Chilkat State Park | |
---|---|
Type | Forest, Coastal |
Location | Chilkat Peninsula, Haines Borough, Alaska, USA [1] |
Coordinates | 59°12′40″N135°23′53″W / 59.21111°N 135.39806°W [1] |
Area | 9,837 acres (3,981 ha) |
Elevation | 719 feet (219 m) |
Operated by | Department of Natural Resources, Alaska State Parks |
Chilkat State Park is a 9,837-acre (3,980 ha) Alaska state park on a peninsula south of the town of Haines, Alaska between the Chilkat and Chilkoot inlets. Remote and known for the steep 14% grade gravel access road, the park offers campsites with minimal amenities and is open to fishing, hiking, boating, sea kayaking, and sightseeing. The campground is closed from October to mid-May due to winter concerns. [1] [2]
In 1970, Clem Tillion, a member of the State House, and Senator Bob Palmer, both Republicans, introduced legislation to set aside 300,000 acres of land in Kachemak Bay to create the state park and wilderness area. On May 9, 1970, the Alaska Legislature established the park at Kachemak Bay and authorized the governor to set aside additional lands as state parks. Within five months—from May to October—the park system grew to 913,000 acres. A park near Haines, to be named Chilkat State Park, was included in this section, and later that year the northern segment, initially called 'Battery Point State Recreation Area,' was opened. The full park was not enacted until 1975. In a proclamation made by the governor on June 22, 1976, the northern and newly created southern segments were renamed 'Chilkat State Park.' [3] [4] The park was originally 6,056.3 acres, [5] but has grown by private donation and legislative action through the years. [1]
The park offers plenty of opportunities for anglers. The Chilkat River is considered the most productive coho spawning and rearing area in southeast Alaska, [6] [7] which also provides a habitat for wild sockeye, Chinook and chum salmon. In June boaters can enter the inlets for the king salmon run using the park's boat launch. To the south of the park, across the inlets, is Chilkat Islands State Marine Park and Sullivan Island State Marine Park, which offer boaters additional areas to explore and more sights to see.
Sea kayaking is another way to get around the inlets surrounding the park. Due to the shallow waters surrounding many of the channel islands, a kayaker can get into places boaters can't in order to spy on the many wildlife species that make their home in the area. [8] [9]
The park is located seven miles south of Haines in northern part of the Alaska Panhandle, on Mud Bay Rd. on the Chilkat Peninsula. It offers hikers three trails of varying degrees of difficulty. For an easy hike, one can take the Seduction Point Trail that stays close to the coastline and weaves its way through forest and beach for about seven miles. Another easy trail to take is the Battery Point Trail. Its two-mile length starts in the forest and ends on the beach. For the more adventurous hiker there is the Mount Riley Trail. This trail features steep vertical rises but also offers the hiker a view of the entire park and inlets. [1] [2]
Because the park is very remote, visitors have many opportunities to see a variety of wildlife. Black and brown bears, mountain goats, and moose frequent the park and surrounding areas. Spotting scopes are provided, located at the information center that allow visitors to see wildlife far out into the inlet. This includes humpback and orca, harbor seals, harbor porpoises, and sea lions. Quite a few different species of birds can be spotted around the park as well, a favorite of visitors being the bald eagle. Others include trumpeter swans, boreal owls, common loons, and kingfishers. [2] [9]
Chilkat State Park and—more generally, the Haines area—are situated at the convergence of North America's interior and the waters of the Inside Passage. As such is the case the small peninsula is surrounded by deep channels and steep rising mountains. The Chilkat Range, Takinsha Mountains, Takshanuk Mountains, and Coast Mountains all meet at this point and provide many views of mountain peaks close to open waters. The park offers a view of two major glaciers in the area. One is Rainbow Glacier, which is about 1.5 miles long and sits at an elevation of 5,164 feet (1,574 meters). It is a hanging glacier with a waterfall dropping from its face. [10] [11] The other glacier, the larger of the two, is Davidson Glacier, at about 4.6 miles long and an elevation of 3,875 feet (1,181 meters). [11] The glacier was named after George Davidson, [12] a geographer whose published report influenced the United States' purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867. [13]
Excursion Inlet is a census-designated place (CDP) in Haines Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. The population was 40 at the 2020 census, up from 12 in 2010.
Haines is a census-designated place located in Haines Borough, Alaska, United States. It is in the northern part of the Alaska Panhandle and near Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. As of the 2020 census, the population of the Haines CDP was 1,657, down from 1,713 in 2010; it has 79.6% of Haines Borough's total population.
The Kenai Peninsula is a large peninsula jutting from the coast of Southcentral Alaska. The name Kenai is derived from the word "Kenaitze" or "Kenaitze Indian Tribe", the name of the Native Athabascan Alaskan tribe, the Kahtnuht’ana Dena’ina, who historically inhabited the area. They called the Kenai Peninsula Yaghanen.
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is an American national park located in Southeast Alaska west of Juneau. President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the area around Glacier Bay a national monument under the Antiquities Act on February 26, 1925. Subsequent to an expansion of the monument by President Jimmy Carter in 1978, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) enlarged the national monument by 523,000 acres on December 2, 1980, and created Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. The national preserve encompasses 58,406 acres of public land to the immediate northwest of the park, protecting a portion of the Alsek River with its fish and wildlife habitats, while allowing sport hunting.
