Lake Clark

From Wikipedia – The region around Lake Clark features four active volcanoes, including Mount Redoubt, as well as an abundance of rivers, glaciers, and waterfalls. Temperate rainforests, a tundra plateau, and three mountain ranges complete the landscape.

• Established: 12/2/1980
• Annual Visitors: 14,479
• Size: The Park is 2,619,816 acres, The Preserve is an additional 1,410,293 acres for a total of 4,030,006 acres

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve – July

We stayed 6 nights in one location but separated the two parks (Katmai and Lake Clark) into separate posts. Lake Clark National Park is below. The Farm Lodge at Lake Clark is yet to come, soon!

Arriving at Lake Clark Resort’s Farm Lodge

Friday July 26 – Anchorage to Port Alsworth

E: Sherry and Craig, our friends from Phoenix for a week in Port Alsworth, AK, met us at Lake Clark Air Taxi at Merrill Field in Anchorage. We boarded a 10 seater plane with a relative of the founders of Port Alsworth and her 4 children ages 7 to 1. Three young girls and their baby brother. All donned their own personal colored ear muffs since they fly a lot. The kids settle right in and were buckled in with some assistance from the pilot. The 1.5 hour flight, due to overcast skies and a bit of re-routing was bumpy and, for me, a bit unnerving. I stealthily clenched Sherry’s seat next to me, trying not to show these cute seasoned little humans in front of me that I was nervous! The 3 year old with a pink jacket and matching ear muffs in front of Sherry turned and peered over the back of her seat with the most precious blue eyes one could imagine. Sherry and I played peek-a-boo, with an occasional thumbs up with her and her two sisters, most of the way. Mom and little brother enjoyed the ride together toward the front of the plane.

I was relieved to be crawling out of the small plane after landing on the gravel runway, walking distance to The Farm at Lake Clark. It was still raining and overcast but the surroundings are beautiful! We are here for the next 6 nights.

We unpacked in our one bedroom with a kitchenette duplex on the bay of Lake Clark. Had a home cooked meal in the lodge/dining room located in another building above our cabins, took a walk around the property checking out the Christian Community Center, the second of two gravel runways and locating the trailheads to waterfalls, a beaver pond and a 3,800 foot hike up a mountain which Gary is the sole taker on that idea. The sun will set around 11pm but the four of us were ready closer to 9. We ended the day under one of the most spectacular rainbows we have ever seen. 

“Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread.” – Edward Abbey

Sunday July 28 – Fire and Ice Tour – Lake Clark National Park and Preserve

Elizabeth: Lake Clark National Park’s landscape is a canvas of colors due to numerous eruptions creating a tundra of green, brown, red, gray and black. Glaciers previously formed are under the lava and ash as well as dirt and eruption debris covering the glaciers. These dramatic changes are due to the fire and ice, hence the tour name.

The two active Volcanos still today are Redoubt standing 10,197 ft. and Iliamna at 10,016 ft. The snow and ice flow from these mountains making tributaries traveling into Lake Clark, home to one of the world’s largest sockeye salmon fisheries. This true wilderness is teaming with black and brown bears, Caribou, Moose, Dall sheep, bald eagles, and more.

Sherry, Craig, Gary and I took a float plane, piloted by Leo, who is married to one of Glen Jr.’s sisters. He flew us low over a pond to see a moose crossing the algae covered waters. We flew at 7,000ft over volcanos, some still steaming today. It was 32 degrees at that height as we hugged mountains that were 10,000 feet in elevation. I prefer being lower to the ground to look for wildlife but flying next to, around and over these active Volcanos was quite the adventure.

We landed four different times on various lakes to sightsee, hike, eat lunch and find wildlife foot prints like those of bears and moose! We saw sockeye salmon heads (skeletons) on the sand and rock beaches of one lake. They were most likely from the salmon that have already spawned (laid their eggs and get fertilized) which ends their life and they likely washed up on shore. But the large clawed paw prints all over the beach could indicate some salmon were from the bear’s lunch!

At Turquois Lake, like some of the other stops, we exited the float plane by walking down the plane’s pontoons floating in the water and stepped on two consecutive milk crates at the back of the plane that Leo placed in the water so we didn’t get our feet wet. Gary accidentally flushed out a couple ptarmigan and a marmot or two. After walking up a stream we found a fire pit made by campers before us. A small circle of stones with a whole dug out and some dry wood. That wood, coupled with the twigs and some small dead branches we gathered, made a perfect spot for lunch. Leo had brought folding chairs, and our bagged lunches in a cooler that we had pre-ordered during dinner the night before. The weather had been on and off cloudy and sprinkling but perfect for a fire and outdoor excursions in the wilderness!

On our last landing before returning to the Farm Lodge, we spotted moose tracks, quickly followed by Gary pointing and quietly exclaiming: “Moose!”. At first, because the moose was on a tree line some distance away (which is a good thing) we thought he did not have antlers. Well, low and behold, we were pleasantly mistaken. It was the largest bull moose, with several tines, that I have ever seen. And I used to live in northern Maine!

The meals here are really good, a lot of food, and very yummy. Guests check off what you wish to have for breakfast and lunch, during dinner time. One breakfast option, among a few others, was salmon eggs Benedict. One dinner was a salad from the onsite greenhouse, tender beef medallions, roasted Brussel sprouts and seasoned mashed potatoes with blueberry cobbler for dessert. Another night time meal was seasoned bowtie pasta, grilled chicken (outside on gas grills, then brought into the dining hall), steamed green beans and a gooey brownie, strawberry ice cream with freshly made whipped cream to top it all off. You do not go hungry here!

