KING SALMON, Alaska — You know fall has arrived when the burly bruins at Katmai National Park and Preserve are bulking up on fresh fish and the National Park Service is staging its annual Fat Bear Week.
And you'll be able to watch the brown bears pack on a few more pounds before hibernation via the live feed from Explore.org.
Your chance is coming to weigh-in with fat bears and vote for your favorite one as Fat Bear Week returns to Katmai September 23-30. That will be preceded by Fat Bear Junior, which kicks off September 18-19.
Fat Bear Week is an annual park competition that celebrates the healthy appetites of brown bears as well as the nourishing ecosystem in which the bears thrive. Bears feast on one of the greatest salmon runs left on Earth.
All votes are cast at fatbearweek.org in this March-madness style bracket competition in which bears compete daily in head-to-head matchups for the title of 2025 Fat Bear Week Champion.
Brackets and bios of the competing bears will be released soon by the park staff.
The competition was launched by Katmai staff back in 2014, and each year more than a million humans from around the world cast votes for the bear they think will be the fattest.
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