Your Anchorage Basecamp for Fat Bear Week
Fat Bear Week 2026 in Anchorage, Alaska
September 22–29, 2026
Every fall, Alaska’s most famous bears compete for a title in Fat Bear Week.
The annual tournament celebrates the brown bears of Katmai National Park & Preserve as they reach their peak weight after a summer of feasting on sockeye salmon. Around the world, millions of people tune in to watch the bears on live webcams, learn their individual stories, and vote for the bear they think best represents a successful season. And while you can watch Fat Bear Week from virtually anywhere, Anchorage puts you right in the center of the celebration.
Stay at The Wildbirch Hotel, Anchorage’s official Big Bear Week Headquarters! Enjoy limited-time bear-themed food and beverage specials at Canteen and Crimson, live Brooks Falls Bear Cam viewing in the lobby, an interactive Big Bear bracket board, playful photo opportunities, and family activities—all from your comfortable downtown basecamp.
What is Fat Bear Week?
Fat Bear Week is an annual single-elimination tournament featuring brown bears from Katmai National Park’s Brooks River. The premise is simple: which bear had the most successful summer?
Before-and-after photographs show each bear at the beginning of the season and again in late summer or early fall, when months of feeding have transformed them. Fans around the world vote through Explore.org until only one bear remains.
In 2026, Fat Bear Week voting is scheduled for September 22–29. The celebration continues throughout the hotel with a playful bear photo opportunity, family-friendly coloring activities and treats, plus limited-time bear-inspired food and drinks at Canteen and Crimson. Whether you are following a longtime champion or meeting the bears for the first time, The Wildbirch is your Anchorage home base for one of the biggest, and certainly the fattest, competitions in Alaska.
Fat Bear Week 2026: What to Know
The 2026 Fat Bear Week schedule is expected to follow the familiar bracket-style format, with bears facing off in head-to-head matchups before the field narrows to a champion.
Voting takes place online through Explore.org, meaning you do not have to be in Alaska to participate.
But if you are in Anchorage during Fat Bear Week, you can make the experience much more immersive. Watch the live Brooks River bear cams, follow the bracket, and learn the stories behind the bears.
From Fat Bear Tuesday to an Alaska Tradition
Fat Bear Week is newer than you might think.
The tradition began in 2014, when Katmai National Park ranger Mike Fitz noticed photographs showing how dramatically the bears changed between early summer and late summer. He and other park staff turned the idea into a one-day online competition called Fat Bear Tuesday.
The first event was held on September 30, 2014, with voting conducted through Facebook. It was an immediate hit. In 2015, Fat Bear Tuesday became the week-long competition we know today. Since then, the event has grown into an international celebration of Alaska’s brown bears, drawing millions of viewers and more than 1.7 million votes in 2025 alone.
And yes, there is a bracket.
Alaska’s Untamed Wilderness
Meet the Bears of Katmai
The stars of Fat Bear Week are not celebrities in the traditional sense. They are wild brown bears, each with their own personalities, habits, family histories and strategies for surviving in Katmai.
Some dominate prime fishing spots. Some are patient and wait for the right opportunity. Others spend their summers raising cubs while trying to get enough calories to prepare for winter.
480 Otis
One of the most legendary bears in Fat Bear Week history, 480 Otis won the title four times: 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2021. His famous fishing strategy? Patience. Otis became known for sitting quietly in the river and waiting for salmon to come within reach.
128 Grazer
Grazer made history by becoming the first female bear to win Fat Bear Week in consecutive years, taking the title in both 2023 and 2024. She was also the first mother bear to win the competition.
32 Chunk
In 2025, 32 Chunk finally claimed the championship after finishing as runner-up in previous competitions. His victory came after a summer of overcoming challenges, including a jaw injury believed to have resulted from a fight with another bear. More than 1.7 million votes were cast during the 2025 competition.
Who will take the crown in 2026? That’s up to the voters.
Why Do Katmai's Bears Get So Big?
Because winter is coming.
Brown bears in Katmai spend much of the year preparing for the months ahead. As summer progresses, they enter a period of intense feeding called hyperphagia, consuming as much calorie-rich food as they can find. At Brooks River, that means salmon.
Sockeye salmon travel upstream through the river, creating an extraordinary seasonal food source for the bears. By late summer and fall, the largest male bears can weigh more than 1,200 pounds. The bears then enter winter dens and rely on the energy stored in their body fat.
So when you see a particularly enormous bear during Fat Bear Week, you’re looking at the result of months of eating, fishing, competition and survival.
Where the Fat Bears Actually Live
Katmai National Park & Preserve
Katmai National Park & Preserve is not your typical national park.
