Why Go to a Least Visited Park? I’ll Show You…
Besides that fact that it’s not crowded and few people know about it – there are a number of other reasons to go to Lake Clark National Park! The park consists of over 4 million acres making it twice the size of Yellowstone National Park and larger than the state of Connecticut. Since its creation in 1980 to protect the scenery, abundant wildlife and traditional lifestyles of its residents, it has been hailed as Alaska’s wildest park.
It has a variety of landscapes to experience; towering snow capped mountains, glacier-clad volcanoes, scenic rivers, and tundra landscapes.
Why Visit Lake Clark National Park
It has some of the best camping spots in the world
least visited national park lake clark
It has turquoise lakes you can have all to yourself
Lake Clark National Park Twin Lakes
It’s carpeted with amazing fall foliage in September
It has Dick Proenneke’s famous cabin to visit
dick proenneke cabin lake clark
It also has an abundance of wildlife and is known for it’s brown bear viewing; however, on the Twin Lakes Paddle trip I took, we only saw some bears in the far off distance since we weren’t by the salmon runs.
How to Get There?
The park can only be reached by small airplane or by boat. The primary way is float plane out of Port Alsworth, the small, remote community where the Park office and visitor center is located. It has the only real development and services around including a couple of hotels, tour companies, school, and church. Port Alsworth is a scenic town you’ll want to stay a few extra nights in for sure.
port alsworth lake clark national park
The town is situated around two privately owned gravel airstrips. In addition to the airstrips, there are a number of floatplane operators running charters deeper into the park. Port Alsworth is sort of like the O’Hare airport of remote airports; there were planes coming and going all the time! Normally, you fly to Port Alsworth and then set up another float plane charter from there deeper into the park.
lake clark national Park floatplane
I flew Lake Clark Air from Anchorage to Port Alsworth on a chartered flight, however you can also fly from places like Homer, Kenai, and Wasilla into parts of the park. It all depends on where you want to go and if you are chartering your own flight or going as part of a tour operator’s charter. A great list of flying options are found here.
Charter boats starting from the Kenai Peninsula are also an option, but don’t take you in as deep into the park
Map of Lake Clark National Park
Map lake clark national park
What Should You Do in the Park?
There are lots of options once you get to Port Alsworth. From there you can do wildlife viewing, backcountry hiking, kayaking, camping, and visit Dick Proenneke’s cabin.