Kodiak Small Ship Cruises

Fol­low the trail that winds upward through tall grass cross­ing some wet places. After about 1.5 miles, you come to the lake, which is a beau­ti­ful place for a pic­nic or swim on a sun­ny day. Keep an eye out for upland birds, bear, deer, and goats.

Cab­in in the Kodi­ak Nation­al Wildlife Refuge

Whether you’re look­ing for a camp­site or fish­ing hole, glass­ing for birds, watch­ing for bears, or beach­comb­ing, this recre­ation site is a great spot to expe­ri­ence the won­ders of Kodi­ak Island with­out trav­el­ing too far.

Kodi­ak Island was a strate­gic out­post for both Rus­sians and Amer­i­cans, first used by Rus­sians as the head­quar­ters of the Russ­ian Amer­i­can Com­pa­ny (now Kodi­ak Har­bor). Take a tour at this muse­um with knowl­edge­able vet­er­ans and vol­un­teers and learn the his­to­ry of the Army and Navy on Kodi­ak Island and the Har­bor Defens­es front. Make sure you check out the eight-inch gun bar­rel, part of the defense sys­tem, which could fire up to 20 miles! Or…  ...more

This scenic, tran­quil bay is a great place to access the water (there’s a boat launch) and to start hikes. You can hike to a beaver dam from a turnoff on the right at MP 11.6. Look for the white gran­ite in the cliffs; this is the ​“back­bone” of the geol­o­gy here, the rock that the island is formed upon. From the end of the road, there is good hik­ing to a water­fall. To the right is a 2.5‑mile trail to Cas­cade Lake. You’ll have to cross the Red…  ...more

For a gen­tle stroll on a sur­faced path, Kodi­ak’s Bik­ing & Walk­ing Path begins at the cor­ner of Ben­ny Ben­son and Rezenof Road, and par­al­lels Rezanof north­ward 2 miles to the entrance to Fort Aber­crom­bie State His­tor­i­cal Park. This is a rel­a­tive­ly flat path used by jog­gers dog walk­ers, bik­ers and walk­ers, that trav­els past Mill Bay Beach, a French pas­try and cof­fee shop and the trail had to the Island Lake Trail. For a longer walk, add…  ...more

A six-mile round-trip hike that climbs to just over 2,000 feet, this climb will get you great views of Women’s Bay and the rolling moun­tains of the island. Look for ptarmi­gan up here…this is a hike the Audubon Soci­ety does annually.

Old Wom­ens Moun­tain hike pro­vides great views of Chini­ak Bay, the Coast Guard base and Kodi­ak city and har­bor. The sur­round­ing moun­tain scenery is breath­tak­ing. About ¹⁄₂ mile south of the air­port road, take a right turn on the paved road up to ​“Avi­a­tion Hill.” Turn left at the entrance to the sub­di­vi­sion and park at the end of the road behind the Coast Guard Loran build­ing. You will find the trail­head at the far end of the park­ing lot. An…  ...more

Cab­in in Kodi­ak Nation­al Wildlife Refuge acces­si­ble by boat or floatplane

Mayflower Beach is a black sand and stone beach with views across the bay to forest­ed hills and moun­tains. Lis­ten to the waves crash against the shore and smell the fresh ocean smell. Beach­comb­ing, pic­nick­ing, & hik­ing are all great things to do in this area.

This is where the wal­rus head from August through Novem­ber, as they move north in prepa­ra­tion for the win­ter pack ice. Vis­it only if the wal­rus­es have already left Round Island.

This qui­et lake is lined with USCG hous­ing, and has excel­lent views of Barom­e­ter and Pyra­mid Moun­tain. Stop by Lake Louise in the evening for a beau­ti­ful sunset.

The moun­tain range to the right is Devil’s Prongs and Barom­e­ter Moun­tain is to the left.

This is a well-used and busy ATV road that leads up the Amer­i­can Riv­er and over a pass to Saltery Cov­er. It is only open to trail bikes, ATVs and hik­ers. While it is pos­si­ble to hike the road, be aware that you will need to ford some streams.

The town’s most rec­og­niz­able build­ing, with icon­ic blue onion-like cupo­las capped by cross­es, this cathe­dral was estab­lished in 1794. That’s the year Russ­ian monk St. Her­man arrived in Kodi­ak. A benev­o­lent force in the col­o­niza­tion and exploita­tion of the Aleuts and Alu­ti­iqs, he was known for his care of the sick and dying dur­ing West­ern-intro­duced epi­demics, as well as his pro­tec­tion of the local pop­u­la­tions. He was can­on­ized in 1970,…  ...more

One of the best spots to check out WWII relics, there’s a short trail from the park­ing area on the side of the road.

