29 Best Sights in The Bush, Alaska

At Katmai's biggest draw, Brooks Falls, viewing platforms overlook the 6-foot cascade. Here, salmon leap upriver to their spawning grounds while brown bears stand on the edge of the falls to catch them, particularly in July and September. An access trail and boardwalk are separated from the river to avoid confrontations with bears. Note, too, that the daily tour to the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes starts from nearby Brooks Lodge, and there's camping at Brooks Camp ($18 nightly per person per night in peak season, June–mid-September; $10 at other times). It's a good idea to reserve a spot for high season.

Undoubtedly the most dramatic human-made sight in Unalaska is the Holy Ascension Russian Orthodox church. The blue, onion-domed chapel right on the edge of Iliuluk Bay is arguably the most perfectly intact and authentic Russian church left in Alaska, and one of the most scenic churches anywhere. The extant buildings date to the 1890s, although there has been a church on the site since 1808. Now a National Historic Landmark, Holy Ascension is one of the oldest cruciform-style Russian churches in the nation, and it houses one of Alaska's richest collections of Russian artifacts, religious icons, and artwork. Next to the church is the Bishop's House. A walk in the graveyard between the two buildings captures some of the history of the area. Tours of the church can be arranged through the Unalaska/Dutch Harbor Convention and Visitors Bureau.

At the northern end of the Alaska Peninsula, this sanctuary protects the world's largest gathering of brown bears. During the July to mid-August chum season, when salmon return to spawn, 50, 60, or even 70 brown bears congregate daily at the McNeil River falls to fish, eat, play, nap, and nurse cubs. The action happens within 15 to 20 feet of a viewing pad, so close that you can hear these magnificent creatures breathe and catch a whiff of their wet fur. Only 10 people a day can visit the viewing sites, and staffers (armed) are on hand to ensure that everyone behaves in nonthreatening, nonintrusive ways.

Because demand is so high, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game issues permits via a mid-March lottery. Applications and a nonrefundable $30 fee must be received by March 1, and Alaska residents get preferential treatment. Those who win pay an additional fee of just over $112 to $525, depending on the type of permit and the holder's residency. Air taxis to the sanctuary fly out of Homer on the Kenai Peninsula. Once in the sanctuary, all travel is by foot and guided by state biologists. Permit holders camp on gravel pads, in a protected area near a communal cook house, and must bring all their food.

This remarkable museum highlights the cultural, military, and natural history of the Aleutian and Pribilof islands. You'll find an exhaustive array of objects representing the region's history, from gut parkas and repatriated religious artifacts to original drawings from Captain Cook's third voyage. The exhibits also give glimpses into the Unangax̂ way of life, as well as illustrating the impact of Russian contact and occupation, the gold rush, World War II, the fishing industry, and more. In the summer, the museum sponsors archaeological digs as well as periodic lectures by visiting scientists, historians, and researchers. It also offers a range of guided tours, indoors and out. You can take gallery or special collections tours in the museum, or venture out on a city walk, a Bunker Hill hike, a driving tour of Amaknek Island, or a morning history and photography tour.

The Porcupine caribou herd, with nearly 200,000 animals, migrates through Alaska's Arctic and Canada's adjacent Vuntut and Ivvavik National Parks, flowing like a river of animals across the expansive coastal plain, through U-shape valleys and alpine meadows, and over high mountain passes. Their range includes the Northwest Territories and Yukon of Canada, and Arctic Alaska, where many give on the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge. The herd's numbers appear strong, though the threat of oil and gas drilling and climate change on their birthing and nursing grounds worries many Arctic communities in Alaska and Canada.

The largest of the Pribilof Islands at 40 square miles, St. Paul Island is home to the greatest concentration of northern fur seals in the world—500,000 of them—and more than 180 varieties of birds. The island offers a guaranteed treat for folks who love birds and marine animals. The Unangax̂ people lived in the Aleutian Islands south of St. Paul and traditionally traveled to the Pribilofs seasonally for hunting. Russian fur traders claimed and named St. George, St. Paul, and St. Peter islands, and then enslaved and relocated Unangax̂ people in Atka, Siberia, and Unalaska to the islands to hunt for fur seals. Hundreds of descendants of these first nation people live in St. Paul year-round now, and the community has many elements of Unangax̂ culture as well as Russian Orthodox influences, easily seen in the Saints Peter and Paul Church, built in 1907. There's a small museum nearby.

