Alpine Hiking on Kodiak

[DMurphy]

After mid october our pilot stops landing on the smaller lakes. If I was you I would pick out 2 spots you are interested in and talk to your pilot about it. It's not worth coming up with any plans after plan b because they day you fly and what has happened the week before is going to dictate where you go. I spent hours finding plans a b c d e and we ended up going somewhere completely different based on what our pilot was seeing and where he could drop us off and pick us up with the terrible weather. When looking for spots we had 2 areas picked out that had all possible environments withing a couple miles of where we wanted to land. This way wether they were up high, on the beaches, on small hills or in the wetter areas we would have decent access to the terrain.

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Do you have a pilot/transportation service that you could recommend? I am putting together a hunt for 2025 and woudl love to talk to someone about transportation logistics.

 

[AK Troutbum]

I wouldn’t think twice about walking in the dark on kodiak.

The terrain in most areas is mild to very mild. If you’re coming from a mountain state in the west kodiak isn’t chit.

Agree with having a plan b c d e. Kodiak is very popular these days and likely someone will be in your plan A spot.

Good luck and wear a rubber!

IDK why I'm just now seeing this thread, but I agree with this 110%! In fact, I'd rather hike at night and prefer not to use a headlamp, as I don't like to give my location away to the bears. Also the terrain is mostly flat but always seems to be heading slightly down hill no matter which direction you're going. Pretty much just the opposite of how your walk to school was 50 years ago.

 

[DMurphy]

Planning a hunt in 2023 on Kodiak Island and am running into a question that effects camp planning:

How long would you expect a strong, but not herculean, hiker to go from a camp around 500 feet in elevation to the tree line around 1800 feet or so on Kodiak island?

How about from sea level to 1800 feet?

I know the terrain is nastier than what most of us are used to, but not sure to what degree.

On a related note, I typically hike in the dark to get where I want to be in the morning. Is that as suicidal as it sounds on Kodiak?

I've tried some searches and can't find anything specific to my question, so sorry if this is a repeat. Thanks everybody!

Did you end up taking this hunt? Any information you would be willing to share, perhaps in a DM? I am looking into a very similar trip for 2025 and am startign from scratch. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MattB]

Having hunted Kodiak a fair bit, it is the vegetation and not the elevation/grade that makes it tough. Coming from CA, the climbs were mostly not too bad in terms of steepness. But if you get stuck in the alders you can be in for a long slog. Even If you don’t, the tundra and boggy ground can make the hiking feel a lot harder than the grade suggests it should.