Lake Clark National Park Things to Do

Experience the untamed beauty of Lake Clark National Park. Soar over majestic mountains, encounter wildlife in its natural habitat, go for epic hikes on the many scenic trails, and experience thrilling water adventures. Take off on a bear-viewing tour from Homer or Anchorage by plane or set sail on a private boat to enjoy amazing wildlife encounters and fishing in the waters of Lake Clark.

Lake Clark National Park Bear Viewing Tours

Tours depart from Anchorage & Homer

Season: Jun 01 to Sep 04 $6595 to $6795 (+ internal air) 6 Days / 5 Nights

In the best way pos­si­ble. you’re out­num­bered by bears dur­ing your stay at this pri­vate fly-in wilder­ness camp. Fly by char­tered plane from Homer to Alas­ka Bear Camp on a 5‑night, 6‑day all-inclu­sive pack­age. This deluxe back­coun­try camp accom­mo­dates just 14 guests in some of the best bear habi­tat in the world. In con­trast to day trips cater­ing to dozens of vis­i­tors at a time, Bear Camp offers a rare and exclu­sive wilder­ness immersion.

Season: May to Mid September $995+ 6 - 10 hrs

Take off by sea­plane for an all-day bear-view­ing expe­di­tion. Fly past glac­i­ers and vol­ca­noes to the brown-bear coun­try of south­west Alas­ka. Your Sea­plane Bear Safari will take you to Brooks Riv­er Falls in Kat­mai Nation­al Park, home of the world ’ s largest salmon run. You can also fly 70 miles south­west of Anchor­age to Lake Clark Wilder­ness Pre­serve for amaz­ing bear view­ing and lux­u­ri­ous accom­mo­da­tions at the Redoubt Bay Lodge. Rust’s, which has  ...more

Season: Year Round $895 Bear Viewing, $585+ Flightseeing 45 min - 5 hrs

Watch bears dig­ging for clams, wan­der­ing the sedge grass, or nurs­ing their young – all in a short flight from Homer to Kat­mai or Lake Clark Nation­al Park. Smokey Bay’s bear tours last about five hours total — includ­ing flights and about three hours on the ground. On any giv­en day there will always be a morn­ing out­ing (leav­ing at 8 a.m. at the lat­est) and pos­si­bly one that leaves around 2 p.m.

Season: June 1 - Sept 15 $1699 per person 4 - 8 hrs

For many Alaskan trav­el­ers, bears are the ulti­mate high­light. Pair a mag­nif­i­cent sight­ing with a gor­geous heli­copter flight­see­ing ride and you’ll have an unfor­get­table expe­ri­ence. On this unique tour from Homer, you’ll take a heli­copter ride out into one of Alaska’s gor­geous nation­al parks to wit­ness these spec­tac­u­lar crea­tures in the wild.

Season: May 22 to Sep 01 $930 per person 6-7 hrs

With Alas­ka Air Ser­vice you’ll fly from Anchor­age to Lake Clark Nation­al Park, where they’re a licensed park con­ces­sion­aire. On the 6- to 7‑hour expe­di­tion with an inti­mate group (there’s a 4‑to‑1 guest-to-guide ratio), you’ll start with a land­ing inside the park on a beach or in the grass­lands to watch bears. Then you’ll trav­el, unrushed, to oth­er spots in the park. Few oper­a­tors include mul­ti­ple loca­tions, but show­ing you as much of the park’s  ...more

Season: May 10th – Mid September $1075+ 6.5 to 10 hrs

Hop aboard one of Regal Air’s planes depart­ing from Anchor­age and after a short, scenic flight you can be watch­ing enor­mous brown bears swat salmon from Alaska’s rush­ing waters. Tours vis­it one of two des­ti­na­tions: Lake Clark Nation­al Park or Brooks Falls in Kat­mai Nation­al Park.

Season: July 1 - Sept 30 $1250+ per person 6 - 12 hrs

View­ing brown bears in their nat­ur­al habi­tat is one of the most amaz­ing things you can do in Alas­ka. If it’s high on your list, book a flight-see­ing/ bear view­ing trip with Trail Ridge Air, know­ing that per­son­able pilots will take you to where bears splash and fish, and where vis­i­tors run out of words to describe their amazement.

Season: May 25 - Sept 15 $575+ 2 to 3 hrs

Fly out of Sol­dot­na with Natron’s own­er and pilot, Tim. You’ll soar over the Cook Inlet towards Mt. Iliamna Vol­cano and land on a beach, right where the bears are. You’ll watch them play­ing and clam­ming and be close enough to take amaz­ing photos.

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Lake Clark Sailing & Private Yacht Charters View All

Sail on Lake Clark in Lake Clark National Park

Season: June - September $2,666+ per cabin (double occupancy) 3+ nights

You’ll spend either 4 or 7 days sail­ing around Lake Clark, expe­ri­enc­ing all the nat­ur­al majesty this nation­al park has to offer, with its many crag­gy moun­tains set close to the water. Anchor each night in a new loca­tion. Look for wildlife, hike, explore with kayaks and pad­dle­boards, and enjoy bon­fires on the beach. 