Anchorage's Alaska Regional Hospital has been operating Alaska Regional LifeFlight Air Ambulance since 1985. It might seem far to go if you get hurt in, say, Kotzebue, but the crew begins emergency care as soon as a passenger is picked up. In true Alaska fashion, planes taxi right up to the hospital's entrance like regular ambulances.

Through old newspapers, memorabilia, video footage, and exhibits about the Aleutian Campaign, this quaint visitor center outside the Unalaska Airport preserves bits of history from Alaska's little-known role in the war. The Aleutian Islands saw heavy fighting through much of World War II; at the peak of the war, more than 60,000 servicemen were stationed here in the farthest and most brutal reaches of the United States. On June 3 and 4, 1942, the Japanese bombed Dutch Harbor and landed in the far reaches of the Aleutians a few days later. The Japanese military forces took entire villages and outposts captive in Kiska and Attu, with many of those captured transported to Japan as prisoners of war. The center is within easy walking distance of the ferry terminal and open June through September.

The historic area also includes Ft. Schwatka, a U.S. Army base poised on a mountain that contained over 100 structures when fully built out. You can do a group or self-guided walking tour of the fort by getting an access permit from the Ounalashka Corporation at 400 Salmon Way or at the visitor center.

This parkland of 586,000 acres contains an extraordinary living volcano that rises to the south of Katmai. Towering more than 4,400 feet above the landscape, the volcano also has one of the largest calderas in the world, with a diameter averaging 6 miles across and 2,500 feet deep. Although Aniakchak last erupted in 1931, geologists place the first eruption after the last ice age because of the lack of glaciation. The Aniakchak climate brews mist, clouds, and serious wind much of the year. The caldera is so big that it can create its own weather patterns, and it really seems to like the bad stuff. Although the Aniakchak River (which drains Surprise Lake) is floatable, it has stretches of Class III and IV white water navigable only by expert river runners, and you must travel through open ocean waters to reach the nearest community, Chignik Bay (or get picked up by plane, along the coast). In other words, this is not a place for the unprepared or untested. An alternate way to enjoy Aniakchak is to wait for a clear day and fly to it in a small plane that will land you on the caldera floor or on Surprise Lake. There are no trails, campgrounds, ranger stations, or other visitor facilities here, though there are plenty of bears and mosquitoes.

North of Nome, look for the landmark seen by sea, air, or land. Anvil Mountain offers a panoramic view of Nome, the Bering Sea, Cape Nome, and the Kigluaik Mountains. It takes about an hour to hike up the mountain and back down, and promises a chance to see birds, musk oxen, and maybe other animals, as well as wildflowers in bloom during the warmer months. As this is the city's lone peak, anyone in town will be able to direct you there. Be sure to carry mosquito repellent.

The Arctic Refuge includes one of the few protected Arctic coastal lands in the United States, as well as millions of acres of mountains and alpine tundra in the easternmost portion of the Brooks Range. Hundreds of thousands of birds, caribou, and other animals move across the Arctic Refuge during their annual migrations, relying on the area to nurse and feed their young while finding refuge from insects and predators. The Iñupiat and Gwich'in peoples have lived in relationship with the lands of the Arctic Refuge for millennia. These homelands provide the source of their cultures and life ways. The Gwich'in consider the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge "Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit"—or "the sacred place where life begins"—because it feeds and protects the Porcupine caribou herd, which in turn feeds and provides the cultural foundation for the Gwich'in people. The quest for oil in the coastal plain has become a divisive issue that pits corporate interests and proponents of oil extraction against those seeking to protect the planet, take climate action, and sustain traditional ways of life, and animal and human life for generations to come. A lease sale of land in the coastal plan occurred in January 2021 with no major oil companies bidding, but the push to drill on these sacred lands continues. 

The coastal area of the Arctic Refuge also provides critical denning grounds for polar bears, which spend much of their year on the Arctic Ocean's pack ice. Other wildlife include grizzly bears, Dall sheep, wolves, musk ox, and dozens of varieties of birds, from snowy owls to geese and tiny songbirds. As in many of Alaska's more remote parks and refuges, there are no roads here, and no developed trails, campgrounds, or other visitor facilities. Counterintuitively, for such a notoriously brutal geography, the plants and permafrost are quite fragile. The ground can be soft and wet in summer months, so walk with care: footprints in the tundra can last 100 years. Plan for snow in almost any season, and anticipate subfreezing temperatures even in summer, particularly in the mountains. Many of the clear-flowing rivers are runnable, and tundra lakes are suitable for base camps (air taxis can drop you off and pick you up).

