Mageik Creek Canyon

View out the Katmai River Valley toward the Pacific and Kodiak Island

View back toward the pass and Mageik Mountain from the shoulder of Observation Mountain

Our collection of Osprey Exos packs on Observation Mountain

Mageik Creek Canyon

After we hiked through Katmai Pass we climbed over the eastern shoulder of Observation Mountain and got our first view of the Pacific Coast, and even Kodiak Island. It was windy, so we dropped over Observation and tucked into Mageik Creek Canyon for some shelter. However, the wind changed direction and picked up in the middle of the night and we found ourselves scrambling to put rocks on our tent lines. We also had our fair share of the famous Katmai pumice-sand blowing into our tent and coating all our gear (and our faces). But I suppose it would have been a shame to spend almost a week in the park and not experience this lovely phenomenon.

The canyon also had a well-worn bear trail and tracks everywhere. Luckily we had a borrowed electric bear fence (thanks, Patrick!) that gave us some peace of mind. There really is no getting away from bear tracks in this part of Katmai.

Mageik Creek Canyon, carved into sedimentary rock, is a deep canyon. I honestly didn't expect this see this type of canyon out here. Despite the wind and blowing pumice, I was glad we had the chance to hang out in it.

Mageik Creek Canyon

Windy morning in Mageik Creek Canyon

Katmai Pass

Leaving the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes

Despite the awesomeness of Katmai's caldera and Novarupta, if I had to pick a favorite place along our route, it would be the section from Katmai Pass to Observation Mountain. I had never seen any photos of this area, so it's odd combination of pumice, lava, and lush but spotty vegetation was constantly surprising.

Mageik Creek and Trident Lava Flows

Moose tracks right through Katmai Pass

Big bear prints

Mageik Creek looking back toward the pass

There were TONS of Monkeyflowers in this area

Once you pass through Katmai Pass, there are old lava flows to the west from Mageik volcano and new lava flows from the 1950s to the east from Trident volcano that funnel you into a small river valley. That valley is the only easy travel corridor around, so all sorts of animals use it. As always, following game trails has its pluses and minuses - animals usually know the best route to travel, but you're also bound to run into some of them eventually. We ran into a bear just on the other side of the tight river valley, so we had space to swing wide and avoid the bear (who seemed none too scared of us).

Well-worn bear trail where they step in the same prints every time

A bear (very small in the picture) just chillin' in our path, so we went around

Novarupta

The Novarupta plug and Falling Mountain

After we climbed to the caldera, hiking to Novarupta was our "rest" day. I don't think I can accurately describe in words how freaking cool it was to stand in the site of the largest eruption of the 20th century. All of that pumice in the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and all of the ash that fell on Kodiak came from this volcano (Novarupta siphoned material from below Mount Katmai, and as a result Katmai collapsed creating a crater/caldera, but Katmai itself did not erupt). Ryan read that the Novarupta volcano is actually quite a bit wider than the plug that you see today - that plug is just the evidence of the last little event of the eruption.

We were able to climb up onto and around the plug. This is the only area in the valley that is still steaming (at least that we saw). Even around the base of the plug there were tons of steam vents. We saw some really nice flat spots at the base of the Novarupta plug on the north side that would be great for camping if anyone is looking for a good spot. There were still water sources from snow melt in this area when we were there, but with a low snow year like this, they won't last all summer.

pumice

This crack in the rock is a steam vent

On top of the Novarupta plug

Katmai Caldera

Katmai Caldera

When I was 12 or 13 I got a good look at the Katmai Caldera on a crystal clear day from a small plane on a flight from Kodiak to King Salmon. I've always been fascinated by volcanic eruptions, but that dark turquoise lake made an impression on me and I haven't been able to get it out of my head since then. From what I had read and heard from others, hiking to the caldera from The Valley of Ten Thousand smokes is challenging, although not technical. From the huts it's between 16 and 18 miles round trip and about 3500 feet of elevation gain. I most definitely wanted to get up there, but I tried not to set my heart on it because I knew we could easily be thwarted by bad weather or simply fatigue.

I was not disappointed, however. The first morning we were at the huts the weather seemed decent so we went for it. From the base of the mountain, just getting onto it seemed daunting. We had advice on the route from a ranger though, so we went for it up a steep snow patch. That was probably the hardest physical part of the climb. We then traversed along some squishy pumicey rocky terrain, and then up another rise (though not quite as steep) on a glacier. At that point it started to rain fairly hard, it looked pretty socked in above us, and we seriously wondered whether it was worth it to continue. But at that point we were far enough into the climb that if we turned around, there was no way we were ever coming back. We keep trudging uphill as the rain turned to wet snow. Even when we could see the rim of the caldera, I tried not to let myself believe it was actually THE rim until we were there and I could see the lake myself.

