We first visited the Revelations in 2002, and the place blew our minds. In 2005, Dan Oberlatz spent 25 days in the range on two different expeditions, including a 90-mile traverse through the gut of the range from the Big River to the Stony River. In 2009, Dan Oberlatz and Mark Stevens went into the northern portion of the Revelations to complete a stunning packaneering traverse from the Lyman Fork, over 2 glacier passes, through Sled Pass, and down the Stony River in packrafts. It was another formative trip for Stevens & Oberlatz, and one they agreed worth repeating! Though the Revelations are technically outside of the boundary of Lake Clark National Park, you’d never know it. And you’ll still get the full Lake Clark experience with the amazing flightseeing along the trip and one night at our partner lodge on Lake Clark itself.
With more guided backpacking & packaneering expeditions into this area than anyone, it’s easy for us to say that the Revelations are likely one of the least visited and most spectacular mountain ranges in Alaska. Stretching for over 100 miles, the Revelation Range comprises the westernmost portion of the mighty Alaska Range.
Itinerary
This morning you’ll start the day with an orientation and gear check at our shop in Anchorage. We'll then make the transfer to Merrill Field where you'll await the flight from Anchorage to Port Alsworth. From Merrill Field, located in the heart of Anchorage, you’ll fly west through the glacially carved splendor of Lake Clark Pass, one of the most spectacular bush flight tours in Alaska, arriving 1.5 hours later in the small community of Port Alsworth. With your guide team, you'll enjoy a delicious lunch along the shores of Lake Clark, discuss the adventure and wrap up the trip orientation. After lunch, we’ll load into bush planes and lift off into the afternoon skies bound for a small gravel airstrip on the west side of the Revelations. We’ll shoulder our loads and head east up the main fork of the Big River and to our first camp. After our first gourmet wilderness dinner, we’ll sit back and bask in the solitude of this amazing wilderness.
After coffee and our first serving of Neacola Granola, we’ll pack camp, and continue eastbound toward the headwaters of the Big River and through the spectacular country below the massive peaks of the Revelations. This first full-day will allow us the chance to become acquainted with the seemingly endless river bars of the western portion of the range. With tumbling clearwater creeks, rolling hills, sparse vegetation, and huge vertical relief to the east, this part of the Revelations offers some of the best backpacking in the region. By late afternoon, we’ll be camped in the beautiful headwaters of the upper Big River.
We’ll spend the next 8 days completing our 60-mile traverse of the Revelation Mountains. The landscape will offer up an incredibly diverse array of pure wilderness travel, from rolling open dry tundra, multiple river crossings, high glacier passes, miles of glacier ice, and plenty of time on rocky river bars. Our proposed route will take us from the Big River on the west side to Sled Pass on the east side of Mt. Mausolus. We’ll be traveling across and up the Big River, over a high pass and onto the Fish Creek Glacier, up and over yet another heavily glaciated pass onto the Hartman River, and finally into the magical real estate surrounding Sled Pass. From a backpacking standpoint, there really aren’t many Alaska trips out there that offer the challenge and wonder of the Revelations. Not only are the Revs extremely remote, they are also Himalayan in scale with vertical relief totaling more than 7000′ in many locations. There’s little doubt that this trip has the potential to be the pinnacle of your mountain career.
Too soon for most, our bush pilot will arrive to return us to Port Alsworth and our home for our final night. After checking into cabins, enjoying hot showers, and a celebratory dinner at the lodge, we’ll tally up our wildlife sightings and trip highlights, and revel in a euphoria you will never forget.
After breakfast at the lodge, we’ll pay a morning visit to the Lake Clark National Park visitor’s center, where you’ll have a chance to purchase maps and postcards. We’ll spend the rest of the day hiking to Tanalian Falls, before boarding a late afternoon charter flight back to Anchorage. If you are departing Alaska on this day, please schedule all homebound flights for after 9 pm.
Alaska Factor: The Real Deal
While Alaska Alpine Adventures endeavors to follow our itineraries as written, odds are in fact slim that you actually will during the camping portion of this trip. The expeditionary factors at play quite often compel our guides to deviate from the written itinerary. Guide considerations could include weather conditions, group preference, individual ability, specific safety considerations, or unforeseeable circumstances; collectively what many have called “The Alaska Factor.” Flight times into and out of the wilderness may also vary based on any number of similar factors. Therefore we strongly suggest that you approach any adventure in Alaska with an open mind.
Available Dates
Custom Dates & Private Departures Available
Contact us for Details
Trip Stats
- Price:
- $6,195 /person
- Duration:
- 12-days
- Length:
- 60+ miles
- Intensity:
- Level 4
- Min Age:
- 14
- Begins In:
- Anchorage
- Ends In:
- Anchorage
- Airport:
- Anchorage International (ANC)
- Location:
- Lake Clark National Park
- Wildlife:
- Bears, Dall Sheep, Wolves, Caribou, Moose
- Great For:
- Explorers, Couples, Individuals
- Activity:
- Backpacking Packaneering
Itinerary
This morning you’ll start the day with an orientation and gear check at our shop in Anchorage. We'll then make the transfer to Merrill Field where you'll await the flight from Anchorage to Port Alsworth. From Merrill Field, located in the heart of Anchorage, you’ll fly west through the glacially carved splendor of Lake Clark Pass, one of the most spectacular bush flight tours in Alaska, arriving 1.5 hours later in the small community of Port Alsworth. With your guide team, you'll enjoy a delicious lunch along the shores of Lake Clark, discuss the adventure and wrap up the trip orientation. After lunch, we’ll load into bush planes and lift off into the afternoon skies bound for a small gravel airstrip on the west side of the Revelations. We’ll shoulder our loads and head east up the main fork of the Big River and to our first camp. After our first gourmet wilderness dinner, we’ll sit back and bask in the solitude of this amazing wilderness.