Stretching along the southern edge of the Alaska Peninsula, these two refuges encompass nearly 6 million acres of towering mountains, glacial lakes, broad tundra valleys, and coastal fjords. Volcanoes dominate the landscape—14 in all, nine of them active—and the waters are known for their salmon and grayling. The world-record grayling, nearly five pounds (most weigh a pound or less), was caught at Ugashik Narrows in 1981. Remote and rugged, with the peninsula's signature unpredictable weather, the Becharof and Alaska Peninsula Refuges draw mostly anglers and hunters. Backpackers, river runners, and mountain climbers also occasionally visit.

Some people hike the Kanatak Trail in Becharof, a route between the Pacific Ocean and Bristol Bay via Becharof Lake that was used by people residing on the Peninsula for at least 1,900 years. Early Russian and American settlers continued using the trail and developed settlements on either end, and oil exploration in the 20th century brought people who settled in the Pacific Kanatak—they built unpaved roads on top of the old walking routes. The last residents left in the 1950s. If you walk the trail now, you'll see the remnants of the the old roads and trail, along with plenty of animals and no other humans. It's not a long hike—about 5 miles—but the weather, terrain, and other elements can be challenging, so come prepared.

The frozen ash and lava of the 2.8-million-acre Bering Land Bridge National Preserve lie between Nome and Kotzebue, immediately south of the Arctic Circle, one of the most remote parks in the world. The Lost Jim lava flow is the northernmost flow of major size in the United States, and the paired maars (clear volcanic lakes) are a geological rarity.

Of equal interest are the paleontological features of this preserve. Sealed into the permafrost are flora and fauna—bits of twigs and leaves, tiny insects, small mammals, even the fossilized remains of woolly mammoths—that flourished here when the Bering Land Bridge linked North America to what is now Russia. "Bridge" is something of a misnomer; essentially, the Bering Sea was dry at the time, and the intercontinental connection was as much as 600 miles wide in places. Early people wandered through this treeless landscape, perhaps following sources of food and materials, such as the musk ox, whose descendants still occupy this terrain, or the mammoths and steppe bison, which are both long gone. Flowering plants thrive in this seemingly barren region, about 250 species in all, and tens of thousands of migrating birds can be seen in season. More than 100 species, including ducks, geese, swans, sandhill cranes, and various shorebirds and songbirds, come here from around the world each spring.

Just downstream from Brooks Falls, you can fish for salmon and rainbow trout in Brooks River. Sometimes only fly-fishing is permitted, and there are seasonal closures to prevent contact with bears, so check locally for the latest information.

This museum, located in the Richard Foster Building, holds the long-term exhibit Nome: Hub of Cultures and Communities Across the Bering Strait, which centers on five Arctic themes and involves interactive environments, such as an Iñupiat skin boat and miner's tent, along with hands-on technology to help engage the narratives. A second space contains a changing contemporary exhibit that typically features a regional artist or artists.

The most northern of national parks, in the central Brooks Range, Gates of the Arctic encompasses 8.4 million acres and six National Wild and Scenic Rivers: the Alatna, John, Kobuk, Noatak, North Fork Koyukuk, and Tinayguk. To the north are both Arctic foothills, with colorful tilted sediments and pale-green tundra, and tundra mountain terrain that cups lovely, albeit buggy, lakes. Wherever you go, prepare for dense vegetation, tussocks, boggy ground, and frequent stream and river crossings that significantly slow your progress. Experienced hikers consider 6 miles a good day.

People have lived in relationship with this landscape for thousands of years. Private and Native Corporation lands within the park, along with cairns and other signs of prior inhabitants, demonstrate how much life still thrives in the area. Once you get into the park, you will understand why the landscape caught the attention of Robert Marshall in the 1930s. Known as an early conservationist, Marshall explored much of the region with local guides, and he gave Western names to many of its features, including Frigid Crag and Boreal Mountain, two peaks on either side of the North Fork Koyukuk River. These were the original "gates" for which the park is named.

The park nourishes wildlife like caribou, grizzlies, wolves, musk oxen, moose, Dall sheep, wolverines, and smaller mammals and birds. The communities of Anaktuvuk Pass, Bettles, and Coldfoot are access points for Gates of the Arctic. Park rangers stationed in these communities can provide information and guidance for those going into the park, including the mandatory orientation films and bear-resistant canisters.

