A Day In The Park: Lake Clark National Park And Preserve

What is the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in Alaska? Bears? Mountains? Salmon? Untamed wilderness? All these apply to this national park and preserve located in southwest Alaska, “…Where the Alaska Range intersects the Aleutian Range, [and] you’ll find a complex of jagged mountains, lakes, river valleys, tundra, and ocean coastline,” according to the beginning words of a National Park Service video about this pristine national park. Home to the Dena’ina people for thousands of years, this 4-million-acre landscape born of fire and sculpted by glacial ice is host to world-class bear viewing opportunities created by the over 350,000 sockeye salmon who return to Lake Clark to spawn. The park is rich in history as well as cultural and natural resources. It’s a place you should put on your national park bucket list.

While the saying “you can’t get there from here,” is not entirely accurate, it does take a bit of planning and preparation to travel to Lake Clark. There are no roads there. You can’t drive from someplace like Anchorage to get to the park. Traveling requires a plane or a boat.

Many come to fish the pristine waters, particularly during the salmon runs in July and August. Others come to hunt, which can only be done in the national preserve portion of the park. Others toting cameras with huge telephoto lenses travel there to watch and photograph the Alaskan brown bears that make their way from inland habitats to the coast to feed on and fatten up from clams and salmon before battening down the hatches for their long winter’s rest.

While the only developed and maintained trails in the park are part of the Tanalian Trails network near park headquarters in Port Alsworth, hiking is allowed anywhere not otherwise closed to public use. Visitors may travel and camp where they like in this trail-free environment. Lake shores, coastal beaches, and high tundra are excellent areas for that activity. It’s important to arrive with a plan and be prepared since adventurers in Lake Clark will need to rely upon their way-finding and hiking skills, or hire a guide who can help them.

There are a variety of lodging options within and around the park, ranging from B&Bs to all-inclusive lodges offering guided excursions. These are independent businesses operating on private land within the park.

If you are considering pitching a tent and camping beneath the stars, all camping is primitive. There are no frontcountry campgrounds except for a privately-owned campground at Port Alsworth.

If you are contemplating a trip to Lake Clark National Park and Preserve to photograph the brown bears, an internet search will pull up operators offering one-day and multi-day all-inclusive tours handling everything from travel logistics to meals to guides. The only thing you are responsible for is your plane flight and camera gear. For a taste of what you and your cameras might see while in the park, check out this 2014 Traveler article about photographing these mighty bruins.

Bears are not the only wildlife to be found in the park and preserve. Of the 37 species of terrestrial mammals, you might also spot caribou, wolves, Dall sheep, moose, and perhaps a wily wolverine. Along the park’s coast are seals, sea otters, and whales. Bald eagles, kittiwakes, trumpeter swans, and pine grosbeaks are a sampling of the birds living and feeding near water, perched high up on tree branches, and soaring the sky.

To get a sense of Lake Clark’s wildlands, pick up the book One Man’s Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey, by author Sam Keith, about Richard (Dick) Proenneke, who traveled to Twin Lakes, now a part of this national park and preserve. Proenneke built his own cabin from the surrounding trees and lived off the grid, without any of the modern conveniences we may take for granted (electricity, running water). For 30 years, Proenneke honed his observational skills, filming and photographing the natural world around him while recording his daily life and experiences in the journals which are the essence of the book.

Traveler’s Choice For: photography, bear viewing, fishing, hiking