This blog will briefly describe the parks that I have visited that are managed by the National Park Service. It will eventually include all the National Parks, Monuments and Historic Sites plus a few others. I started the visits about a year ago so I have a few post to catch up on.
We visited Katmai NP located in Alaska in the summer of 2026. The park is accessible by boat and float plane. If you want to see bears this is the place to go when the salmon are running. You could almost trip over them if you aren’t careful. Once you land on the beach you have to attend bear school where you learn how to behave around the bears. It’s pretty simple, don’t get close to them and don’t have any food on you. Once you attend bear school you walk quite a distance to the bear viewing platforms and there are bears all around you in the woods but they pretty much mind their own business. Once you reach the paltforms, where you are safe from the bears, you put your name on the list and wait to be called for your half our of viewing. When your time is up you can put your name on the list again if you will have the time.
We also visted the Valley of 10,000 Smokes which is why the park was created in1918. There was a huge volcanic explosion in 1912 and there were lots of fumaroles created and scientists thought it would be another Yellowstone. That has not turned out to be the case. It is still a nice place to visit. You have to sign up for a ranger led tour and it takes most of the day. There are good geologic features if that is your interest.
We visited Lake Clark NP located in Alaska in the summer of 2026. The park is accessible by boat and plane only. We did a couple of hikes and did some flightseeing while we were there. It was also our base for flying to Katmai National Park. We were lucky that the weather cooperated and allowed us to do everything we had planned. Others were not so lucky.
We visited Denali National Park located in Alaska in the summer of 2026. The road that accesses lodging at the end of the road in Denali has been closed for five years while they figured out how to repair a section that kept sliding. The road is now open but was closed when we were there. So we had to fly by helicopter to where we were staying which of course added to the cost and adventure. We think we caught a glimpse of Denali when we were flying in but the pilot wasn’t sure. It spends most of the time in the clouds. We did a couple of hikes while we were there and watched a huge bull moose eating in Wonder Lake. The lodge wasn’t permitted to drive very far on the road so were were restricted to the area around the lodge. Other than the moose we didn’t see much wildlife but we did see fresh bear tracks.
We visited Bering Land Bridge National Preserve located in Alaska in the summer of 2026. Another park that has no access except by boat or plane. We flew from Kotzebue to Serpentine Hot Springs in the park. We mentioned to the pilot that his father had been unable to show us Musk Ox and Caribou earlier in the day. He said he would find some for us, and he did. The Hot Springs area where we landed was quite different from the surrouding area with pillars of rock sticking up from the countryside. At the springs there is a cabin operated by the park service for free. It has two bunkrooms and kitchens with a decent supply of pots and pans and stoves, provide your own fuel. There is a bath house where you can dip into the hot water. There is also an outhouse, bring your own toilet paper. No reservations needed.
We visited Cape Krusenstern NM located in Alaska in the summer of 2026. It sticks out into the Chuckchi Sea snd from the air you can see where the shoreline was moving thousands of years ago. We had been promised that we would Musk Ox and Caribou here, but we didn’t, very dissappointing. We did see evidence of them when we landed. This is another park with no access except by boat or plane.
We visited Noatak National Preserve located in Alaka in the summer of 2026. There are no roads or trails so access is limited to planes. We only flew in landed on a stream bed and took a few pictures and left. There are many oportunities for canoeing, kayaking and rafting but they take time that we didn’t have. Maybe a return visit some time.
We visited Kobuk Valley NP located in Alaska in the summer of 2026. The only way to visit the park is by plane, there are no roads or trails. I was disappointed with our visit as all we did was fly into a small portion of the park, land on a sand dune, took a few pictures and then left. Not what I hope for in a national park visit. But the alternative is to book a week or two week long expedition and we didn’t have time for that. That being said we did see some interesting countryside but no wildlife. The sand dunes are an unusual feature in the arctic and it was fun to see them.
We visited Gates of the Arctic NP located in Alaska in the summer of 2026. The only way to visit the park is by plane, there are no roads or trails. I was disappointed with our visit as all we did was fly into a small portion of the park, land on a stream bed, took a few pictures and then left. Not what I hope for in a national park visit. But the alternative is to book a week or two week long expedition and we didn’t have time for that. That being said we did see some interesting countryside but no wildlife.
We visited Kenai Fjords NP located in Alaska in the summer of 2026. You can drive to Seward and access the hike to Exit Glacier. You can take cruises from Seward to view wildlife. Most of the park is not accessible except by boat or plane. We did the Exit Glacier hike which is about 8 miles round trip. It isn’t a difficult hike but you do need to be prepared for bad weather if you hike all the way to the Harding Icefield. We also took a cruise which involved kayaking for several hours and then continuing the cruise. We saw humpback whales, sea otters and puffins.
We visited Wrangell-St. Elais NP located in Alaska in the summer of 2026. The park is 13 million+ acres so clearly you aren’t going to see all of it. We stayed at the Kennecott Lodge where there are many things to do. You can get there by driving or flying. Driving is 6+ hours from Anchorage and the last 60 miles are on a dirt road that takes two and a half to drive. We hiked out to the Root Glacier and then walked a bit on the glacier, there are half day and full day trips on the glacier. There are two hour tours of the copper ore factory which is surprising as it looks like it will collapse at any moment. We also did a full day white water rafting and flight seeing trip. All these activities are worth doing. There are also ice climbing and back country trips to do. There is a small Visitor Center with no movie but a gift shop of course.
