Kodiak Points of Interest

Look for salmon and bald eagles here.

This is a well-used and busy ATV road that leads up the Amer­i­can Riv­er and over a pass to Saltery Cov­er. It is only open to trail bikes, ATVs and hik­ers. While it is pos­si­ble to hike the road, be aware that you will need to ford some streams.

Apt­ly named, this island is close to town (you can walk over the bridge or dri­ve here) and is an inter­est­ing place to explore by foot, bike, or car. The island is home to St. Herman’s Har­bor (where big boats dock), a float plane land­ing site, and the Fish­eries Research Cen­ter. You can also spot sea lions from Ramp 3 at the boat harbor.

There’s a radio receiv­er & emer­gency phone avail­able to the right.

This qui­et lake is lined with USCG hous­ing, and has excel­lent views of Barom­e­ter and Pyra­mid Moun­tain. Stop by Lake Louise in the evening for a beau­ti­ful sunset.

Watch the bus­tle of the seafood indus­try and get great pho­tos of a tru­ly giant ship — the Star of Kodi­ak is 441 feet long and can hold 10,000 tons of car­go! Pro­duced as part of a five-year gov­ern­ment pro­gram dur­ing WWII, this ship was con­struct­ed in Port­land, Maine and orig­i­nal­ly named the Albert M. Boe. Launched in 1945, it had only one year as an active mil­i­tary ship and saw very lit­tle action. Part of an impro­vised effort to get Kodi­ak back…  ...more

Come to this down­town har­bor to see salmon-fish­ing boats, long­lin­ers, and crab­bers, as well as guide-oper­at­ed sport-fish­ing boats and per­son­al sail­boats. There are 250 slips here, account­ing for rough­ly one-third of the boats in Kodi­ak. Walk the docks and see if you can iden­ti­fy a trawler, sein­er, or crab­ber. The fish­er­men will have already ​“pitched” their catch, but you can still watch them chop­ping bait, mend­ing nets, or shov­ing off for…  ...more

This road was named for the design­er of the Alas­ka flag. Ben Ben­son cre­at­ed the navy blue flag with the stars of the big dip­per and the North Star when he was just 13, in 1927. ​“The blue field is for the Alas­ka sky and the for­get-me-not, an Alaskan flower. The North Star is for the future state of Alas­ka, the most norther­ly in the union. The Dip­per is for the Great Bear — sym­bol­iz­ing strength,” he wrote when sub­mit­ting his design. It was…  ...more

Stop off at the bridge and fish or raft on Amer­i­can Riv­er (there’s a good fish­ing spot to the left when you get to the bridge).

Monash­ka Bay with Monash­ka Mt. in the background.

This scenic, tran­quil bay is a great place to access the water (there’s a boat launch) and to start hikes. You can hike to a beaver dam from a turnoff on the right at MP 11.6. Look for the white gran­ite in the cliffs; this is the ​“back­bone” of the geol­o­gy here, the rock that the island is formed upon. From the end of the road, there is good hik­ing to a water­fall. To the right is a 2.5‑mile trail to Cas­cade Lake. You’ll have to cross the Red…  ...more

Deadman’s Curve pro­vides panoram­ic views of the har­bor and out­ly­ing islands.

About 20 min­utes from Kodi­ak, Wom­ens Bay is a cen­sus des­ig­nat­ed place with­in the Kodi­ak Island Bor­ough. Rough­ly 700 peo­ple live in the area, and as with the rest of the island, Wom­ens Bay is also home to abun­dant wildlife. If you’re by the water, check for Sea Otters and Sea Lions. You might even see a Har­bor Seal! Or if your’e inter­est­ed in Kodi­ak’s boats and air­crafts, USCG C‑130 air­craft and heli­copters may be seen on hangar apron, and…  ...more

Site of Russ­ian grist mill in the 1800s.