Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes★5.0

Northwest > Alaska > Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands > Katmai National Park and Preserve > Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes

Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes

Katmai National Park and Preserve, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted

Valley within Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska which is filled with ash flow from the eruption of Novarupta on June 6-8, 1912

General Information

Hours:
Open during Katmai season; bus tour mid-June to mid-September
Fees:
Katmai park fee plus bus tour fee (~$90 roundtrip)
Pet Policy:
No pets on bus tour
Closest cities with major hotel chains:
Anchorage, AK (~290 mi northeast)
Seasons:
Mid-June to mid-September for bus tours
Location:
Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, Katmai NP, AK
Website:
nps.gov/katm

How to Get There

From Anchorage, AK (~290 mi): Fly Alaska Airlines to King Salmon Airport (AKN) ~1 hour, then take a floatplane to Brooks Camp on Naknek Lake, then ride the park's 20-mile bus tour to the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.

Overview

The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes in Katmai National Park is a 40-square-mile valley filled with ash, up to 700 feet deep, from the 1912 eruption of Novarupta, the largest eruption of the 20th century by volume (about 13 cubic kilometers). Fumaroles were "smoking" by the thousands when explorers arrived in 1916, and a few still steam. Rivers have cut deep canyons in the ash.

Good to Know

  • Getting there: a bus tour on the 23-mile road from Brooks Camp, the only road in Katmai, with a hike to the valley floor, running in summer
  • Other option: a backcountry hike on the 23-mile Ukak Falls route or a flightseeing trip

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0

Katmai National Park and Preserve, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Peter Hamel, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Katmai National Park and Preserve, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Paxson Woelber, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Katmai National Park and Preserve, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted