Entertainment29 September, 20262 min read
Backpack, Bear 89, Wins 2026 Fat Bear Week Championship at Katmai National Park
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Backpack (Bear 89) won Fat Bear Week 2026 champion title. Final round: Backpack 103,334 votes, Bear 910 98,253 votes.
12 outlets told this the same way.
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Backpack crowned champion
Backpack, also known as Bear 89, claimed the 2026 Fat Bear Week championship Tuesday evening at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska. Sarah Bruce, a Katmai park ranger, said Backpack has been “one of the bears that we've been able to watch on the live cams since the live cams were put in in 2012,” and she called him “a familiar bear.” Explore.org’s final vote split between Backpack and Bear 910, with Backpack receiving 103,334 votes and Bear 910 receiving 98,253 votes, according to Explore.org.
Backpack beat the other finalist, Bear 910, by roughly 5,000 votes, and Bruce said the contest’s voting drew more than 2.3 million votes from all over the world. The park said Backpack’s win made him the first Fat Bear Week champion named the chunkiest bear in Katmai National Park and Preserve, and it also made his mother, Holly, a 2019 champion, “proud.”
Unprecedented close races
Sarah Bruce said Fat Bear Week’s semifinal ended in “the first time, this is unprecedented,” as Bear 89, ‘Backpack,’ and Bear 164, ‘Bucky,’ racked up votes Monday for the single spot in Tuesday’s final bracket.
Bruce said “For most of the day, Bear 164, nicknamed Bucky, he was ahead of 89,” and she described fans campaigning for Bear 89 as the reason Backpack came from behind to win the semifinals.
Katmai National Park and Preserve posted on social media that “THE BEARS HAVE BROKEN THE INTERNET. Literally.” after the site crashed due to an excessive number of voters flooding the site at once.
Bruce said this year’s competition had approximately 5,000 more voters compared to 2025, and she said “There are more polls this year. There’s more rounds of voting.”
KTUU said final voting opened Tuesday at 8 a.m. and closed at 5 p.m., after explore.org switched to a different platform to host the contest.
Injury, legacy, and stakes
Katmai National Park and Preserve said Backpack’s journey included a significant leg injury in 2007, and the park said park rangers questioned his chances of survival before he recovered and became independent in 2008. Sarah Bruce said Backpack has a “quiet toughness,” and she described him as “more of a stoic presence on the river,” saying he “doesn't really get into drama or cause any upset in the hierarchy.” The competition’s final matchup also featured Bear 910, whose mother was former Fat Bear Week champion Bear 409, ‘Beadnose,’ and Bruce said Bear 910 was “looking really good to be able to support another litter.”
“‘He's more of a stoic presence on the river,’ Bruce said.”
Popular Science said Backpack, a 20.5-year-old, “barely edged out the Dancing Queen” to claim the crown, while it described Bear 910 as the “Dancing Queen” for her head movements while fishing. The stakes of the contest were framed by Katmai National Park and Preserve as a celebration of resilience, with the park saying “This year, we honored resilience in our bears and in our nation” in its social media post announcing the winner.