This old bunker is open for explo­ration. If you make it this far on your hike, be sure to walk around the bunker and step inside to get a rough idea of how how sol­diers lived dur­ing WWII.

A pop­u­lar place for view­ing win­ter­ing Emper­or Geese.

Stop off at the bridge and fish or raft on Amer­i­can Riv­er (there’s a good fish­ing spot to the left when you get to the bridge).

This road was named for the design­er of the Alas­ka flag. Ben Ben­son cre­at­ed the navy blue flag with the stars of the big dip­per and the North Star when he was just 13, in 1927. ​“The blue field is for the Alas­ka sky and the for­get-me-not, an Alaskan flower. The North Star is for the future state of Alas­ka, the most norther­ly in the union. The Dip­per is for the Great Bear — sym­bol­iz­ing strength,” he wrote when sub­mit­ting his design. It was…  ...more

Found­ed in 1895 on Woody Island, the orphan­age and mis­sions were moved to town in 1937, fol­low­ing destruc­tion of the orig­i­nal build­ing by a fire. Part of a push to improve the liv­ing con­di­tions and edu­ca­tion of chil­dren in the new­ly formed ter­ri­to­ry of Alas­ka, the orphan­age has mor­phed into a mis­sion pro­gram that includes a food bank, after-school edu­ca­tion, sum­mer camps, and adven­ture programs.

A great place to vis­it with the fam­i­ly, this exten­sive cen­ter includes a salt­wa­ter touch tank and inter­pre­tive dis­plays on wildlife and the fish­ing indus­try. It’s also a base for marine research. There is a 3,500-gallon, 10-foot cylin­der aquar­i­um where you can watch the species of the cold salt­wa­ter envi­ron­ment sur­round­ing Kodi­ak. The touch-tank will let you look, han­dle, and learn about the vari­ety of species in the area’s tide pools: sea…  ...more

Deadman’s Curve pro­vides panoram­ic views of the har­bor and out­ly­ing islands.

When the U.S. Navy closed their Kodi­ak sta­tion, Fort Gree­ley, in 1972, the Coast Guard took over. This is now the country’s largest sta­tion, with almost 1,000 personnel.

Five days of fes­tiv­i­ties pep­pered with tra­di­tion­al and quirky tour­na­ments, games, races and com­pe­ti­tions. The fes­ti­val is held Thurs­day, Fri­day, Sat­ur­day, Sun­day, end­ing on Memo­r­i­al Day

Hope­ful­ly this life-size bronze stat­ue is the clos­est you’ll come to a Kodi­ak brown bear. The stat­ue hon­ors Charles Mad­sen, Kodiak’s pio­neer-era bear-hunt­ing guide and one of the first reg­is­tered guides in Alaska.

This is the high­est moun­tain close to town. If you tack­le this hike, you’re in for a climb, but a large por­tion of the trail is in the alpine, with beau­ti­ful flow­ers and tun­dra. You’ll be climb­ing 2,400 feet in ele­va­tion in just two miles. Watch for upland birds includ­ing Wil­low and Rock Ptarmi­gan, and Amer­i­can Pipits.

Whether you’re look­ing for a book on Alaskan his­to­ry, check­ing your e‑mail, or bring­ing the fam­i­ly for a kids’ activ­i­ty, the Kodi­ak library has ser­vices for both res­i­dents and vis­i­tors. A cor­ner­stone of the com­mu­ni­ty since it was found­ed in two shacks in the 1940’s, the library has grown to include an audio-visu­al wing and Alas­ka ref­er­ence room. It now offers some 200 mag­a­zines, sum­mer read­ing pro­grams, and local artwork.

Whether it’s your first or last stop on the island, make sure you vis­it this muse­um, which offer the best insight into the island’s her­itage. Not only will you find an impres­sive col­lec­tion here, but also a great staff; they’ll share sto­ries about vil­lage life, con­tin­ued tra­di­tions, and archae­ol­o­gy projects. With 100,000 arti­facts, some 50,000 pho­tos, and a total col­lec­tion of 250,000 pieces, the muse­um hous­es much of the his­to­ry of the…  ...more

A muse­um with­out walls, this orga­ni­za­tion has been work­ing since 1996 to pre­serve and rec­og­nize the island’s mar­itime his­to­ry. Their dis­plays around town include 14 inter­pre­tive signs at St. Paul Har­bor as well as three satel­lite exhibits. Check out the large, full-col­or pan­els that show­case the work of the Coast Guard, fish­er­men, and the species of fish they seek. The satel­lite exhibits, at the bank and col­lege, are con­stant­ly chang­ing; the…  ...more

Head­ing south­west out of town and then curv­ing towards the north, this rel­a­tive­ly short road offers access to salmon streams, wildlife habi­tat, hik­ing, win­ter recre­ation, the Coast Guard golf course, and a pro­tect­ed bay that’s great for sea kayak­ing and beachcombing.

