Alaska's Untamed Parks

Where to get face-to-face this summer with real, unruly wilderness
By Tom Kizzia

You step off the plane in Anchorage and realize you haven't quite made it to Alaska yet. You imagined kayaks gliding past rocks that slurp in the ocean swell, or a tent on an alpine pass where the sky is still bright at midnight. Now that you're here, you can do what most visitors do: take off in a rental car and roam the state by road. Or you can jump free to where there are no roads.

We recommend setting your sights on Alaska's major parks; for starters, that narrows the options to a mere 55 million acres--and at least there are rangers at headquarters to answer your questions. But be forewarned: These aren't like other parks. You're on your own fording rivers or landing kayaks in the surf. You'll discover for yourself why it's usually better hiking alpine ridges than broad green valleys. You'll think, a bit too late, of questions you didn't know to ask. But if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.

Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve
Being face-to-berg with the world's greatest array of tidewater glaciers means one thing from the foredeck of a cruise ship and quite another from a two-person kayak. From seal's-eye level on 65-mile-long Glacier Bay, you can practically watch the glaciers retreat.

Kayakers must choose between the bay's west arm, with spectacular destinations such as Johns Hopkins Inlet and Muir Inlet, which has less-active glaciers and thus attracts fewer cruise ships. Either way, allow a week for touring side bays and hiking over ridges and remnant glaciers. Hazards include capsizing icebergs, breaching humpbacks, dunks in 35-degree water, and forgetting what day it is.

Park headquarters at Bartlett Cove, near the tiny community of Gustavus, is 45 miles from the nearest glacier. You can save at least two days of paddling with a drop-off from the Glacier Bay Lodge day-tour boat ($175, round-trip) at Sebree Island or Geikie Inlet, close to the Muir Inlet. If you don't want to camp near headquarters, stay at the lodge (doubles, $76; dorm beds, $28; 800-451-5952) or at one of several inns in Gustavus.

Two-person hard-shell kayaks can be rented from Glacier Bay Sea Kayaks (907-697-2257), in Gustavus, for $50 a day. Alaska Discovery (800-586-1911) runs daylong kayak trips to islands near Bartlett Cove for $95 per person, as well as seven-day, 60-mile tours of Muir Inlet, with airplane drop-offs, for $1,800.

Backpackers can also catch a lift on Glacier Bay Lodge's tour boat. Drop-off points are rotated to reduce impact; this year the western arm may provide the best hiking routes (check with park rangers at 907-697-2232 before heading out). A few fearless souls fly west to Lituya Bay and follow the coast around Cape Fairweather to Dry Bay for 70 rigorous miles. Follow the beach all the way, with the misnamed Fairweather Range on your right and the Pacific surf in your left ear. Contact Glacier Bay Airways (907-697-2249).

One of North America's greatest wild river systems begins in the British Columbia mountains, north of Glacier Bay, and ends in the park's west end. Floaters choose the Class III Tatshenshini or the Class III-IV Alsek, which has a horrifying drop that rafters portage in a helicopter. The two rivers join 70 miles from the bay. Note: Only one party, commercial or private, is allowed to launch on either river each day. Chilkat Guides runs both; call 907-766-2491.

Katmai National Park and Preserve
A volcanic eruption that covered the surrounding 6,500-square-mile area with a thick layer of ash in 1912 was the most powerful in the world this century, ten times stronger than the Mount St. Helens event in 1980. But the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes has stopped smoking, and now you can hike or paddle through this lunarscape of scorched earth and eroded-ash ravines.

Out in the backcountry, you'd be hard pressed to run into other groups, but Brooks Camp, Katmai's summer headquarters, is overrun: The chance to see grizzlies feeding on salmon has created a mob scene. Brooks Lodge is booked all summer; even campground reservations are handed out by lottery before May (check with park headquarters at 907-246-3305). This year, the park service says it plans to enforce a no-camping rule within five miles of Brooks River, which means a long hike for backpackers who arrive without reservations.

