The United States Congress designated the Lake Clark Wilderness Area in 1980 and it now has a total of 2,618,455 acres. For a complete listing of public laws and further information on district offices, click here. In the Lake Clark Wilderness the Aleutian Range meets the Alaska Range in the Chigmit Mountains, an area known as Alaska's Alps. 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. Tlikakila's waters eventually shed into Lake Iliamna, just outside the Wilderness boundary, the only place in the United States where inland seals live. In 1966 Redoubt erupted, spewing ash across Anchorage.