Bear #89 (Backpack) wins Fat Bear Week 2026

A new fat bear head wears the crown. Bear #89 Backpack is officially the champion of Fat Bear Week 2026. Backpack beat Bear #910 in the final round of the bracket-style competition where bear enthusiasts from around the world can vote online for their favorite chunky bear in Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska. Backpack took the title from last year’s champion, Bear #32 (Chunk). Chunk lost to fishing ace and Katmai newcomer Bear #164 (Bucky Dent) in Round 1, Part 2 on September 24. 

Bear #89 got his very appropriate nickname from his habit of riding his mother’s back through the Brooks River as a cub. That mama bear is Katmai legend and former Fat Bear Week champion, Bear #435 (Holly).

He is 20.5 years old and has been one of Brooks Falls most consistent residents. However, his journey to adulthood was not easy. As a yearling in 2007, he emerged in the spring with a leg injury that prevented him from walking properly and put him in danger. Park Rangers feared he might not survive the season, and bear cam fans even implored park staff to intervene. With help from his mom (and no human intervention), Backpack recovered and has grown to an impressive size. According to the staff, he exudes a quiet strength despite his imposing stature, and has not shown aggression towards his peers. Backpack also prefers to hang out slightly downstream on his favorite rock.

Backpack made it to the 2026 finals in one of the closest votes in Fat Bear Week history. He defeated Bucky Dent in the semi-finals by less than a percentage. 

The fierce battle of the beefy bears began on Tuesday, September 22, with 16 adult brown bears (Ursus arctos) separated into four main groups—mother bears, single females (those who do not currently have cubs), sub-adults, and adult males.  

The brown bears here return to Brooks Falls for the salmon migration every year in late June, where viewers can watch them on explore.org’s livestream. There, they will feast to fatten up for the long winter ahead. By late summer, the nutritious fish will spawn and then begin to die. The bears will then move to the lower Brooks River in September and October to eat the dead and dying salmon near the river’s mouth.

Eating all of this salmon is important because the heftier the bear, the better chance they will survive their long winter hibernation. Despite being the poster species for winter hibernation, bears are not really “deep hibernators,” the way that squirrels, bats, and bees are. Instead, bears enter a state called torpor—an involuntary state primarily triggered by lack of food. During torpor, bears rely on stored fat reserves for energy. A torpid bear’s eating, drinking, and waste functions will also cease, as its body metabolizes these stores it put on over the summer. 

The bears are heading into torpor and this year’s competition is over, but there is still time to maximize on helping Katmai’s bears by donating to Katmai Conservancy’s Otis Fund. Named after four-time Fat Bear Week winner Bear #480 (Otis), the fund supports Katmai National Park’s research, conservation, and educational outreach programs.  All donations made by Saturday, October 3 will be matched by explore.org, the organization that runs the popular Katmai bear livestreams. 

Congrats to Backpack, a worthy winner of Fat Bear Week 2026. We’ll see you in the spring, bears.