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.
The faith the Russians brought outlasted the fur company. The Holy Resurrection parish, founded in 1794, is the oldest Russian Orthodox parish in North America, and its most beloved figure — the gentle monk Herman of Spruce Island, defender of the Alutiiq against the company's abuses — was canonized in Kodiak in 1970 as Saint Herman of Alaska, the first Orthodox saint of the Americas. His relics rest in the church downtown, and pilgrims still cross to Spruce Island every August.
Why People Visit Kodiak Alaska
- Go bear viewing in the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge — floatplane, boat, or guided hike to watch the biggest brown bears on Earth work a salmon stream.
- Walk the Russian layer downtown: the Baranov Museum in the c. 1808 Magazin, the Holy Resurrection church and Saint Herman's relics, and the Alutiiq Museum's 7,000-year story.
- Hike Fort Abercrombie State Historical Park — WWII gun emplacements in the spruce above the cliffs — and Pillar Mountain over town.
- Fish the famous water: charters for halibut and salmon, the Buskin River run, and the harbor's forest of masts.
- Ride out to Narrow Cape for the spaceport road, surf-watching, and buffalo on the hills.
- Ferry or floatplane to the wild edges — Shuyak Island's kayak country and Spruce Island's pilgrim trail.