Adjacent to Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, 6.5-million-acre Noatak National Preserve encompasses much of the basin of the Noatak River. This is the largest mountain-ringed river basin in the country, and part of it is designated by the National Park Service as a Wild and Scenic River. The river carves out the "Grand Canyon of the Noatak" over 425 miles and serves as a migration route between arctic and subarctic ecosystems. Its importance to wildlife and plants has resulted in its designation as an International Biosphere Reserve. The Noatak River also serves as a natural highway for humans and has for thousands of years. These days, river runners head here because of its beauty, inviting tundra for camping, and good hiking in the nearby Poktovik Mountains and Igichuk Hills. Birding can be exceptional; horned grebes, gyrfalcons, golden eagles, parasitic jaegers, owls, terns, and loons are among the species you may see. You may also spot grizzly bears, Dall sheep, wolves, caribou, and lynx, as well as the occasional musk ox. The most frequently run part of the river, ending at Lake Machurak, is mostly an easy Class I–III paddle. As with other parks and preserves in this northwest corner of Alaska, no visitor facilities are available and you are expected to be self-sufficient. Do not forget first-aid supplies, clothing for all conditions, and precautions for being on the water and around wildlife. Most trips on the Noatak use the inland town of Bettles as a gateway.

Stop by the Nome Convention & Visitors Bureau for a historic-walking-tour map, a city map, and information on local activities. The offerings do a good job capturing Nome's historic and current role as a gateway to the vast expanses of western Alaska.

About 140 miles southwest of Bethel and separated from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta by the Etolin Strait, Nunivak Island is part of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. The terrain includes interior craters and deep lakes from the island's volcanic origins, plus over 40 rivers and a tundra that gives way to shorelines and lagoons. The island sustains a large herd of reindeer managed by residents of the only permanent settlement on the island, the Cup'ik village of Mekoryuk. There's also a transplanted herd of musk ox, along with vast seabird colonies, migratory birds, and an array of sea mammals. For information on the island and travel options, contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Bethel.

If you're hiking the wildflower-carpeted tundra around Kotzebue, you are entering a living museum dedicated to permafrost, the permanently frozen ground that lies just a few inches below the spongy tundra. Even Kotzebue's 6,000-foot airport runway is built on permafrost—with an insulating layer between the frozen ground and the airfield surface to ensure that landings are smooth. These days, thawing permafrost can cause problems for communities like Kotzebue: as the ice that binds frozen ground melts due to warm temperatures, the ground collapses and splits, damaging buildings, roads, and other infrastructure. For people in these communities, ice cellars may no longer keep food cold and safe, and thawing permafrost can lead to erosion, impacting sources of water. Other times, tundra lakes can disappear altogether as the surface water percolates down into the thawing soils.

Named after Thomas "Pinky" Sekanoff, who walked across the Bering Strait to escape the Russian Revolution in the early 1900s, the 22-acre Pinky's Park remembers his life in Bethel and constant goodwill toward the kids in the community. Take a stroll on the park's nearly 2 miles of wooden boardwalks, decks, and trails. These structures are engineered to hold up to the often harsh climate while not damaging the tundra underneath. There's also a nice community garden, along with a playground and multiuse sports field that acts as a hub for all of Bethel's July 4 festivities.

Tiny green islets rise out of the surging waters of the Bering Sea in the misty, fog-bound Pribilof Islands, where seabirds and northern fur seals breed and feed. Treeless, the small land masses display rippling belts of lush grass contrasting with volcanic rock. In early summer, seals return from far off Pacific waters to mate, and the larger islands, St. Paul and St. George, are overwhelmed with frenzied activity. Although St. Paul and St. George are less than 50 miles apart, the island group itself is a 1,600-mile round-trip from Anchorage, over the massive snowy peaks of the Alaska Peninsula and north of the rocky islands of the Aleutian chain.

Few visitors go to the Pribilofs except commercial fishermen and dedicated bird and animal watchers. Yet together, St. Paul and St. George Islands are seasonal homes to hundreds of thousands of fur seals (about 80 percent of them on St. Paul) and nearly 250 species of birds, some who migrate from as far away as Argentina, while others are year-round residents. Most spectacular of all is the islands' seabird population: each summer more than 2 million seabirds gather at traditional Pribilof nesting grounds and about 90 percent of them breed on St. George.

