More about Alaska

What are Alaska's national parks?

By Leon Unruh / Alaska.com

National parks and preserves

• Denali National Park and Preserve, in the Interior between Anchorage and Fairbanks. Its best-known features are grizzly bears and Mount McKinley, at 20,320 feet the tallest peak in North America.
  
• Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, in Northern Alaska west of the Dalton Highway.
• Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, in the northern part of Southeast Alaska, west of Juneau. Glaciers are the big attraction, obviously, and whales feed in the area for several months each year.
• Katmai National Park and Preserve, on the west side of Cook Inlet in Western Alaska. Thousands of people each summer visit the park's volcanic Valley of 10,000 Smokes and watch grizzlies stand in the Brooks River to catch salmon.
• Kenai Fjords National Park, west and south of Seward on the Kenai Peninsula. It has glaciers, whales and millions of seabirds.
• Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, in Skagway.
• Kobuk Valley National Park, in Northern Alaska northeast of Kotzebue.
• Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, on the west side of Cook Inlet in Western Alaska. Rugged scenery, good fishing, lots of animals.
• Sitka National Historical Park, in Sitka.
• Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, in the southeastern part of Southcentral Alaska. Wrangell-St. Elias is the nation's largest national park and is part of a World Heritage Site, along with Glacier Bay National Park and Canada's Kluane National Park.

Determined hikers can make their way to Gates of the Arctic from the Dalton Highway. Glacier Bay is reached most often by floatplane, cruise liner or passenger tour boat from Juneau.

Katmai, Kobuk and Lake Clark are most frequently reached by small plane.

National monuments
Alaska boasts four national monuments:

• Admiralty Island
• Aniakchak
• Cape Krusenstern
• Misty Fjords