Baked Mountain in the morning sun - all of the light colored stuff is pumice, the entire mountain is covered in pumice!

John and Ryan looking toward Katmai from the pass between Baked and Broken Mountains

Arriving at the daunting base of Katmai

Climbing up toward the caldera rim

So excited to have made it!

It was just as impressive as I had gathered from the airplane, perhaps even more so because the higher peaks were shrouded in clouds. Most of the lake was still covered it ice, but we got a peak at the dark turquoise water. We didn't stay on the rim for long because it was cold, but it was long enough to be in awe.

Our descent went faster than I could have imagined. We sort of skied on our feet down the glacier in the soft melting snow and slid down the pumicey/rockey parts sinking in to above our ankles. It was the trek from the base back to the hut that drug on forever.

Descending in better weather

Sliding/sinking into the pumice on the descent

Crossing the Knife River at the base of Katmai

John hiking with Mt. Griggs in the background

Looking up at a bear running off

On our way back we did see a bear from a great distance, but then it disappeared, and we ended up somewhat running into it later - it was plenty scared of us and ran off.

Overall, and incredible day and I am quite happy to say my feet survived my new boots with no blisters and my legs were still working at the end of the day!

Hiking into the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes

Ryan, me, John, and Katelyn at the trailhead

We started our trip with a night in the Brooks Camp Campground and then took the bus to The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. On our first day we hiked to the Baked Mountain Huts (~9-10 miles). Two other groups of backpackers got off the bus at the same time as us, but they had different destinations the first night.

We had great weather on our first day - not too sunny or windy. One of the trickier parts of this hike - the Lethe River crossing - was a breeze for us. The water was very low and we only got wet up to our shins. We arrived at the huts at the same time as a group of two who had already been in the valley for a few days.

Lethe River slot canyon

Lethe River

Crossing the Lethe River

The huts are just basic plywood shacks, but they offer protection from blowing pumice and rain, although we didn't really have either. For us, they were also a great centrally-located base camp and we enjoyed using the counters for cooking and wooden boxes for sitting.

Crossing the last stretch of valley floor before Baked Mountain

Climbing up to the huts along a well-worn bear trail

View of the outhouse and Trident volcanoes from the huts

View of Mt. Griggs from the door-less outhouse

Our hut

Cooking in the hut

This bunk was labeled Vladimir Putin

Back from Backpacking in Katmai National Park

View of Mt. Griggs from the Baked Mountain Huts

We just got back from a week of backpacking in Katmai starting in the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and hiking over Katmai Pass to Katmai Bay where we were picked up by a small plane charter and flown to Kodiak. I've wanted to visit the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, Novarupta, and the Katmai Caldera - the site of the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century - since I was a kid.

When I first started planning this trip last year, I thought we would do the typical backpacking trip into/around the valley and back to Brooks Camp, but at some point last winter while I was looking at a map, I got the harebrained idea to hike over Katmai Pass to Katmai Bay on the Pacific Coast. Katmai Pass is one of the lower passes of the Aleutian Range. It was a well-traveled trade route for Alaska Native peoples for thousands of years, but the trail itself was buried by ash and pumice during the eruption in 1912.

As our trip got closer I started to wonder what I had gotten us into and if our friends would ever want to go on a trip with me again if it turned out badly. However, we are all experienced backcountry travelers, were well-prepared, and we were incredibly lucky with the weather, bugs, and bears. It was warm, and we only had brief periods of rain and wind (and a tiny bit of hail). It did snow on us when were were at/near the Katmai Caldera, but you can't expect any less in the mountains in Alaska, even in summer.

The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and even Katmai Pass and Katmai Bay are landscapes like no other. I've read and read about the 1912 eruption, looked at hundreds of photographs in books and on the internet over the years, and studied the aerial imagery before our trip, but nothing prepared me for the massive amount of pumice that blanketed the landscape on both sides of the pass. It was truly impressive.

Here are just a few photos of our journey.

Novarupta - source of the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century

Ryan on the rim of the Katmai Caldera

Keller's plane (Deckload Aviation)  picking us up at Katmai Bay