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Lake Clark National Park Hiking Trails

Difficulty: Difficult Distance: 8 miles Elevation Gain: 4700 feet

This is the most stren­u­ous of the hik­ing options in Port Alsworth, but the views are worth the effort. From the sum­mit of Tana­lian Moun­tain, you’ll enjoy a 360-degree view of Lake Clark, Kon­trashi­buna Lake, and the Chig­mit Mountains.

Difficulty: Moderate Distance: 4 miles Elevation Gain: 650 feet

This rel­a­tive­ly lev­el, mod­er­ate­ly intense trail mean­ders through the for­est, with inter­mit­tent views of Lake Clark to the North, Tana­lian Moun­tain to the east, and Holey and Martha’s Moun­tains to the south. It ends at the impres­sive­ly pow­er­ful Tana­lian Falls. Make it a loop by return­ing via the Beaver Pond Loop.

Difficulty: Moderate Distance: 3 miles

Climb the only main­tained trail out­side of Port Alsworth. Fol­low the trail for one mile to cross Portage Creek. Con­tin­ue anoth­er two miles into the alpine tun­dra. From the end of the trail, you can explore for miles along an alpine ridge over­look­ing Lake Clark. 

Difficulty: Easy Distance: 3 miles Elevation Gain: 600 feet

This trail makes a loop around a small beaver pond and con­nects back via the Tana­lian Falls trail. It’s espe­cial­ly beau­ti­ful in fall, fall, when gold­en birch trees explode in col­or. This is the gen­tlest of the avail­able hikes in Port Alsworth.

Difficulty: Moderate Distance: 5 miles Elevation Gain: 1200 feet

This trail leaves from the prim­i­tive camp­ground at Hope Creek. The trail fol­lows the south side of Hope Creek ascend­ing the creek’s val­ley for miles. This is a great val­ley for catch­ing a glimpse of black or brown bears or Dall sheep. 

Difficulty: Difficult Distance: 15 miles

Choose this trip if you def­i­nite­ly want to vis­it Richard Proenneke’s cab­in and you want a chal­leng­ing hike. Of the main three Lake Clark back­pack­ing trips, this trip offers the most chal­leng­ing ter­rain and requires the most back­coun­try nav­i­ga­tion skills.

Difficulty: Difficult Distance: 10 miles

Choose this trip if you want to com­mit to few­er miles and don’t mind a lit­tle bushwack­ing. The flights for this trip are typ­i­cal­ly the least expen­sive of the trips list­ed here; since it’s the clos­est to Port Alsworth it requires less flight time.

Difficulty: Difficult Distance: 12 miles

This 12-plus-mile back­pack­ing route lets you see the park’s most icon­ic lakes: the alpine Turquoise Lake and the bore­al Twin Lakes. Wildlife is com­mon along this route, espe­cial­ly Dall sheep in the alpine val­leys between the lakes.

Difficulty: Easy Distance: 1 mile Elevation Gain: 200 feet

This out-and-back trail leaves from the His­toric Proen­neke Cab­in site and ascends to a promi­nent point ½‑mile behind the cab­in to the north of Hope Creek. A unique­ly bal­anced rock marks the end of this trail and makes a great spot to take in the view of Upper Twin Lake. 

Difficulty: Moderate Distance: 5 miles Elevation Gain: 800 feet

Begin this hike on the Tana­lian Falls trail; con­tin­ue past the falls to the shores of Kon­trashi­buna Lake. This long, nar­row lake is nes­tled between steep moun­tains on either shore. The offi­cial trail ends at the lake, but a brushed, unmain­tained social trail con­tin­ues along the lake’s north shore. 

Difficulty: Difficult Distance: 3 miles Elevation Gain: 1000 feet

This trail leaves from the Emer­son Creek delta, on the north side of Upper Twin Lakes, just east of the stream that con­nects the Upper and Low­er Twin Lakes. A good end­ing point is a large water­fall, 1.75 miles up the trail. You can stop at the bot­tom of the falls or climb a steep trail to the bluff above the falls. The trail con­tin­ues into the alpine, but even­tu­al­ly dis­ap­pears into the tundra.

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Lake Clark National Park Fishing Spots

Lake Clark boasts some incred­i­ble fish­ing — whether fight­ing Dol­ly Var­den on a fly rod in the Chi­likadrot­na Riv­er or toss­ing a line into Upper Twin Lake in search of Grayling, Lake Clark’s boun­ti­ful lakes and many rivers mean you are nev­er far from excel­lent fish­ing. Guid­ing fish­ing is avail­able at sev­er­al of the lodges in Lake Clark.

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