St. George Island is home to more than 100 people and sustains an array of bird and animal life, including fur seals and millions of seabirds. The volcanic landscape features steep cliffs that rise over 1,000 feet above the shoreline. Rarely visited, the island offers bird and animal watchers a remarkable experience. The weather and limited transportation mean flexibility and planning are essential. Saint George the Great Martyr Russian Orthodox Church was built in 1935 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

This dramatically sculpted landscape demonstrates the power of volcanic eruptions and their effect on geology, plants and animals. The impact of the Novarupta eruption on the park's ecosystems can be both obvious and subtle, so it's helpful to have a guide. The park concessionaire offers a tour ($110 including lunch, or $96 without) that departs from Brooks Camp on a 46-mile (round-trip) bus ride to the valley, with an optional 3.4-mile hike to the valley floor and back. This is also the bus ($55 each way) to take for multiday backpacking trips up the valley to Mt. Katmai or the foot of Novarupta itself.

Established in 1960 to protect one of the largest North American haul-out sites for the Pacific walrus, this sanctuary's 65 miles protects seven small islands and their adjacent waters in northern Bristol Bay, including Round Island, Summit Island, Crooked Island, High Island, Black Rock, and The Twins. The number of walruses fluctuates from year to year, but more than 14,000 have been counted on Round Island in a single day. These giant sea mammals come to the haul-out in such high numbers in the summer that you can barely see the rocks beneath the heaving red blubber. The islands also support an array of birds and mammals, including a large population of Steller sea lions and orca, humpback, and gray whales that feed in offshore waters. Transportation to the islands and permits for the sanctuary are limited, with access generally restricted to May through mid-August. Day-trip permits can be obtained on the island, but camping permits must be arranged in advance. Before planning a trip or applying for a permit, check the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website for an updated list of available transportation options from Togiak and Dillingham.

Located in the Bristol Bay region, this state park is the largest in the nation at 1.6 million acres. Two separate groups of interconnected lakes, some up to 45 miles long, dominate the park, making it a region dense with waterways despite being inland. Bears, caribou, porcupines, eagles, and loons abound in the park's forests and tundra, but Wood-Tikchik is best known for its fish. The park's lakes and streams are critical spawning habitat for five species of Pacific salmon. They also support healthy populations of rainbow trout, arctic char, arctic grayling, and northern pike. As a result, Wood-Tikchik draws anglers and boaters interested in fishing in a place without maintained trails (and with few visitor amenities). Most campsites here are primitive, and anyone planning to explore the park should be experienced in backcountry travel and camping. Besides the many large lakes and streams, the park's landscape includes rugged mountains, glaciers, and vast expanses of tundra.

The impact of World War II on Unalaska/Dutch Harbor is visible practically everywhere you look: remnants of war bunkers, tunnels, Quonset huts, pillboxes, and other military relics are scattered throughout town. You can explore these pieces of history hands-on when at Bunker Hill, Memorial Park, Unalaska Lake, Mt. Ballyhoo, and other sites.

At 20 million acres, this is the nation's second-largest wildlife refuge, only a little smaller than the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Nearly one-third of the refuge is made up of water in the form of lakes, sloughs, bogs, creeks, and rivers, including both forks of the Andreafsky River, one of Alaska's specially designated Wild and Scenic Rivers. Rainbow trout, arctic char, and grayling flourish in upland rivers and creeks; pike, sheefish, and burbot thrive in the lowland streams. These abundant waters are also spawning grounds for five species of Pacific salmon. Other animal inhabitants include black and grizzly bears, moose, beavers, mink, and Arctic foxes. Occasionally, wolves venture into the delta's flats from neighboring uplands. Given the abundance of fish and wildlife, it's not surprising that the delta holds special importance to surrounding residents. The Yup'ik and Cup'ik have made the area their homelands for millennia and continue to hunt, gather food, and live their way of life and traditions here. Athabaskan people have also inhabited these lands. Visitor facilities are minimal in the refuge, and access is only by boat or aircraft. Refuge staff can provide tips on recreational opportunities and recommend guides and outfitters who operate in the refuge.

The cultural center hosts a range of community and art events, including classes, movie screenings, summer camps, concerts, and summer Saturday markets. It's open only when events are held, but the on-site library and the gift shop run by the Kuskokwim Art Guild are open most days of the week.