The solution: Either plan a morning arrival or get right on the shuttle van ($60, round-trip) for the 23-mile jaunt to the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. Windy Point, at road's end, is the traditional takeoff point for backpacking trips around Baked Mountain, Broken Mountain, and Falling Mountain. You can also make a quick getaway from Brooks Camp by launching on the Savonoski Loop, a paddle route that takes you along the shore of Naknek Lake, across a muddy one-mile portage, and down the Savonoski River back to headquarters. The trip can be done in five days but may take ten in bad weather. Canoes can be rented from the park concessionaire, Katmailand (800-544-0551), for $30 per day or $185 per week.

You can see plenty of grizzlies, minus the day-tripping crowds and viewing platforms, along Katmai's rugged coast. A high-end way to see bears in Shelikof Strait is on the Waters, a converted tug that treats guests to gourmet pizza after a day of watching bears fishing or digging for razor clams. Five days on the Waters costs $2,250, including airfare from Homer; call Katmai Coastal Tours at 800-532-8338.

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve
Not yet a household name in the Lower 48, this 13.2-million-acre spread is not only America's largest national park, but holds nine of the country's 16 tallest peaks. The park's third-highest, 16,390-foot Mount Blackburn, hovers above the copper-mine-era town of McCarthy, a good starting point for backcountry forays.

Though the town has only a few dozen year-round residents, McCarthy has evolved into a sportif center with several lodges, two air services, climbing and rafting guides, and mountain-bike rentals. Getting there, however, is still a feat. From Anchorage, drive 200 miles east to the town of Chitina and then head down a 60-mile gravel road along an old railroad bed (watch out for spikes). You don't need a four-wheel-drive vehicle, but the road is too rough for tour buses, and at the end visitors must pull themselves across the churning Kennicott River on a tramcar suspended from a cable.

Once you're there, the possibilities are plentiful. For a couple hundred dollars, round-trip, an air taxi can fly you to a gravel strip in the midst of the St. Elias range. If you're dropped off near Skolai Pass, for instance, you can spend five days or so traversing sheer scree slopes to Chitistone Canyon, where, if all goes well, the pilot will find you again. Call Wrangell Mountain Air (800-478-1160) or McCarthy Air (907-554-4440). If summit-bagging is high on your list, climbs of Blackburn, 16,500-foot Mount Bona, and other peaks can be arranged through St. Elias Alpine Guides (907-277-6867). St. Elias also runs one-day ice-climbing seminars on Kennicott Glacier, near McCarthy ($80 per person).

Mountain bikers have discovered the rough mining roads around McCarthy, but unfortunately you can't get very far beyond the day-trip range before reaching washed-out bridges and unfordable rivers. Many bikers take on the dusty washboard of the McCarthy Road itself. If you want narrower track, take the Kotsina Road in Strelna, at about the 13-mile mark, to the Nugget Creek Trail, a good 15-mile blitz to a first-come-first-served public cabin.

The rivers of the Wrangells are big and menacing, thick with silt and ice-cold. A multitude of outfitters run float trips on the Kennicott, Nizina, and Chitina rivers; call park headquarters in Copper Center at 907-822-5234 for a list. Copper Oar (907-566-0771), a guide service based in McCarthy, will take you out for a long day ($195 per person) or a multiday trip.

Denali National Park and Preserve
With more than half a million visitors last year, Alaska's most thronged park might seem worth a pass, despite its famed wildlife and the Big One itself. But for backcountry campers who can devote a day to getting past the gatekeepers, the Massachusetts-size park is the stuff of wilderness dreams.

First, the bad news: You need a permit not only to camp in one of the park's 43 backcountry zones, but also to camp in a campground or even get a seat on a shuttle bus (cars are allowed only 15 miles into the park). The reservable campsites have most likely been booked since January (reservations, 800-622-7275), but two-thirds of the places are available two days in advance at the park's new visitor center (907-683-1266). Get there by 6:30 A.M. (the door opens at seven) to be near the front of the line.

Securing a backcountry permit is less of a hassle, since they're available one day in advance. August is the height of the backpacking season, when the canneries close and summer workers flock to the park before returning south to college. Veterans say the key is to be flexible about your preferred route and travel in small groups (in some zones only two campers are allowed). Check the visitor center's bulletin board for closed areas where bears or wolves are feeding on recent kills. The shuttle bus will drop you anywhere along the park's main road and pick you up later (it used to be free but now costs $15 for backpackers).