After coffee and our first serving of Neacola Granola, we’ll pack camp, and continue eastbound toward the headwaters of the Big River and through the spectacular country below the massive peaks of the Revelations. This first full-day will allow us the chance to become acquainted with the seemingly endless river bars of the western portion of the range. With tumbling clearwater creeks, rolling hills, sparse vegetation, and huge vertical relief to the east, this part of the Revelations offers some of the best backpacking in the region. By late afternoon, we’ll be camped in the beautiful headwaters of the upper Big River.
We’ll spend the next 8 days completing our 60-mile traverse of the Revelation Mountains. The landscape will offer up an incredibly diverse array of pure wilderness travel, from rolling open dry tundra, multiple river crossings, high glacier passes, miles of glacier ice, and plenty of time on rocky river bars. Our proposed route will take us from the Big River on the west side to Sled Pass on the east side of Mt. Mausolus. We’ll be traveling across and up the Big River, over a high pass and onto the Fish Creek Glacier, up and over yet another heavily glaciated pass onto the Hartman River, and finally into the magical real estate surrounding Sled Pass. From a backpacking standpoint, there really aren’t many Alaska trips out there that offer the challenge and wonder of the Revelations. Not only are the Revs extremely remote, they are also Himalayan in scale with vertical relief totaling more than 7000′ in many locations. There’s little doubt that this trip has the potential to be the pinnacle of your mountain career.
Too soon for most, our bush pilot will arrive to return us to Port Alsworth and our home for our final night. After checking into cabins, enjoying hot showers, and a celebratory dinner at the lodge, we’ll tally up our wildlife sightings and trip highlights, and revel in a euphoria you will never forget.
After breakfast at the lodge, we’ll pay a morning visit to the Lake Clark National Park visitor’s center, where you’ll have a chance to purchase maps and postcards. We’ll spend the rest of the day hiking to Tanalian Falls, before boarding a late afternoon charter flight back to Anchorage. If you are departing Alaska on this day, please schedule all homebound flights for after 9 pm.
Alaska Factor: The Real Deal
While Alaska Alpine Adventures endeavors to follow our itineraries as written, odds are in fact slim that you actually will during the camping portion of this trip. The expeditionary factors at play quite often compel our guides to deviate from the written itinerary. Guide considerations could include weather conditions, group preference, individual ability, specific safety considerations, or unforeseeable circumstances; collectively what many have called “The Alaska Factor.” Flight times into and out of the wilderness may also vary based on any number of similar factors. Therefore we strongly suggest that you approach any adventure in Alaska with an open mind.
Location
Trip Reviews
A test of will and determination. Spectacular adventure shared with two incomparable guides. A reaffirmation of my life’s dream of stepping into the wild.
As a seasoned backpacker worldwide, I would rate this trip as a once in a lifetime experience! I’ve never had better food in the field. Great weather, spectacular scenery. Overall – outstanding!
Fantastic!! Couldn’t have asked for a better trip. Enjoyed every minute of it.
Looking for more reviews? View all trip testimonials.
Trip Photos
Trip FAQs
Have questions about this trip? We’ve got answers.
Simply because we believe Lake Clark National Park to be the most spectacular and diverse park in Alaska. At over 4-million acres, this wilderness park has something for everyone – miles of coastline, active volcanoes, spectacular lakes, glaciers and icefields, wild and scenic rivers, stunning mountains, and very few visitors. If you seek solitude and the perfect Alaskan landscape, Lake Clark will not disappoint.
Lake Clark and its surrounding 4 million-acre national park is located approximately 150 miles West-Southwest of Anchorage.
Access to Lake Clark National Park is solely by small aircraft or, in some instances, by boat.
Absolutely, our trips are all inclusive from Anchorage. The trip includes roundtrip flights from Anchorage to Port Alsworth and floatplane flights into and out of the wilderness.
We all meet at our shop in Anchorage on the morning of Day 1 for an orientation and gear check. We’ll then transfer by van to Merrill field for the flight to Port Alsworth - the gateway community to Lake Clark National Park.
You’ll be flying with Lake Clark Resort, located at Merrill Field. We usually schedule our flight from Anchorage, after an orientation and gear check.
Merrill Field is located just east of downtown Anchorage. “Bush” flying is an adventure in and of itself and variable weather conditions may cause delays. We will try to keep you informed of any changes or delays as they occur.
Proenneke lived on Twin Lakes, in the heart of Lake Clark National Park, from 1968-1998. He resided in a small hand-hewn log cabin on the south shore of the upper lake near Hope Creek. Dick, who has been called a modern-day Thoreau, was a prolific writer and photographer. His cabin, which we visit on a number of our adventures, is a testament to his simple lifestyle and a reminder of his dedication to wilderness and conservation.
Absolutely. Lake Clark has been called ‘Alaska’s epitome’ and ‘little Denali’, though at 4 million-acres and roughly the size of Switzerland, the term ‘little’ doesn’t really apply! In addition all 5 species of Pacific salmon, the park is home to grizzly and black bears, Dall sheep, caribou, moose, wolves, and tremendous seasonal populations of migratory birds.
Yes, there is an additional fee of $275 if you request OR end up in your own room at the lodge on the final night.
For additional information, please reach out to us.
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