Cab­in in Kodi­ak Nation­al Wildlife Refuge acces­si­ble by float plane

Hike these scenic ridges and lush meadows

Site of Russ­ian grist mill in the 1800s.

Watch the bus­tle of the seafood indus­try and get great pho­tos of a tru­ly giant ship — the Star of Kodi­ak is 441 feet long and can hold 10,000 tons of car­go! Pro­duced as part of a five-year gov­ern­ment pro­gram dur­ing WWII, this ship was con­struct­ed in Port­land, Maine and orig­i­nal­ly named the Albert M. Boe. Launched in 1945, it had only one year as an active mil­i­tary ship and saw very lit­tle action. Part of an impro­vised effort to get Kodi­ak back…  ...more

This was the largest base on Kodi­ak Island dur­ing WWII, and the cen­ter of the Har­bor Defens­es for Kodi­ak. At the peak, some 8,000 troops were sta­tioned here. Now all that remains are some unmarked buildings.

The short­est road out of town, Rezanof Dri­ve becomes Monash­ka Bay Road and runs north­west of Kodi­ak for 12 miles. On this dri­ve, you’ll get great views of the Spe­cif­ic coast, hik­ing trails, tide pools, a white-sand beach, and a museum.

About 20 min­utes from Kodi­ak, Wom­ens Bay is a cen­sus des­ig­nat­ed place with­in the Kodi­ak Island Bor­ough. Rough­ly 700 peo­ple live in the area, and as with the rest of the island, Wom­ens Bay is also home to abun­dant wildlife. If you’re by the water, check for Sea Otters and Sea Lions. You might even see a Har­bor Seal! Or if your’e inter­est­ed in Kodi­ak’s boats and air­crafts, USCG C‑130 air­craft and heli­copters may be seen on hangar apron, and…  ...more

A 17 mile one-way jaunt from Chini­ak High­way, this road was com­plet­ed along­side the devel­op­ment of the Alas­ka Aero­space Cor­po­ra­tion launch site, which is at the end of the road. In addi­tion to access­ing the pri­vate site, the paved road offers recre­ation­al­ists and trav­el­ers access to great fish­ing beach­es and rivers, surf spots, state parks, and scenic views of alpine pass­es and ocean. There’s also a pri­vate ranch here, where semi-domesticated  ...more

Good fish­ing site. Kodi­ak Island Sports­men Asso­ci­a­tion Fir­ing Range. MP 11.6, Chini­ak Highway

One of the eas­i­est beach­es to access from town, this park has a nice over­look and excel­lent water­front with pic­nic sites. In late July through Sep­tem­ber, you can fish from the beach for sil­ver and pink salmon. Bird­ing is good year round, but it’s espe­cial­ly great dur­ing the winter.

Watch for cat­tle as you dri­ve through open range. You can admire the views from the bridge, or take the trail up Sharatin Cirque & Moun­tain and explore flow­ery slopes and signs of wildlife, includ­ing Moun­tain Goats, Pip­its, and Ptarmigan.

Monash­ka Bay with Monash­ka Mt. in the background.

Only lim­it­ed access is allowed to this mil­i­tary reser­va­tion. Access the trails through the pedes­tri­an gates in the fence at the end of Wood­land Dri­ve. Walk along an old road to the cape. There are nice short hikes along the sea cliffs and a north­east­er­ly beach. This area is espe­cial­ly rec­om­mend­ed on stormy nd rainy days when east­er­ly gales will unveil the ocean’s fury. The wild­flower mead­ows are beau­ti­ful rest­ing spots on calm sun­ny days in…  ...more

Just over the bridge, this park offers easy beach walk­ing and great pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties of Kodi­ak. Snap shots of the water­front, have a pic­nic, or enjoy qui­et beach­es. The park is forest­ed, with excel­lent spruce groves that are silent havens for birds and squir­rels. There’s excel­lent bird watch­ing at the end of the trail. Walk the mossy earth and head over to the peb­ble beach­es — it’s a great mid­day retreat close to town.

