Lake Clark National Park
Lake Clark National Park and Preserve is located in southwestern
Alaska. It was established in 1980 by the Alaska National
Interest Lands Conservation Act. The park includes many streams
and lakes vital to the Bristol Bay salmon fishery. The park
allows a wide variety of recreational activities year-round.
Lake Clark has been called "the essence of Alaska", for it
concentrates in a relatively small area of the Alaska Peninsula,
Southwest of Anchorage, a variety of features not found together
in any of the other Alaska Parks: the junction of three mountain
ranges, (the Alaska Range from the North, the Aleutian Range
from the South, and the park's own rugged Chigmit Mountains),
two active volcanoes (Iliamna and Redoubt), a coastline with
rainforests on the East, a plateau with tundra on the West, and
turquoise lakes.
No roads lead to the Lake Clark. This park can only be reached
by small aircraft, floatplanes being the best method. The park,
one of the least visited in the National Park System, averages
just over 5,000 visitors per year.
