Alaska's parks
Alaska's state parks
119 parks include historical sites and lots of wilderness
Alaska.com
Alaska has 119 state parks spread across Southeast, Southcentral, Interior and Western Alaska.
The parks are divided into these categories: state parks, state recreation sites, state recreation areas, state historical parks, state historic sites, state trails, wilderness parks, state marine parks and preserves.
Some of the parkland is undeveloped, but many of the parks have campgrounds, fishing and picnic tables. The parks are accessible by road, except for marine parks, which require visitors to use boats or airplanes. Western Alaska's Wood-Tikchik and Lake Aleknagik parks, for example, require a flight to Dillingham and then a boat or plane ride to the park.
Fees are charged for most parks. State budgeting has eliminated amenities at some parks; private organizations have picked up the slack in some cases.
Biggest parks
The biggest park is Wood-Tikchik State Park, which covers 1.55 million acres of Western Alaska. Other big parks are:
• Chugach State Park, east of Anchorage, covers 495,204 acres.
• Kachemak Bay State Park and Wilderness Park covers 328,290 acres of the Kenai Peninsula south of Homer.
• Denali State Park, south of Denali National Park, holds 320,240 acres.
• Chena River State Recreation Area covers 254,080 acres east of Fairbanks.
Popular parks
Other popular parks in Southcentral Alaska include Nancy Lake State Recreation Area near Willow and Independence Mine State Historical Park near Palmer and Wasilla.
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