If you can't get permits for the sought-after treks close to 20,320-foot Mount McKinley, such as the 14-mile loop around Mount Eielson or the climb to staggering McGonagall Pass, above the Muldrow Glacier, don't despair. The park is full of spectacular routes. For a strenuous three days, get off the bus just before Sable Pass and hike southeast into the big Teklanika River Valley, making your way across the braided channels. Once on the other side, climb Calico Creek to its headwaters and descend to the Sanctuary River, where you'll most likely see Dall sheep, caribou, and grizzlies. Or book a night at one of Denali's several backcountry lodges in the enclave of Kantishna, nearly 100 miles into the park. The newest of these is Denali Backcountry Lodge ($280-$330 per person; 800-841-0692), with 24 heated cabins.

Keep in mind that there's plenty to do in Denali's frontcountry while you're waiting for the right permits. Take a day hike up to Primrose Ridge (the trailhead is at mile 16 on the Denali Park Road) for great views of McKinley, if the weather's cooperating--the summit is usually visible one day out of three. A half-dozen outfitters run half-day whitewater raft trips through the Class III rapids of the Nenana River gorge, just outside the park ($40-$50; call Destinations in Travel, 800-354-6020). Or visit the mountaineering outpost of Talkeetna, 120 miles south of the park entrance. Six guide services based there, including Alaska Denali Guiding (907-733-2649), have permits to lead trips up Mount McKinley and 17,400-foot Mount Foraker, but don't expect to squeeze in a spur-of-the-moment trip; for one thing, the park service now requires a $150 climbing fee 60 days in advance. All spring and summer, backcountry skiers fly to Ruth Glacier, below McKinley, to camp and carve turns on big wilderness bowls. Call K-2 Aviation ($220 per person; 907-733-1000).

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve
Our choice for the most underappreciated park in Alaska, Lake Clark is a montage of swift rivers and mountain tundra, caribou and rainbow trout, just 180 air miles from Anchorage.

Take a floatplane from Kenai, Homer, or Anchorage to one of the blue lakes along the western slope of the Chigmit Mountains and start your journey there. One of the less technical routes begins at Turquoise Lake and leads over high benchland for a pickup at Twin Lakes. The terrain is unusually dry and pleasant, and the 20-mile route can be done in a few days. Leave plenty of time for side trips to the hanging glaciers in Turquoise Valley, at the head of the lake.

There are two kinds of river trips in the park. The most scenic follow small glacial rivers out of the mountain passes to the lakes. The headwaters of the Tlikakila River, for instance, near Lake Clark Pass, is a good place to spot bull moose and take a day hike up to Summit Lake for spectacular views. But the fishing is best on the rivers that flow west from the lakes: The Mulchatna, out of Turquoise Lake, and the Chilikadrotna, out of Twin Lakes, are teeming with salmon, grayling, and trout. Alaska Wildtrek (907-235-6463) runs guided raft trips on the Class II and III rapids of both rivers. Six days on the Tlikakila costs $1,295, including round-trip air-fare from Kenai; nine days on the Chilikadrotna costs $1,650.

Access to Lake Clark is more affordable than in the northern parks. A round-trip charter in a floatplane from Kenai might run $1,800 for five backpackers. Check with Alaska W Air (907-776-5147) or Air Adventures (907-776-5444). For information on destinations, call the ranger station at 907-781-2218.

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
This 19.2-million-acre tract with the four highest peaks in the Brooks Range, all close to 9,000 feet, is back in the news again as Republicans in Congress push to open the northern coast of Alaska to oil drilling. The last time this happened, publicity brought a burst of wilderness travel, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering trip restrictions on the Kongakut and the Hulahula, both of which flow out from the Brooks Range through glacial valleys and rugged mountains to the northern coastal plain. The problem: The Kongakut has been seeing as many as a dozen raft trips--all summer.

If the Kongakut sounds too congested, try the Canning or the south-flowing Sheenjek, which winds through a forest of spruce. Most float trips provide lots of hiking time; in late June you might encounter the Porcupine caribou herd as it gathers on its coastal-plain calving grounds, which is where the oil companies have marked an X on their maps. Alaska Discovery runs a ten-day trip on the Kongakut ($2,900; 800-586-1911), while Sourdough Outfitters offers a ten-day backpacking excursion into the remote western part of the refuge for experienced hikers and climbers only ($3,000; 907-692-5252). Contact the refuge (907-456-0250) for listings of additional float-trip operators.

