Alaska
LAKE CLARK
ESTABLISHED 1980
Astounding in its grandeur and remoteness, this is Alaska at its wildest, untamed and uncharted. Intrepid explorers will find a patchwork of towering peaks to explore, mountains and volcanoes to be climbed, and salmon-filled lakes to be fished.
Alaska is often called The Great Land, and there’s nothing greater than Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, a wilderness of more than 6,000 sq miles (15,540 sq km) of volcanoes, rivers, and turquoise lakes.
There are no roads into Lake Clark, so you arrive by floatplane, an adventure in and of itself, with incredible bird’s-eye views of the vast Neacola and Chigmit mountains, Lake Clark, and the 130-mile (209-km) coastline on Cook Inlet.
Adventures are limited only by time and cost. Many come to fish for the plentiful salmon—almost 150,000 migrate to the lake annually. All those salmon draw bears, making this a prime spot for sightings. Alaska is home to three subspecies of brown bears: the coastal brown bear found here, the inland grizzly, and the Kodiak, a subspecies due to its isolation on Kodiak, Afognak, and Shuyak islands. Roaming the landscape, too, are black bears, caribou, Dall sheep, moose, and wolves.
For those looking for creature comforts, the Redoubt Mountain Lodge and Silver Salmon Creek Lodge offer great fishing and wildlife watching. Explore remote corners of the 42-mile-long (68-km) lake by kayak, or head into backcountry for hikes up Tanalian Mountain and between Turquoise and Twin lakes, or simply walk the beach between Silver Salmon Creek and Chinitna Bay and revel in the glory of Alaska’s wilderness.
FOCUS ON
Athabascan Indians
For 12,000 years, the Dena’ina Athabascan have fished Lake Clark, or Qizhjeh Vena (place where people gather).In the early 20th century, the tribe abandoned the 1,000-year-old Kijik village. This ghost town is the largest Athabascan archeological site in Alaska.
Mount Redoubt Volcano, part of the Aleutian Range, erupted as recently as 2009
A brown bear sow and her cubs stick together in the long grass
Kayakers ply the icy, changeable water of Twin Lakes