The Alaska Peninsula includes the largest lakes in Alaska -- Becharof Lake, Iliamna Lake, and Lake Clark -- and extends toward the Aleutians to encompass several world-renowned natural preserves. These include the Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge, Becharof and Izembek National Wildlife Refuges, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Aniakchak National Monument, and McNeil River State Game Sanctuary.

The peninsula's rich Native history spans five millennia. Its mountains, volcanoes, turquoise waters, and marshy lowlands are home to moose, caribou, red fox, tundra swans, wolverine, sea otters, and eagles -- and world-class rainbow trout and five species of salmon.

Katmai National Park is one of the world's premiere locales for viewing brown bears, which congregate every summer to feed on spawning salmon. The park's Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes is famous for the 1912 Novarupta eruption, one of the most violent in recorded history.