This is Kodiak’s most pop­u­lar moun­tain, and for good rea­son: It’s a chal­lenge, the views are stun­ning, and it feels like a true moun­tain climb — there’s a 2,073-foot ele­va­tion gain in just a few miles. A well-trod trail leads up the ridge, which you can access from the end of the air­port run­way. Fol­low an old grav­el road to the north­east ridge, where a trail breaks on your left. The first part runs through the brush, but you’ll break into open…  ...more

Dur­ing sum­mer the mead­ows are full of wild­flow­ers and the views of Chini­ak Bay are spec­tac­u­lar. The south cape is a good place to look for Horned and Tuft­ed Puffins, Bal­ck-legged Kit­ti­wakes, Pelag­ic and Dou­ble-crest­ed Cor­morants, Black Oys­ter­catch­ers and var­i­ous ducks includ­ing Har­le­quins, scot­ers and Long-tailed Ducks.

Apt­ly named, this island is close to town (you can walk over the bridge or dri­ve here) and is an inter­est­ing place to explore by foot, bike, or car. The island is home to St. Herman’s Har­bor (where big boats dock), a float plane land­ing site, and the Fish­eries Research Cen­ter. You can also spot sea lions from Ramp 3 at the boat harbor.

Open from May to Sep­tem­ber, this is the only golf course on the island. This nine-hole course fea­tures a full ser­vice pro shop and dri­ving range; it’s oper­at­ed by the U.S. Coast Guard but open to pub­lic. The course opens ear­ly and clos­es ​“two hours before sun­set,” which means you’ll have the oppor­tu­ni­ty for some late rounds dur­ing sum­mer sol­stice! http://​www​.kodi​akmwr​.com/​g​o​l​f​.​shtml

Loved by locals and trav­el­ers alike, this 182-acre state park has numer­ous trails, beach­es, and rocky view­points. For his­to­ry buffs, the trails take you past bunkers and relics from WWII out­posts in the area. You’ll also find sum­mer nat­u­ral­ist pro­grams where you can learn about ecol­o­gy as well as ocean and for­est creatures.

It’s rare when a Nation­al Wildlife Refuge has an amaz­ing vis­i­tor cen­ter, but this one is a must-see. Kids and adults will love the dis­plays, includ­ing the com­plete skele­ton of a grey whale. You can learn about the grey whale migra­tion from Baja to the Bering Sea, the food they eat, their evo­lu­tion­ary devel­op­ments, and the sev­en-year process of dis­cov­er­ing and trans­port­ing the skele­ton to the muse­um. The cen­ter also coor­di­nates educational…  ...more

This trail can be hard to fol­low as it mean­ders through wet areas, thick veg­e­taion and up salmonber­ry slopes before it reach­es the rich sub­alpine mead­ows and even­tu­al­ly leads into a bowl-shaped glacial cirque at the base of the moun­tain. There is plen­ty of great bird habi­tat along the trail so watch for pip­its and ptarmi­gan up high and song­bird and snipe in the low­er elevations.

There’s a radio receiv­er & emer­gency phone avail­able to the right.

A curvy road fol­low­ing the shore­line south from town, this 42-mile high­way will take you past the U.S. Coast Guard Sta­tion, salmon streams, long ocean inlets, and exposed surf beaches.

Open since the late 1800’s, the B&B Bar dis­plays the state’s old­est liquor license. It’s a cozy lit­tle spot across from the inner har­bor. You can find plen­ty of cold beer (but no food) and local col­or here. TVs and pool table.

The trail par­al­lels Island Lake Creek, which tum­bles steeply through the woods over falls and boul­ders. This is a good place to see dip­pers, as well as for­est birds such as win­ter wrens, var­ied thrush, chick­adees, nuthatch­es and creepers.

One of the area’s more pop­u­lar hikes (or dri­ves, as there’s a road to the top), Pil­lar Moun­tain offers a mod­er­ate, 2.5‑mile climb to an alpine sum­mit over­look­ing town. Your heart, lungs, and legs may burn, but you’ll have great views and see excel­lent wild­flow­ers, as most of the trail is above tree­line. You’ll rec­og­nize the peak, since it dom­i­nates the sky over Kodi­ak. And if you get wind­ed on this hike, con­sid­er the run­ners who race up here…  ...more

Come to this down­town har­bor to see salmon-fish­ing boats, long­lin­ers, and crab­bers, as well as guide-oper­at­ed sport-fish­ing boats and per­son­al sail­boats. There are 250 slips here, account­ing for rough­ly one-third of the boats in Kodi­ak. Walk the docks and see if you can iden­ti­fy a trawler, sein­er, or crab­ber. The fish­er­men will have already ​“pitched” their catch, but you can still watch them chop­ping bait, mend­ing nets, or shov­ing off for…  ...more

