Visit Wilderness

Search for a wilderness as the destination for your next outdoor adventure.

Bob Marshall Wilderness Area, Minnesota

Why Visit Wilderness?

While wilderness can be appreciated from afar—through online content, television, or books—nothing compares to experiencing it firsthand. Activities like camping, hiking, or hunting allow you to fully enjoy the recreational, ecological, spiritual, and health benefits that wilderness areas offer. These areas provide “outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation,” chances to observe wildlife, moments to renew and refresh, and the physical benefits of outdoor exercise. In many wilderness areas, you can even bring your well-behaved dog.

Learn more about the diverse ways in which we benefit from wilderness and threats wilderness areas face today.

Here the Aleutian Range meets the Alaska Range in the Chigmit Mountains, an area known as Alaska's Alps. The Lake Clark Wilderness was renamed the Jay S. Hammond Wilderness in 2018 to commemorate Alask'a fourth governor. The mighty rain forest along Cook Inlet rises to alpine tundra and sparkling lakes sheltered by mountain fastnesses. Drainages plunge thunderously down hundreds of waterfalls. Vast numbers of moose, brown and black bears, wolves, wolverines, red foxes, Dall sheep, and caribou make their home here. Slender and 50 miles long, Lake Clark itself reflects tall ragged spires of rock, and salmon and trout run in great numbers. Originally a national monument, Lake Clark's status was changed to National Park and Preserve in 1980, and about two-thirds was designated Wilderness.

Three Wild and Scenic Rivers offer excellent opportunities for travel in the area: 11 miles of the gorgeous Chilikadrotna River with sections of wild white water; 22 miles of the shallow Mulchatna River flowing out of a jewel called Turquoise Lake; and 51 miles of the unsung Tlikakila River, which runs through one of the most fabulous glacial valleys in America. Tlikakila's waters eventually shed into Lake Iliamna, just outside the Wilderness boundary, the only place in the United States where inland seals live.

Two active volcanoes dominate the landscape, visible from the Kenai Peninsula across Cook Inlet: Mount Iliamna (10,016 feet) and Mount Redoubt (10,197 feet). In 2009 Redoubt erupted, spewing ash across Anchorage.

A visitor center exists on Lake Clark itself in the settlement of Port Alsworth, but you'll find no facilities or trails within the Wilderness. Once just a trickle, the number of backpackers has been increasing. Visitors will find few experiences to parallel Lake Clark.

Leave No Trace

How to follow the seven standard Leave No Trace principles differs in different parts of the country (desert vs. Rocky Mountains). Click on any of the principles listed below to learn more about how they apply in the Jay S. Hammond Wilderness.

Plan Ahead and Prepare
Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
Dispose of Waste Properly
Leave What You Find
Minimize Campfire Impacts
Respect Wildlife
Be Considerate of Other Visitors

For more information on Leave No Trace, Visit the Leave No Trace, Inc. website.

Location

Lake Clark National Park & Preserve is located southwest of Anchorage, Alaska, extending from the west coast of Cook Inlet to the tundra of southwest Alaska.

The Jay S. Hammond Wilderness is not on the road system.

Access to the Lake Clark region is by small aircraft and many air taxi services provide transportation to the park. Float planes may land on the many lakes throughout the area. Wheeled planes land on open beaches, gravel bars, or private airstrips in or near the park. A one to two-hour flight from Anchorage, Kenai or Homer will provide access to most points within the park and preserve.

Maps

Digital and paper maps are critical tools for wilderness visitors. Online maps can help you plan and prepare for your visit ahead of time. You can also carry digital maps with you on your GPS unit or other handheld GPS device. Having a paper map with you in the backcountry, as well as solid orienteering skills, however, ensures that you can still route-find in the event that your electronic device fails.

Online Maps

Interactive Map of the Jay S. Hammond Wilderness
Google Earth

Alaska Wildernesses

Printed Maps

Fetching MyTopo from Database

USGS Store

Rules & Regulations

Motorized equipment and equipment used for mechanical transport is generally prohibited in all wilderness areas. This includes the use of motor vehicles, motorboats, motorized equipment, bicycles, hang gliders, wagons, carts, portage wheels, and the landing of aircraft including helicopters.

Wilderness-Specific Regulations

Learn more about why regulations may be necessary in wilderness.

Contacts

Applicable Wilderness Law(s)

Public Law 96-487

Date: December 2, 1980
Acreage: 2,470,000 acres

Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act - Public Law 96-487 (12/2/1980) Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 96-487 or special provisions for 96-487 or legislative history for 96-487.

Public Law 115-141

Date: March 23, 2018
Acreage: 0 acres

Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 - Public law 115-141 (3/23/2018) To amend the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to include severe forms of trafficking in persons within the definition of transnational organized crime for purposes of the rewards program of the Department of State, and for other purposes.

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 115-141 or legislative history for 115-141.

Want to Volunteer for Wilderness?

People who volunteer their time to steward our wilderness areas are an essential part of wilderness management. Contact the following groups to inquire about volunteer opportunities. Groups are listed alphabetically by the state(s) in which the wilderness is located.