Janlynn Expeditions

Kodiak Facts

Settled by Russians in 1792
Sixth largest city in Alaska
Average annual rainfall 74.2 inches
Average annual snowfall 84.5 inches
Average temperature -20 to 82 degrees F
Largest fishing port in the United States
Home of the largest Coast Guard Base
252 air miles southwest of Anchorage
Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge has 2491 square miles
Two-thirds of the island has been set aside to form the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge
Second largest island in the United States
Home of the Kodiak brown bear the worlds largest carnivore
There are less than 100 miles of road on the island
Thousands of miles of convoluted coastline and tidal zones
117 salmon streams
14 major watersheds
Kodiak brown bear population: 3000

The Kodiak Island Group lies at the western border of the Gulf of Alaska. The group has an area of about 4,900 square miles and extends for a distance of around 177 miles in a northeast-southwest direction. Its greatest width is 67 miles and the deep bays of the coastline leave no spot on the island more than 15 miles from the ocean. Kodiak Island proper has an area of 3,588 square miles. There are numerous mountains that rise above 3,000 feet.

The interior of the island is mostly uninhabited and little explored. The rugged character of the interior with the heavy growth of vegetation makes traveling by boat much easier than by land. The northern parts of Kodiak and islands north are covered with spruce trees. South of an almost definite line, the landscape is devoid of trees as well as the Aleutians westward.

The climate of Kodiak Island is comparatively mild, much warmer than that of island areas of similar latitude. The difference is Kodiak lies in the path of the Japan current which sweeps northeastward along the coast of the Alaskan peninsula into the Gulf of Alaska. This same warm current gives California its warm weather.

Email: jkozub@aol.com