Alaska National Parks & National Park Service Sites: A Complete Guide

Alaska is home to eight official national parks and a vast network of preserves, monuments, and historical parks. Together they protect glacier-carved fjords, active volcanoes, Arctic tundra, and the gold rush trails of the late 1890s. From Denali, home of North America’s tallest peak, to the remote reaches above the Arctic Circle, Alaska’s public lands offer some of the wildest places left in the country.

At National Park Trust, an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to protecting parks early and expanding access, we believe these places matter for long-term stewardship as well as recreation. When people experience parks firsthand, whether kayaking a glacial bay, backpacking through the tundra, or watching brown bears fish for salmon, they are more likely to care about their future.

How Many National Park Service Sites Are in Alaska?

Alaska has:

• 8 National Parks
• 11 additional National Park Service sites

These include:

• National monuments like Cape Krusenstern National Monument (near Kotzebue in northwest Alaska, along the Chukchi Sea coast) and Aniakchak National Monument & Preserve (near King Salmon on the Alaska Peninsula)
• National preserves like Noatak National Preserve in northwest Alaska near Kotzebue, Bering Land Bridge National Preserve near Nome on the Seward Peninsula, and Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve near Eagle in Interior Alaska
• Historical parks such as Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in Skagway (home of the historic Chilkoot and White Pass trails) and Sitka National Historical Park in Sitka
• Wild rivers like Alagnak Wild River near King Salmon, known for fishing and brown bear viewing
• Beyond the National Park Service, Afognak Island State Park in the Kodiak Archipelago, a state park that National Park Trust has helped protect

Many of these places sit alongside national wildlife refuges, and together they form one of the largest connected networks of protected land in the world. Together, these places tell the ecological and cultural story of Alaska.

The Eight National Parks in Alaska

Kobuk Valley National Park (Kotzebue, Alaska): Sand dunes in Alaska? Yes! The Great Kobuk Sand Dunes are the largest active Arctic dune field in North America, built from sand that glaciers ground down during the last ice age. There are no roads or trails, so orienteering skills are essential. Kayaking the Salmon or Kobuk River is another way to see the park. The wood frog is the park’s only frog, and it spends the winter frozen, resuming activity when it thaws in spring.

Katmai National Park & Preserve (King Salmon, Alaska): Katmai was created to protect a landscape shaped by the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, in 1912. The eruption created so much heat that steam shot from the ground for years afterward; check out the story of the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. Katmai is also one of the best places in the world for bear viewing. Brooks Falls draws brown bears each summer, and the park is the setting for Fat Bear Week.

Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve (Bettles, Alaska): This wild park lies entirely above the Arctic Circle. It has no trails or visitor services, so visitors must be self-sufficient and plan extra time for hiking, which locals call “bushwhacking.” The reward is undeveloped vistas and possible sightings of caribou, wolf, muskox, and wolverine. Though the land is undeveloped, people have lived here for over 13,000 years. National Park Trust’s first project, in 1983, was 5 acres of private land at the headwaters of the Alatna River. Transferring the land to the National Park Service and removing two cabins and a marked helicopter landing area returned the property to a condition compatible with the surrounding federal wilderness.

Denali National Park and Preserve (Denali Park, Alaska): The first national park in Alaska is home to the highest peak in North America. The mountain, federally named Mount McKinley and widely known as Denali, rises 20,310 feet. Unusually for Alaska, a 92-mile park road runs into the center of the park, giving visitors access for day trips, wildlife viewing, backpacking, and car camping. Look for moose, caribou, Dall sheep, wolves, and grizzly bears. The Alaska Railroad serves the park, and Talkeetna is a popular gateway for flightseeing around the mountain.

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve (Copper Center, Alaska): At 13.2 million acres, this is the largest national park in the United States. In 2002, National Park Trust helped the National Park Service acquire more than 40 mining claims and 907 acres along Chititu, Rex, and White creeks in the preserve. The Chititu Creek area produced more gold than any other part of the Nizina mining district in the first half of the 20th century. The parcel and its historic buildings, which are tied to the mining community, are now permanently protected. Visitors reach the park through gateway communities like Copper Center and Chitina.

Lake Clark National Park & Preserve (Port Alsworth, Alaska): Like much of Alaska, this wilderness park can only be reached by boat or airplane. Your reward is great fishing, canoeing, backpacking, hiking, and wildlife viewing. The park also has two active volcanoes. When you visit you will be in bear country and must take proper precautions. Take the time to learn about Dick Proenneke when you are there.

Kenai Fjords National Park (Seward, Alaska): Most trips begin just outside the boundary in Seward. The park’s only road leads to the Exit Glacier Nature Center. From there you can hike to Exit Glacier or up the Harding Icefield Trail to the ice field. All other access is by water: take your kayak, book a water taxi to backcountry beach camping, or join a ranger-narrated tour boat to see tidewater glaciers and sea lions.

Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve (Gustavus, Alaska): Visitors can get a close look at tidewater glaciers. Park rangers board each cruise ship to give presentations about the park. Passengers may see humpback whales and sea otters, and onshore, brown bears and mountain goats. The rugged backcountry offers hiking, camping, and fishing, plus hunting in the preserve portion of the park.

