the local community through social media posts, their website and presentations, and we hear stories about growing up on Kodiak Island from Simmons and the team at the lodge. With the small community in Kodiak, approximately 13,000 residents across six villages, many of the families know each other and have grown up together.
More Than a Bear-viewing Experience
Arriving at Camp Island requires a few days of travel, and while there’s more travel involved getting to this remote lodge compared to my previous bear-watching experiences in Alaska, it’s worth the trek. The experience here feels more personal, intimate, and educational. In addition to learning about Kodiak bears and their habitat, the history of this region around Karluk Lake, and how the salmon runs impact so much of life here, I also come away with an appreciation for this special place and the Alutiiq term, Nunapet, which translates to “ties to our homeland.”
The lodge is one of the most unique places I’ve visited, combining bear-viewing of one of the largest land carnivores on the planet, with a true sense of place, history, and respect for the animals and Indigenous people who call it home.
On guided walks around Camp Island and the lodge, we find a bear den in the woods and signs of recent bear activity, including claw marks on a cabin’s exterior. It’s a reminder that we are guests in the bear’s home. And the lodge also has significant meaning for the people who work here from the local community. Koniag was incorporated to manage the Alutiiq people’s land and assets on Kodiak Island under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). The shareholders of Koniag and their descendants have access to certain benefits, including educational scholarships, regional advocacy within local governments, employment and apprenticeship programs, such as the one at the lodge.
Most of the employees at the lodge are from Kodiak. The only employee that isn’t an Alaska Native is the chef. “Over the last two years, I’ve had the chance to spend a lot of time on this land, and it’s something I never take for granted,” Nick Sholl, an Alutiiq lodge manager, tells me. “There’s something special about being able to share its beauty and history with our guests while also knowing I have a personal connection to it as a shareholder. It’s work I’m genuinely proud to be part of.”
One of the Alutiiq guides, Fallon, hands me a multi-colored and uniquely shaped stone she found on the last afternoon walk around the island, calling it a “friendship rock.” While I consider taking it home as a souvenir from my time with the Kodiak bears and my trip to this special part of Alaska, I realize it needs to stay where it belongs, on the sacred lands of Kodiak Island.
Gwen Pratesi is a Florida-based freelance journalist who fell in love with Alaska on her first road trip to the state 14 years ago. Since then, she’s visited the Great Land by land and sea eight times, including four trips focused on viewing brown and Kodiak bears in the wild. Her work has been recognized by the James Beard Award Foundation as a finalist in journalism.