For a first-person-on-earth experience, carry a backpack into the refuge's high watersheds in the Romanzof Mountains, where you'll be alone among wolf dens and Dall sheep. Most river runners and backpackers charter into the refuge from Fairbanks, Fort Yukon, or Arctic Village. Try Wright Air (907-474-0502) or Frontier Flying Service (907-474-0014) out of Fairbanks.

Kenai Fjords National Park
Though it's only a three-hour drive from Anchorage to the Kenai Peninsula's mountainous outer coast, kayakers have been poking around the inner bays and passages for hardly more than a decade. They face a tough decision up front: Aialik Bay or Northwestern Fjord? Aialik, several hours by boat from the town of Seward, has more and coastline to explore, plus a pair of comfortable National Park Service cabins ($30 per night; call 907-224-3175 to reserve). Or camp on the beach below Pederson Glacier, where you're likely to see humpbacks rolling over and feeding above a shallow moraine. Northwestern, an hour farther up the coast, has fewer day boats, and its glaciers are more spectacular, spilling 4,000 vertical feet into the punchbowl. Both bays offer good fishing: Not long ago, in fact, two kayakers pulled a 100-pound halibut out of Northwestern.

Seward is the center for most of the Kenai Fjords activity. Being dropped off in the park saves several days of paddling past boats trolling for silver salmon; Fox Island Charters (907-224-5271) charges $95 each way for the Aialik trip, $125 for Northwestern. On the ride back to Seward, you'll pass Fox Island itself: A home-cooked meal, sauna, and overnight stay at Kenai Fjords Wilderness Lodge ($88 per person; 907-224-5271) is the perfect soft landing.

If you'd rather venture into the park with a guide, Adventures and Delights (800-288-3134), based in Seward and Anchorage, runs five-day kayak trips to Aialik or Northwestern for $795 per person, plus your share of the boat charter. The Seward branch also rents kayaks ($55 per day for a double, $305 per week).

You'll probably need a floatplane drop-off to get to the western end of Kenai Fjords, which can be reached from Homer by Kachemak Air (907-235-8924) or Beluga Lake Float Plane (907-235-8256) for about $500, round-trip, for a group of four. Check with the pilots about timing for the late-summer sockeye and silver salmon runs in McCarty Fjord--and get there ahead of the commercial boats.

Hikers might want to visit Exit Glacier, 15 miles west of Seward, which plummets 3,000 feet from the Harding Icefield. You'll lose the tourists on the switchback trail through the alders; set out across the Pleistocene plain (ropes recommended) or pitch a tent on the ridge within a half-mile of the trail.

Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve
This 8.2-million-acre park in North America's unadulterated outback is spread across the Brooks Range, north of the Arctic Circle, where boreal forest extends deep into the southern valleys and the north slope is open and treeless. Most people backpack through the mountains or float the rivers, but a great trip includes both. From Anaktuvuk Pass, the last village of the Nunamiut, the mountain Eskimos, hike south through Ernie Pass and down the North Fork of the Koyukuk River to Boreal Mountain and Frigid Crags, the twin mountains that give the park its name. Allow about five days to cross the wobbling grass tussocks. You can arrange for an air taxi to meet you with a food cache and inflatable canoes ($600 for a resupply flight, plus $35 per day for a canoe). Call Brooks Range Aviation at 907-692-5444. Figure another five days to float down the Koyukuk to the outpost of Bettles, where you can pitch a tent next to the river. Or reserve a room and a piece of cherry pie at the Bettles Lodge (doubles, $110; 800-770-5111). The park service in Bettles (907-692-5494) can point you toward other hiking loops and river trips.

Other rivers worth considering are the Noatak, which flows west out of the Gates through the largest untouched river basin in the United States, and the Class II Kobuk. ABEC's Alaska Adventures (907-457-8907) and Wilderness: Alaska/Mexico (907-479-8203) both offer 12-day trips on the Noatak for under $2,000 per person. You can also run the Kobuk with Wilderness: Alaska/Mexico; its ten-day, 100-mile float costs $1,800 per person.

Tom Kizzia is the author of The Wake of the Unseen Object, published by Henry Holt. He lives in Homer, Alaska.

See also:

North Country Hazards

Getting There and Around