Other National Park Service Sites Across Alaska

• Cape Krusenstern National Monument (Kotzebue, Alaska): Its 70 miles of shoreline open a window into 5,000 years of human history preserved in a series of beach ridges.  More than 150 migratory bird species are found here, and lagoons and wetlands provide a rich habitat for wildlife. Hike and boat to see both signs of animal life and an explosion of wildflowers in the summer. The monument is accessible by air and boat.
• Aniakchak National Monument & Preserve (King Salmon, Alaska): One of the least-visited places in the National Park System. Its 6-mile-wide, 2,500-foot-deep caldera, formed by an eruption 3,500 years ago, holds Surprise Lake. The monument is inaccessible by road, but air taxis may be chartered from King Salmon.
• Noatak National Preserve (Kotzebue, Alaska): At over 6 million acres, the preserve protects the largest mountain-ringed river basin in the United States that is still virtually unaffected by human activity. Caribou from the Western Arctic Herd, long Alaska’s largest, cross the preserve on their annual migration. More than 5 million acres of federal wilderness allow visitors to experience wild northern Alaska.
• Bering Land Bridge National Preserve (Nome, Alaska): Marks where a land “bridge” once connected North America to Asia. Today the connection is broken, with only a few islands left in the Bering Strait.  It is accessible by air, hiking, or snowmobile, and archaeology shows people lived here thousands of years ago.
• Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve (Eagle, Alaska): Miners settled here beginning with the 1898 gold rush, and dredging continued into the 1970s. Today it’s a place to backpack or to paddle and float the Yukon and Charley rivers. Hunting and fishing are allowed. National Park Trust helped donate $5 million in Coal Creek mining claims to the National Park Service, helping keep the 2.5-million-acre preserve remote and wild. About 95% of the preserve escaped glaciation, leaving its ancient geology visible and uncovered by glacial debris.
• Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park (Skagway, Alaska): Commemorates the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1890s. It includes restored gold rush-era buildings in the Skagway Historic District and the Chilkoot and White Pass trails, which prospectors and others used to reach the goldfields.
• Sitka National Historical Park (Sitka, Alaska): Alaska’s oldest national park site. It preserves the site of a battle between invading Russian traders and the Kiks.ádi Tlingit. The park was redesignated from a national monument to a national historical park in October 1972 and offers totem poles, salmon viewing, and trails.
• Alagnak Wild River (King Salmon, Alaska): A remote river known for exceptional fishing, boating, and primitive camping. Wildlife is plentiful, particularly brown bears, so safety precautions are in order. You can reach the river by water or air.
• Affiliated sites: Three more sites round out the National Park Service’s Alaska listing: Aleutian Islands World War II National Historic Area in Unalaska, the Iñupiat Heritage Center in Utqiaġvik, and the Alaska Public Lands Information Centers.
• Afognak Island State Park (Kodiak Archipelago, Alaska): A state park, not a National Park Service site, on land first set aside in 1892 as one of the nation’s first conservation areas. National Park Trust loaned $10,000 to the Kodiak Brown Bear Trust as bridge funding to complete a time-sensitive land acquisition protecting brown bear habitat. The park is known for rugged topography, old-growth Sitka spruce forests, and salmon spawning habitat. Kodiak brown bears, Sitka black-tailed deer, Roosevelt elk, and marbled murrelets live here.

Each of these places protects cultural heritage, wild rivers, biodiversity, and public access.

Conservation & Stewardship

Alaska’s public lands protect:

• Glaciers and tidewater fjords
• Active volcanoes and volcanic landscapes
• Arctic tundra and river basins
• Caribou migration routes and brown bear habitat
• Salmon spawning streams
• Gold rush and Indigenous cultural landmarks

Long-term protection depends on more than designation. It depends on connection.

When a young person watches bears at Brooks Falls, paddles beneath a tidewater glacier, or rides the park road toward Denali, they gain firsthand experience with national park lands. That experience often shapes how they view conservation and stewardship for years to come.

How National Park Trust Supports Parks in Alaska

National Park Trust works nationwide to protect park land early and expand access so more people can experience America’s public lands.

In Alaska, that has included:

• Protecting private land inside park boundaries, including 5 acres in Gates of the Arctic and 907 acres at Wrangell-St. Elias
• Helping remove mining claims to keep Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve remote and wild
• Providing bridge funding to protect brown bear habitat on Afognak Island
• Partnering with organizations like the Northern Alaska Environmental Center and the Kodiak Brown Bear Trust

Frequently Asked Questions About National Parks in Alaska

How many national parks are in Alaska? Alaska has eight national parks: Denali, Gates of the Arctic, Glacier Bay, Katmai, Kenai Fjords, Kobuk Valley, Lake Clark, and Wrangell-St. Elias.

What is the largest national park in Alaska? Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve is the largest, at 13.2 million acres. It is also the largest national park in the United States.

When is the best time to visit national parks in Alaska? Summer is the main visitor season, with most services running from late May through mid-September. Many parks have no road access, so check each park’s National Park Service page before you plan a trip.

Has National Park Trust protected park land in Alaska? Yes. National Park Trust’s first project, in 1983, protected 5 acres inside Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve, and in 2002 it helped the National Park Service acquire 907 acres at Wrangell-St. Elias.

Stay Connected to Conservation Efforts in Alaska and Beyond

Protecting Alaska’s national parks and historic sites requires ongoing care and community support.

If you care about the future of public lands in Alaska, from the Arctic Circle to the coast of the Kenai Peninsula, we invite you to stay connected. Learn more about how you can support conservation efforts in Alaska and across the country.

Together, we can help ensure these landscapes remain protected and accessible for generations to come.

National Park Trust In Your State

Protected Parks

• Supporting Land Acquisition on Afognak Island, AK

  The Park Trust extended a loan of $10,000 to the Kodiak Brown Bear Trust to help protect the iconic species, the Kodiak Brown Bear.

  Learn more about Supporting Land Acquisition on Afognak Island, AK
• Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, AK

  The Park Trust supported NPS in the acquisition of more than 40 mining claims and land along creeks near McCarthy, AK.

  Learn more about Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, AK
• Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve, AK

  The first project completed by the newly formed National Park Trust in 1983 was to purchase a five-acre inholding in the interior of Gates of the Arctic National Park, at the headwaters of the Alatna River.

  Learn more about Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve, AK