| Wood-Tikchik State Park (Website)
The largest
state park in the United States, Wood-Tikchik State Park is also one of
the most remote and secret treasures. Named for its two separate
systems of large, interconnected clear water lakes, the Wood River and
Tikchik Lakes, the Park comprises 1.7 million acres. The Tikchik Lake
system is made up of six large lakes to the north which carry the
melting snow of the glacial peaks to the west down to the Tikchik and
Allen Rivers into Tikchik lake and finally into the Nuyakuk River and
out of the State Park into the Nushagak River and finally into Bristol
Bay.
Another set of six extraordinary lakes mirror this
system just to the south - the Wood River Lakes - sending their waters
from one to the next through a series of short, picturesque rivers; the
Wind, Peace, Agulupak and Agulowak Rivers, which are all literally
'alive' with fish! The flow finally leaves the State Park, emptying
into the southernmost river, the Wood, and joins the Nushagak River at
Dillingham where it too empties into Bristol Bay.
Habitats in the Park range from the
spired peaks, high alpine valleys and deep V-shaped arms (accessed
through the spectacular fjord-like western reaches of its large lakes)
to the expansive tundra, gravel beaches and pike-filled marshes at the
lake's eastern edges. The many islands dotting the lakes - where
migrating birds find their summer refuge, and the rivers - with their
millions of struggling salmon and hungry bears roaming the shores -
make this a land of awesome extremes and exhilarating beauty.
Moose, caribou, bald and golden eagles
and many other small mammals including lynx, wolverine and fox all
thrive within the Park, and sightings of a wild variety of wildlife are
an exhilarating accompaniment to the awesome beauty of this wild
setting.
The boating, camping, hiking, climbing
and fishing opportunities offered by a stay in Wood-Tikchik State Park
are extraordinary. The rivers are breathtakingly beautiful and
exciting, home to rainbow trout, grayling and arctic char, and serve as
a highway and spawning ground for returning salmon, yet the waters are
easily navigated by raft, canoe or kayak. The lakes are large, lined
with beaches ideal for camping, and offer access to hiking and climbing
in the mountains at their west ends, and provide excellent fishing for
great northern pike in the shallow bays and marshy eastern ends. Lake
trout school in all of the Tikchik lakes where the shallow ledge
circling the shore plunges into the depths of these glacially carved
lakes.
Wood-Tikchik State Park provides the
setting for a wilderness adventure that will far exceed even your
highest expectations.
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