Katmai National Park, famous for bear viewing, is accepting summer campground reservations

Katmai National Park began accepting camping reservations over the weekend for the upcoming summer. The park restricted camping in the Brooks Camp area last year because of the pandemic.

The Alaska Peninsula park is renowned for the close-up views it offers of brown bears gorging on salmon from the Brooks River in the summer. The park’s webcams have gained an international following online, especially during the annual Fat Bear Week competitions.

The Brooks Camp Developed Area is the only area on the remote national park that has services. Last year, the popular portion of the park closed temporarily because several staff members tested positive for COVID-19. The park closed the campgrounds, which are within the Brooks Camp area in July for the remainder of the season.

Reservations for the campground opened Friday, the National Park Service wrote in an online statement. The campground will reopen on June 1 and will be limited to 25% of normal capacity to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Reservations typically book fast, according to the park’s website, and many dates throughout the summer had already been filled by Sunday afternoon.

The park saw a record 84,000 visitors in 2019. Despite pandemic restrictions last season, the park still had more than 51,000 visitors, which is higher than most years in the last decade, according to park service statistics. The park is mainly accessed by float plane.

The Brooks Camp campground doesn’t have designated campsites, but instead a cap on the number of visitors allowed within the area. Backcountry camping within the park does not require a permit.