Locat­ed in the old­est stand­ing build­ing in Alas­ka, this muse­um is filled with arti­facts, pho­tog­ra­phy, and art­work record­ing the his­to­ry of Kodi­ak. You’ll find exhibits from the time of the Alu­ti­iq Natives, to king crab­bing and dai­ly life in the 1980s, all the way up to the present. Their focus, though, is Russ­ian-Amer­i­can his­to­ry and the island’s ear­ly Amer­i­can his­to­ry. Inspect the design exper­tise of the Alu­ti­iqs while exam­in­ing that…  ...more

Hap­py beach is a black sand and stone beach. Lis­ten to the waves crash against the shore and smell the fresh ocean smell. Beach­comb­ing, pic­nick­ing, & hik­ing are all great things to do in this area.

Kodi­ak Island Brew­ing Com­pa­ny opened in 2003 and is the only brew­ery on the island. Their invit­ing Tap­room allows locals and vis­i­tors to sam­ple some brews, enjoy a pint or two or take a growler to go. 

Sit down at this beach and watch the air oper­a­tions at one of the largest Coast Guard bases in the U.S. Locat­ed next to the Kodi­ak air­port, avi­a­tion enthu­si­asts will be well-entertained.

MP 17.7 , Chini­ak Highway

Sure, you’ll find all the mak­ings of a great state fair here, includ­ing con­tests (don’t miss the deli­cious bak­ing con­test) and games that make for fam­i­ly fun. But the rodeo is def­i­nite­ly a high­light: it’s a taste of the Wild West, Alas­ka-style, com­plete with bull rid­ing and a horse show. You’ll also see one of the odd­est small-town con­tests any­where: a cow-milk­ing con­test, where audi­ence mem­bers are invit­ed to chase down small cows and milk  ...more

MP 3.2, Anton Larsen Bay Rd

This is the for­mer site of a Russ­ian brick­yard and is cur­rent­ly the site of an archae­o­log­i­cal exca­va­tion. You can also access the Iron Gate Beach.

Cross Fox Lakes on Kodi­ak Island are an excel­lent des­ti­na­tion for a fam­i­ly out­ing, pic­nic, or swim on a hot sum­mer day. You can con­tin­ue past the lakes and explore the ter­rain far­ther up the val­ley. In win­ter, the lakes are a great place for ice skating.

Kodi­ak Island is a wide­ly known bear-view­ing hotspot. The eco-focused Kodi­ak Brown Bear Cen­ter & Lodge — owned by the Alu­ti­iq peo­ple, who have inhab­it­ed Kodi­ak Island for more than 7,000 years— offers the thrilling oppor­tu­ni­ty to see these amaz­ing crea­tures for your­self. Choose from a 3‑, 4‑, or 7‑night pack­age. Each day includes guid­ed excur­sions to one of three bear-view­ing locations.

Sit­u­at­ed near the base of Pil­lar Moun­tain — the back­drop for the City of Kodi­ak — Emer­ald Isle Bed & Break­fast is con­ve­nient­ly locat­ed about ¹⁄₂ mile from the down­town area. 

MP 24.4, Chini­ak Highway

MP 12.8, Chini­ak Highway

Take a stroll from Hap­py Beach North around the point to dis­cov­er the more seclud­ed Hol­i­day Beach. Bring match­es and fire starter with you. Look for drift­wood to start a fire and enjoy a cold beer in the sun.

Whether you’re look­ing for world class bear-view­ing or want to expe­ri­ence a breath­tak­ing flight­see­ing tour, Kodi­ak-based Island Air Ser­vice can make it hap­pen. Start your bear-view­ing tour in Kodi­ak, and you’ll have a short­er flight time com­pared to leav­ing from Anchor­age. Even if you’re just here for a day while your cruise ship is in port, it’s easy to fly out and wit­ness the majesty of these impres­sive creatures.

Access: Pub­lic Sports: Air­gun Archery Indoor Pis­tol — 75 feet Indoor Rifle — 75 feet Muz­zle­load­ing Out­door Pis­tol — 50 to 500 yards Out­door Rifle — 100 & 500 yards Pis­tol Sil­hou­ette Rifle Silhouette

From Kodi­ak Island to the Kat­mai coast, King­fish­er Avi­a­tion will cus­tomize each trip, mak­ing for an intense­ly per­son­al expe­ri­ence. Their most pop­u­lar excur­sion includes a flight to a bear-view­ing hotspot, where you can see 8 to 10 bears swip­ing at salmon swim­ming upstream. King­fish­er also offers short­er scenic flight­see­ing tours with­out the bear-view­ing stop.