Lake Clark National Park and Preserve

About Lake Clark National Park and Preserve

The spectacular scenery of Lake Clark offers visitors a true wilderness experience, and the Telaquana Trail is one of the most popular hiking trails in the park and nature reserve, as well as a popular hiking and camping destination. Clark Lake National Park and Sanctuary were established in 1924 to protect the natural beauty and resources of this beautiful lake, the largest in North America.

The Telaquana Trail is part of a large network that crosses the northern shore of Lake Clark, the largest lake in the park and nature reserve. Early Western explorers found that the Dena'ina were experienced trekkers inland, and that this path connected the large villages of the area with other seasonal camps. In the historical period, this route probably served as a transport corridor for important subsistence areas.

Early visitors to the region reported that people in the villages of Kijikas spent much of the year hunting in the mountains north of these villages. When introduced diseases decimated the population and forced the villages to relocate, the Telaquana Trail was no longer used by the Dena'ina. Miners, trappers and explorers used the path, but trapper use declined with the decline in the fur trade after the 1940s.

As interest in the wilderness increased in the 1960s and 1970s, hikers and homeowners began to use the trail again. Today, the Telaquana Trail is mainly used by intrepid backpackers, but the entire route is rarely used. Hunters and fishermen still use the trail, though not as often as they did before the decline of the Dena'ina.