Park Hours (Today)
All Day
Port Alsworth Visitor Center: 9:00AM - 4:30PM
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Plan your Lake Clark trip
About the Park
Lake Clark National Park and Preserve is a land of stunning beauty. Volcanoes steam, salmon run, bears forage, and craggy mountains reflect in shimmering turquoise lakes. Here, too, local people and culture still depend on the land and water. Venture into the park to become part of the wilderness.
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What to See & Do
Flight Seeing at Lake Clark
Discover safely from a bird’s eye view. Volcanoes, coastline, mountain ranges, tundra, lakes, rivers, wildlife, and more! What will you see on your flight seeing trip?
Remote Base Camping
A camping trip into Lake Clark's trail-less wilderness can be a spectacular and rewarding experience. Thorough preparation and careful trip planning will help ensure you have a safe and meaningful trip. Here you will experience undeveloped wilderness, self-reliance, and solitude to an extent seldom found elsewhere.
Camp at Kontrashibuna Lake
Pack up and journey out to the wilderness. Lay in your tent listening to a lone wolf's howl. Stand in awe as mountains reflect across still waters in the early morning light.
Fly-In Bear Viewing Along the West Cook Inlet Coast
Learn where to go to see bears and become familiar with bear viewing best practices. Then watch the park's beautiful new 11 minute-long film, A Day on the Lake Clark National Park Coastline to get a feel for experience of being on the coast with bears.
Spend the Night in a Rustic Cabin
Experience the simplicity and beauty of a public use cabin. Enjoy world class fishing and kayaking right outside the front door of a beautiful cabin in remote Alaska.
Go Fishing on Lake Clark
Lake Clark provides excellent fishing opportunities for adventurous anglers. The park and preserve includes some of the most pristine fishery habitats in the National Park system. Fly or boat out from Port Alsworth onto Lake Clark, where incredible fishing awaits.
Visitor Centers
Port Alsworth Visitor Center
Come and enjoy the visitor center and exhibits and get information from our rangers. Visitors can find a wealth of park information including local hiking trail details and check out a bear resistant container at the Port Alsworth Visitor Center. The Bristol Bay Double-Ender “boat barn” will be open daily. Visitors are free to explore the other outdoor exhibits including the Wassilie Trefon Dena’ina Fish Cache and Denison Sawmill Exhibit anytime.
Where to Stay
NPS Priest Rock Public Use Cabin
The Priest Rock Cabin sits on the north shore of Lake Clark, approximately eight miles north of Port Alsworth. The cabin is perched above a small creek that runs into the lake. It commands a sublime view of Lake Clark's upper reaches, backed by mountains rising to 6,000 feet. It's an ideal place for kayaking, boating, fishing and wildlife viewing.
Getting Here & Transit
How to Get Here
Lake Clark is located on the Alaska Peninsula southwest of Anchorage and north of Katmai National Park. It is not on the road system; therefore, in order to get here you must travel either via plane or by boat. A one to two-hour flight from Anchorage, Kenai, or Homer will provide access to most points within Lake Clark. Fixed-wing aircraft are allowed to land on all suitable lakes, rivers, beaches, gravel bars, and open ground in both the park and preserve unless the area is closed or otherwise restricted.
Park Amenities
Permits & Reservations
Permits may be required
Some activities in Lake Clark National Park & Preserve — including backcountry camping, certain trails, and climbing routes — require advance permits. Check the official NPS website for current requirements before your visit.
Operating Hours
Lake Clark National Park and Preserve
The park and preserve are open 24 hours per day, seven days per week year round. However, visitor services are limited Labor Day through Memorial Day. Seasonal and temporary closures are listed by location on the Operating Hours & Seasons page.
- MondayAll Day
- TuesdayAll Day
- WednesdayAll Day
- ThursdayAll Day
- FridayAll Day
- SaturdayAll Day
- SundayAll Day
Photos
Waterfall surrounded by forest in fall foiliage and mountains in the background.
Photo of a stratovolcano flanked with glaciers towering over a river valley.
photo of large alpine glacier
two brown bear cubs playing in the sedges
When to Go
Crowd CalendarPlan your trip around peak seasons to avoid crowds or embrace the energy of the busy months. Our crowd predictions are based on historical NPS Visitor Use Statistics.
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Build your Lake Clark itinerary
Tell Miza your dates, pace, and interests—get a day-by-day plan with hikes, drives, and must-see stops.
Best Time
May-September
Trip Length
2-4 days
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Planning Lake Clark & Preserve
These common questions go deeper into logistics and planning. For real-time updates on road closures and current conditions, always check the Alerts section above.