Katmai Reservations Open on Monday

Telephone reservations for campsites at Brooks Camp in Alaska’s Katmai National Park--home to one of the world’s largest populations of brown bears--open Monday after a four-week delay.

Reservations will be taken from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Alaska time (an hour behind Pacific Standard Time) by phone only; no fax, mail or Internet reservations will be accepted. Monday’s start date was rescheduled by the National Park Service after the federal government shutdown interfered with plans for a Jan. 2 opening day.

Reservations are required from June 1 through Sept. 18. Park Superintendent Bill Pierce said he expected most reservations for July--when the bears congregate for the peak sockeye salmon run at Brooks Falls (pictured above), about a mile from the camp--to be booked by the end of the first day. He said the park, located at the top of the Alaska Peninsula in southwest Alaska, usually receives hundreds of calls for reservations.

Brooks Camp will accommodate 60 people a night. Campers will be allowed a maximum of seven nights--either consecutive or split into separate reservations--and groups will be limited to six.

The reservation number: (907) 246-3305.