Page 211 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2017 - Alaska

SOUTHWEST ALASK A  209

and untracked Wood 6 Lake Clark
River Mountains. National Park
The remoteness of
the park makes it 200 miles (320 km) SW of Anchorage.
especially good wild- Transport map D4. Tel 781-2217.
life habitat. Brown ~ Iliamna, then charter plane to Port
Alsworth. ® only in Port Alsworth.
bears, cari bou, and ∑ nps.gov/lacl
moose are abun dant,
as are porcu pines, When ANILCA was passed in
wolver ines, marmots, 1980 (see p61), the 6,250-sq mile
beavers, land otters, (16,187-sq km) Lake Clark
and foxes. Through- National Park came into being
out the park, well- to protect the 50-mile- (80-km-)
appointed fly-in long Lake Clark and its surround-
lodges serve as ing ecosystems. These include
Red fox in Wood-Tikchik State Park staging points the shores of Cook Inlet, which
for canoeing and
5 Wood-Tikchik fishing trips. Anglers will find is prime bear territory, and the
gla ciated heights of the Chigmit
State Park all five Alaskan salmon species, Mountains and the Aleutian
especially sockeyes (reds), Range. The twin volcanoes,
25 miles (40 km) N of Dillingham.
Transport map C4. ~ Dillingham, plus trout, Arctic char, Arctic Mount Iliamna and Mount
then by floatplane or bus. n Ranger grayling, and northern pike. Redoubt, are also included. The
Station, Dillingham, 842-2641. ® The most usual access for park boasts an array of wildlife,
∑ dnr.alaska.gov/parks/units/ independent groups is to fly in most prominently brown bears
woodtik.htm to one of the lakes on the Wood and migrating herds of caribou.
River system, and then canoe Activities include canoeing,
America’s largest state park, downstream to Aleknagik on kayaking, fishing, and hiking,
the 2,345-sq mile (6,070-sq km) Lake Aleknagik, accessible from but the only marked hiking
Wood-Tikchik State Park is Dillingham via a gravel road. On trail leads from Port Alsworth
a vast landscape of two the Tikchik system, most people to Tanalian Falls. A worthwhile
interconnected lake systems, fly into one of the lakes and then destination is Dick Proenneke’s
that of the Wood River in the float down stream along the cabin on Twin Lakes, which
south and the Tikchik River in Nuyakuk and Nushagak Rivers, features in the film Alone in
the north. The park is situated to be picked up at the airstrips the Wilderness.
in a biological transition zone at Ekwok or New Stuyahok. Port Alsworth, the park’s
between coniferous forest and Visitors who are considering headquarters, has several small
tundra, with willow and alder an expedition but not plan ning lodges, but the park has no other
thickets as well as spruce and to stay in one of the fly-in services, so non-lodge visitors
birch forests. Its eastern side lodges should keep in mind will need to carry camping and
consists of low, boggy wet lands that well-honed survival skills cooking gear. Access to remote
studded with lakes and streams, are essential for trips into the parts of the park is by chartered
while to the west rise the wild park’s wilderness. bush flight only.

Fishing in Crescent Lake, surrounded by the Chigmit Mountains in Lake Clark National Park

208-209_EW_Alaska.indd 209 02/05/17 2:31 pm