The Chilkoot River is a river in Southeast Alaska, United States, that extends about 20 miles (32 km) from its source and covers a watershed area of 100 square miles (260 km2). The source of the river is in the Takshanuk Mountains to the west and the Freebee glacier and unnamed mountains to the east. From its source, the upper reach of the river extends approximately 16 miles (26 km) to the point where it enters Chilkoot Lake. From the downstream end of the lake, the lower reach of the river flows for about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) until it enters the Chilkoot Inlet, a branch at the northern end of the Lynn Canal.
Glacier Bay Basin in southeastern Alaska, in the United States, encompasses the Glacier Bay and surrounding mountains and glaciers, which was first proclaimed a U.S. National Monument on February 25, 1925, and which was later, on December 2, 1980, enlarged and designated as the Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, covering an area of 3,283,000 acres. In 1986, UNESCO declared an area of 57,000 acres within a World Biosphere Reserve. This is the largest UNESCO protected biosphere in the world. In 1992, UNESCO included this area as a part of a World Heritage site, extending over an area of 24,300,000-acre (98,000 km2) which also included the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Kluane National Park (Canada) and Tatshenshini-Alsek Park (Canada). Part of the National Park is also designated a Wilderness area covering 2,658,000 acres.
Mendenhall Glacier is a glacier about 13.6 miles (21.9 km) long located in Mendenhall Valley, about 12 miles (19 km) from downtown Juneau in the southeast area of the U.S. state of Alaska. The glacier and surrounding landscape is protected as part of the 5,815 acres (2,353 ha) Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area, a federally designated unit of the Tongass National Forest.
The Chilkat Range is a mountain range in Haines Borough and the Hoonah-Angoon Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska, west of the city of Juneau.
The Chugach National Forest is a 6,908,540-acre (27,958 km2) United States National Forest in south central Alaska. Covering portions of Prince William Sound, the Kenai Peninsula and the Copper River Delta, it was formed in 1907 from part of a larger forest reserve. The Chugach includes extensive shorelines, glaciers, forests and rivers, much of which is untouched by roads or trails. It hosts numerous bird, mammal and marine species, including extensive shorebird habitat and a bald eagle population larger than the contiguous 48 states combined. Human industry in the forest includes extensive tourism and some mining and oil and gas operations.
Chugach State Park covers 495,204 acres covering a hilly region immediately east of Anchorage, in south-central Alaska.
Resurrection Bay, also known as Blying Sound, and Harding Gateway in its outer reaches, is a fjord on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska, United States. Its main settlement is Seward, located at the head of the bay. The bay received its name from Alexandr Baranov, who was forced to retreat into the bay during a bad storm in the Gulf of Alaska. When the storm settled it was Easter Sunday, so the bay and nearby Resurrection River were named in honor of it. Harding Gateway refers to the passage between Rugged and Cheval Islands.
Denali State Park is a 325,240-acre (131,620 ha) state park in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough adjacent to the east side of Denali National Park and Preserve, along the Parks Highway.
The Chilkoot Lake, in the Tlingit Indians region of Alaska, is also spelt Chilcoot Lake. Its other local names are the Akha Lake and Tschilkut S(ee), meaning "Chilkoot Lake". It is in Haines Borough, Alaska. Chilkoot also means "big fish". The lake has a ‘Recreation Site’ at its southern end near the outlet to the Chilkoot River, which is set amidst the Sitka spruce trees. Chilkoot River flows from the lake for a short length and debouches into the Lutak Channel at the head of the Chilkoot inlet near Haines. Chilkoot village, a settlement of Chilkoot Indians existed at the outlet of the lake, which was called Tschilkut or Tananel or Chilcoot; the lake is named after this village. This village is now a camping area developed by the State Parks and Outdoor Recreation Division of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. The lake is a popular location for Kayaking.
Little Susitna River (Dena'ina: Tsałtastnu) heads at Mint Glacier on Montana Peak, in Talkeetna Mountains at 61°51′30″N149°03′30″W, flows southwest to Cook Inlet, 13 miles (21 km) west of Anchorage, Alaska Cook Inlet Low.
The Salmon River is a 33.5-mile (53.9 km) river in the Cascade Range in the U.S. state of Oregon that drains part of southwestern Mount Hood. The entire length of the river is a protected National Wild and Scenic River. Several portions are in protected wilderness. It is affluent to the Sandy River, a tributary of the Columbia River.
The Davidson Glacier is a large valley glacier near Haines, Alaska that finds its source in the Chilkat Range.
Kachemak Bay State Park and Kachemak Bay State Wilderness Park is a 400,000-acre (1,600 km2) park in and around Kachemak Bay, Alaska, United States. Kachemak Bay State Park was the first legislatively designated state park in the Alaska State Parks system. Kachemak Bay State Wilderness Park is the state's only legislatively designated wilderness park. No road accesses most areas of the park; visitors normally fly in or travel by boat from Homer.
Chilkat or The Chilkat, or Chilkats, may refer to:
Humpy Cove is an inlet of Resurrection Bay on the Kenai Peninsula of the U.S. state of Alaska. Located 11 miles from Seward, it has the shape of a whale's tail, and consists of two smaller bays. The cove is often used as an anchorage for recreational boaters. It received its name from the plentiful returns of pink salmon that spawn in Humpy Creek, the inflow of the southern bay. The cove is a popular tourist destination as well, due to Orca Island Cabins and kayak tours offered by Miller's Landing. Humpy Cove has runs of rockfish, halibut, coho salmon, chinook salmon, and chum salmon as well as pinks, and a popular fishing spot is near the Iron Door, the remains of a searchlight and bunker from World War II. The cove contains the only road on the Resurrection Peninsula, a stretch of pavement leading to the aforementioned searchlight.