Backpacking Katmai – Katmai & Lake Clark National Parks

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. After what many have called one of the most spectacular bush flights in Alaska, you’ll arrive 1.5 hours later in the small community of Port Alsworth.  With your guide team, you’ll enjoy a delicious lunch on the shores of Lake Clark, discuss the adventure, and then load into float planes bound for Katmai National Park. We’ll establish our camp near the shore of the lake, and with our bodies nourished for the adventure ahead, we will head out on a short day-hike to get a feel for the surrounding landscape. Lunch & dinner included.  

After breakfast and coffee on the lake, we’ll break camp, load up our packs and begin our trek into the mountains. As we climb out of the lake basin, you’ll quickly understand why we chose this region of Katmai to explore on foot. Not only does this area offer abundant solitude, but it also serves up incredible tundra hiking, a multitude of small lakes & streams, and super reliable wildlife viewing – including brown bears, caribou, waterfowl, and birds of prey. Today’s destination will be a small approximately 5-7 miles to the north where, by late afternoon, we’ll set up camp and bask in the silence of a place so wild and remote.  All meals included.

Another delicious hot breakfast will nourish us for the day ahead, and we’ll strike out into a landscape riddled with small lakes and laced with spring-fed creeks. Today’s route to another unnamed will offer more spectacular Katmai country. At this point, we’ll be camped within the headwaters of one of southwest Alaska most productive salmon fisheries, and home to the wild creatures that rely on this annual bounty. We’ll enjoy another wonderful dinner while we glass the surrounding hillsides for big game.  All meals included.

These days of the expedition will be both spectacular and rewarding, as we make our way to the east along a contouring ascent to a broad, tundra-clad pass surrounded by spectacular peaks. We’ll camp near small lakes & streams within the headwaters of one of southwest Alaska most productive salmon fisheries - the home to the wild creatures that rely on this annual bounty. We’ll enjoy wonderful dinners and camp comradery while we search the surrounding hillsides for wildlife that inhabit this amazing place. By late afternoon of Day 5, we’ll assemble camp on a spacious lakeside beach and celebrate our new route through the Alaska wilderness.

With the memories of this amazing expedition fresh in our minds, the sound of the float plane will remind us of the civilized world we left behind. We will return to Port Alsworth and check into the authentic lakeside cabins of the Lake Clark Resort. After hot showers and a celebratory dinner in the lodge dining room, we’ll tally up our wildlife sightings, and allow the satisfaction of the experience soak in.

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, enjoy interpretive displays and short films, and share your experience with park staff. We’ll spend the rest of the day hiking to Tanalian Falls along Lake Clark National Park’s only developed trail, before boarding an afternoon charter flight back to Anchorage. If you are departing Alaska on this day, please schedule all homebound flights for after 9 pm.