Page 30 - Breath of the Bear

Aerial Adventures

BRINGING THE WORLD TO KATMAI

landscape, The Valley of 10,000 Smokes. of Alaska. Working with the park service,
Today, like a mother nurturing her Peterson and his partner, John Walatka,
offspring, Katmai provides a harmonious set up fishing camps in Katmai, including
balance for Steller sea lions, sea otters, the park concession at Brooks Lodge and
all five species of salmon, orcas and Grosvenor Lodge.
thousands of brown bears. The protected Peterson passed on his love of flying
3.4 million acres on the Alaskan peninsula and extensive knowledge of Katmai to
stretches from Bristol Bay to the Aleutian both his son, Sonny, and grandson, Sean.
Range to the Pacific Ocean, beckoning all Their full day bear-viewing tour includes
who come to bask in nature’s unspoiled air transportation from Anchorage to
beauty. Brooks Falls at Katmai. On the way down
Katmai National Park and Preserve can to Katmai, the pilot will use their mastery
Katmai National Park holds a special not be accessed by car. For those coming of the landscape to point out spectacular
place in the heart of Alaskans. For 10,000 from the Anchorage area, Fly Katmai sites that can only be appreciated from
years, since the close of the last ice age, provides a trip of a lifetime to Brooks Falls, the air. Spending four to five hours in
the progression of humanity has marched the premier bear viewing destination in the preserve, you will see bears fish,
across the valley of Katmai. Natives, the preserve. Fly Katmai is owned and swim, socialize and establish dominance
travelers, trappers and settlers, a shared operated by a three generation aviation through a complex interplay of size,
humanity of people coming to either exist family. The founder, Ray Petersen, arrived strength and hierarchy. Fly Katmai’s
with the life-giving ecosystems, explore in Alaska in 1934 and he was inspired to expertise and experience will make your
the expansive wilderness or exploit the bring aviation to rural villages, where, journey to the preserve an unforgettable
abundant resources. In 1912, much of because of impassable terrain, the adventure. “Katmai is our speciality. It’s
the area was transformed when the airplane was their only link to the modern what we do. We have the best rate of
earth’s inner turmoil found its release in a world. Additionally, Petersen contributed reliability to get you from Anchorage to
volcanic eruption lasting three days. The significantly to the development of Brooks Falls,” says Sean Petersen. Flying
eruption blanketed some parts of Katmai tourism in Katmai and received the with excellence, the family continues
in ash and pumice hundreds of feet thick, recognition of being named the “Father of in the tradition of bringing the world to
resulting in a new name for the scarred Alaska Sport Fishing Lodges” by the state remote Alaskan areas.

28