Lake Clark National Park and Preserve
Lake Clark National Park is a beautiful place, although the park itself is relatively remote, only being accessible by boat or plane. Much of the time I spent in the park was for work, doing archaeological surveys of properties within the park. There aren’t a lot of ways to access the park, generally you would fly and in Port Alsworth. There is also a park service headquarters there, and access to a trail that leads to Tanalian Falls. The trip to Port Alworth is one of my favorite trips anywhere in the world. On a nice day you fly low from Anchorage through the Lake Clark Pass, through the Alaska Range, following a river through the mountains and glaciers until the lake opens up in front of you.
View of downtown Anchorage from airplane.
A 737 taking off with Cook Inlet in the background.
Beautiful fall colors on the tundra.
Tundra on the shore of Cook Inlet.
Natural gas rig (I think) in Cook Inlet.
Small mountain lakes as the plane enters the Lake Clark pass.
Small mountain lakes as the plane enters the Lake Clark pass.
Small mountain lakes as the plane enters the Lake Clark pass.
Following a river through the mountains.
Following a river through the mountains.
One of the many glaciers in the pass.
Following a river through the mountains.
Following a river through the mountains.
Getting through the pass and seeing Lake Clark.
Lake Clark National Park is fairly remote,. It is not connected to the road system and requires a flight to get there. I’ve never had the chance to really explore the park, one thing I would love to do is kayak on the lake. I did have a spare day in Port Alsworth and decided to hike to Tanalian Falls. It was an overcast, rainy day, and because Lake Clark is pretty remote, my coworker and I literally only saw one other person the entire 4 mile hike. The hike was great, and had great views of Lake Clark and the mountains in the background. Tanalian Falls is very cool, it isn’t exceptionally tall, but it is very powerful, and the glacial blue color and beautifully clear water are amazing. . Because it is so remote, flight from Lake Clark to Lake Iliamna
View of Lake Clark from the Tanalian Falls trail.
View of Lake Clark from the Tanalian Falls trail.
Upper Tanalian Falls.
Upper Tanalian Falls.
Lower Tanalian Falls.
Lower Tanalian Falls.
Port Alsworth float plane base/harbor.
Ducks at Port Alsworth float plane base.
Me trying to look stoic while staring off in the distance.
Port Alsworth float plane base/harbor.