My group of 8 friends was able to snag a flight and booking at Brooks Lodge for next summer.
We've chosen the option to fly out of King Salmon (far cheaper) and have redeemed miles to fly from ANC to AKN. We're actually flying into AKN the morning of the day before our Brooks flight in order to minimize potential weather delay/cancellation issues and also to experience whatever King Salmon/Naknek has to offer. (Some of us like driving to ends of roads, which is always fun in Alaska, so the Alaska Peninsula Highway is of interest...)
A few questions from those familiar with this area:
1) What are the on-the-ground logistics like in King Samon? Is there any infrastructure to speak of--taxis, places to eat, etc.? We do have a lead on a car rental option; is that the best/only way to get around? Anything near the airport to kill time doing?
2) Any particular recommendations on affordable lodging in King Salmon for our overnight? Have a few leads but nothing is jumping out as an obvious option. Appreciate any recommendations from personal experience.
3) Anything of interest in the King Salmon/Naknek region--hiking, or anything else? Or will our full day there kind of a waste?
4) How do the Brooks flights on Katmailand work? They've assured us that if we were to experience a weather delay getting into King Salmon, they'd hold the plane for us, but how does that actually work? Probably a non-issue as I think we're all flying in the day before, but if someone does need to fly in the same day and they have a Ravn weather delay, would the rest of our group be held up (like a charter) until our whole group is assembled and ready, or do they run regular shuttle flights and just whoever is ready to go, goes, and anyone who's late just takes a later flight?
5) We obviously have plans to spend a significant amount of time at Brooks Falls itself, but we've booked the longer package that includes the bus ride to the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. I assume the itinerary is fairly fixed, but anything we should know about or be sure not to miss while in the park?
6) For the return, we're planning a ~4 hour layover before catching our return Ravn flight to ANC--again, as insurance against weather delays on our Katmailand flight. How reliable are those flights and do we need to have such a large buffer? Or would catching the 4pm Ravn flight be acceptable (and does Ravn have flexibility when Katmailand flights are delayed)?
7) Any obvious things I'm missing?
Special ping alert to
fti and
Gardyloo, who are always good for answers to this kind of thing.
