And then there are the bears. The Kodiak brown bear — taquka'aq in Alutiiq, Ursus arctos middendorffi to science — is the largest brown bear on Earth, found only on this archipelago: big males can top 1,500 pounds standing ten feet tall, fattened on salmon runs and berry slopes. About 3,500 of them share the island with the town, most inside the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, which has protected two-thirds of the island since 1941. Bear viewing — by floatplane, boat, or guided hike — is the island's signature wild experience.
Today Kodiak is Alaska in concentrate — a seven-thousand-year Alutiiq homeland, the first capital of Russian Alaska, a top American fishing port, the Coast Guard's largest base, and bear country without apology. Its story runs from Sun'aq through Three Saints Bay and Paul's Harbor, ash and tsunami, to the harbor forest of masts. Wear a little of the Emerald Isle.
Why People Visit Kodiak Alaska
Kodiak offers Alaska in concentrate — the deepest Russian heritage in the state, a 7,000-year Alutiiq homeland, a top American fishing port, and the only place on Earth to meet the Kodiak bear at home. People come for the bears and the fishing, and find the Emerald Isle: green, rain-washed, and genuinely wild ten minutes from town.