Located on the Alaska Peninsula southwest of Anchorage, Katmai encompasses approximately 4.2 million acres of remote wilderness. The park is home to an estimated 2,200 brown bears, along with salmon-rich rivers, lakes, mountains, glaciers, tundra and volcanoes. It is also a place shaped by fire.
Katmai was established as a national monument in 1918, following the enormous 1912 volcanic eruption that created the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. Today, the park contains at least 14 volcanoes, making it one of the most volcanically active areas in the world.
The bears may be the stars, but Katmai is much bigger than Fat Bear Week.
Where Is Brooks Falls?
The bears featured in Fat Bear Week are closely associated with Brooks River, located within Katmai National Park. Brooks Falls is the famous waterfall where brown bears gather during the salmon run, often standing directly in the rushing water and catching salmon as they leap upstream.
Watch From Anchorage
Where to Watch Fat Bear Week
You don’t have to fly to Katmai to participate in Fat Bear Week.
The easiest way to follow the competition is online through Explore.org, which hosts live webcams from Brooks River along with the Fat Bear Week bracket, bear biographies and voting. During the competition, you can watch the bears from Brooks River in real time, then follow along with the tournament and cast your vote.
Big Bear Week at The Wildbirch Hotel
While the official competition takes place online through Katmai National Park & Preserve and Explore.org, The Wildbirch brings the spirit of the tournament straight to downtown Anchorage! Big Bear Week is our hotel-wide celebration inspired by Fat Bear Week. As Anchorage’s Big Bear Week Headquarters, The Wildbirch serves as your ultimate basecamp to follow the bracket, participate in daily activities, and enjoy themed food and drink specials.
What’s Happening at Basecamp
- Live Katmai Bear Cams: Catch live Brooks Falls footage streaming in the lobby and on designated TVs at Crimson Restaurant.
- Interactive Tournament Bracket Board: Track head-to-head matchups on our physical lobby bracket board as official results are announced.
- Daily Online Voting: Scan table tents throughout the lobby, Crimson, and Canteen to cast your official vote on Explore.org (8:00 AM–5:00 PM AKT on active voting days).
- Big Bear Photo Station: Snap pictures with our themed bear cutout and photo props.
- Family Activities & Treats: Pick up bear coloring sheets, crayons, and fruit or gummy bear snacks.
- Limited-Time Food & Drink Specials: Sip on bear-inspired cocktails, mocktails, and culinary specials at Canteen and Crimson.
Why Stay at The Wildbirch Hotel for Fat Bear Week?
Big Bear Week is about getting closer to one of Alaska’s most extraordinary wildlife spectacles, and The Wildbirch gives you the ultimate Anchorage home base to experience it all.
From September 22–29, your Anchorage itinerary can be as wild or as relaxed as you want it to be. Spend the afternoon exploring the city, then come back to The Wildbirch, settle in, and see who is winning the bracket. The celebration continues throughout the hotel with live Katmai Bear Cam streams, a playful bear photo opportunity, family-friendly coloring activities and treats, plus limited-time bear-inspired food and drinks at Canteen and Crimson. Whether you are following a longtime champion or meeting the bears for the first time, The Wildbirch is your Anchorage basecamp for the fattest competition in Alaska. The bears are getting ready for winter—get ready for Big Bear Week at The Wildbirch!
FAQs
Fat Bear Week 2026 is scheduled for September 22–29, 2026. Voting takes place online through Explore.org.
Fat Bear Week celebrates brown bears living around Brooks River in Katmai National Park & Preserve, Alaska. The competition itself takes place online, allowing people around the world to vote.
There is no road to Brooks Camp. Visitors generally reach the area by floatplane or boat. Air taxi and guided excursion options are available from Anchorage and other Alaska communities.
The Wildbirch Hotel is approximately 4 miles from Lake Hood Harbor and Seaplane Base.
The National Park Service estimates approximately 2,200 brown bears within Katmai’s 4.2 million acres.
Katmai’s brown bears spend late summer and early fall eating heavily to build fat reserves before winter hibernation. Salmon, particularly sockeye salmon at Brooks River, provide an important source of calories.
32 Chunk won Fat Bear Week 2025. He defeated 856 in the final and became champion after previously finishing as runner-up.
Past champions include legendary bears such as 480 Otis, 409 Beadnose, 435 Holly, 747, 128 Grazer and 32 Chunk. Otis won four times, while Grazer became the first female bear to win back-to-back titles in 2023 and 2024.
Absolutely. Fat Bear Week highlights one part of Katmai’s wildlife story, but the park also protects vast wilderness, salmon habitat, volcanic landscapes, glaciers, lakes and culturally significant places across more than four million acres.