Monday July 29, 2024 – Our Day “Off”

Between every two pines there is a doorway to a new world – John Muir

We had a day to relax, explore, hike, and catch up on our journaling and photos. Craig, Sherry, Gary and I walked the roughly 5 mile loop from our lodging to a wonderful water fall and beaver pond.

Twin Lakes & Dick Proenneke’s Cabin, July 31, 2024

E: It’s a beautiful sunny day to fly in a float plane 30 minutes to Twin Lakes, in Lake Clark National Park.  Dick Proenneke’s cabin and Twin Lakes is 2000 feet higher than the Farm Lodge on Lake Clark where we are staying this week. 

Glen Alsworth Jr., our pilot today, his dad and grand dad (Babe Alsworth), flew supplies to Dick Proenneke for 30 yrs. Sometimes Dick would hike the long two-day trek, from his cabin on Upper Twin Lake, to his friend’s cabin on Lake Clark, former governor of Alaska (1974-1982) Jay Hammond. Dick or Jay would then radio the Alsworths to come and get Dick, just a short flight across the lake from Port Alsworth so Dick could collect supplies and visit with the very small town’s residents. Port Alsworth only has 158 people living there full time in 2024. Planes are the only way to get to Anchorage an hour+ flight away.

Glen Jr. used to help Mrs. Bella Hammond after the former governor passed away in 2005. The Alsworths visited her sometimes three times a week (plane access only) to assist with chores or repairs. Glen told us that on one occasion, he flew to the Hammond’s remote cabin at her request, at 11pm, to secure her boat from storm winds. Glen said he tried landing several times before he was successful in the less than ideal weather only to find out the boat rope was strung up the shore to the tree and the tree had a rope around it…the ropes just needed to be tied to one another! She really just wanted company at age 85! The Alsworths and the Port Alsworth community are good people and assist one another. Including Glen Jr and his family who were there for Mrs. Hammond for the previous 15 years until her death at 88 years old in 2020.

Sherry, Craig, Gary and I were all excited to set foot off the float plane and see Dick’s cabin. It was quite a bit closer to the water than we thought, after seeing Dick’s films on PBS. The park ranger read us an excerpt from Dick’s journal written on July 31st, 1968. He did the finishing touches on the cabin and the next day he would move-in for the first time after building the home by hand after a summer of preparation and 3 months of construction. How cool it was for us to be there on the exact day Dick finished his hand cut, peeled and notched out spruce log home, 56 years, to the day, later! We could feel his excitement and most certainly admired his craftmanship and dedication.

Touring Dick’s small 12 X 16 foot, low roofed dream home felt like we were visiting Dick for real. We enjoyed seeing his hand made shed with all the tools he had made or fashioned handles for. His food cache which he built on the ground, disassembled and then walked each log up his hand made wooden ladder until all parts were reassembled. The amazing handmade wooden hinges and latches on both the cache and his cabin were ingenious!

The four of us hiked ¾ mile up to Teetering Rock, a large boulder that Dick found and could be literally teetered back and forth, in place, by a few hard pushes. Gary had a good ’ol time rocking it to and froe while we all overlooked and magnificent view of Upper Twin Lake down below. We all picked wild blueberries with our guide Jared, who is married to Selina Alsworth, Glen Jr.’s daughter. Salina, half jokingly, said Jerad could not return home until he had picked an entire large Nalgene bottle full of the berries that were just coming out in full force. Not only did he fill his container but assisted us in filling about half a gallon bag for us. Gary and I felt that spending hours, in the wilderness, picking berries like a local bear, just as Dick did, could be a wonderful way to pass the days, late summer, overlooking Upper Twin Lake in the distance below us.

Once back at the rocky beach, we saw Dall Sheep, across the lake high up on the hillside slopes using a scope set up by the parks service. Just as Dick did with his own scope, 50 years before us.

Some additional wildlife enthusiasts flew in to try their luck casting into the fast-moving crystal-clear stream that fed into Upper Twin Lake, a short, hundred yards from the cabin. We filled our water bottles in the stream, had a bagged lunch on the beach and prepared to fly back to The Farm Lodge.

As the Lake Clark Air Service plane arrived it was clear that a couple trips would be necessary to get us all back. Sherry and Craig offered to head back first and we were to catch the next float plane trip upon pilot Leo’s return in about an hour. The second trip could carry 5 more guests but two of us would have to stay back and wait another hour to leave on the last flight. We volunteered! Gary, myself, two guides from The Farm and two park rangers were all that were left. Gary hiked the mountain again, the guides caught fish for their dinners, I relaxed on the small stony beach in a folding chair from lunch. Staring out towards the beautifully blue, cold waters of Upper Twin Lake, I realized although I do not believe I personally could do it, I completely understand how someone could spend 30 years in the wild up there. Plenty of wild game to hunt/trap, foraging for berries and eatable plants, enjoying the lake in a canoe, hiking, photographing whatever sparks one’s interest and, although I was 35 plus miles from people, by air, I could feel how Dick had an interesting, pleasurable and rewarding life in his solitude in nature.

After being dropped off at Twin Lakes at 8:30AM and thoroughly enjoying two unexpected hours pretending to be Dick Proenneke, we were flown back to the small town of Port Alsworth about 5PM. We hope to return here someday, but for now, tomorrow we fly back home to Phoenix. More on The Farm Lodge in one last Post of Lake Clark to follow.