Aniakchak National Monument & Preserve

Contact Information:
P O Box 7
King Salmon, AK 99613
907-246-3305
http://www.nps.gov/ania/

Size: 137,176 acres (monument) and 465,603 acres (preserve). 

Visitation: 154 (2003)

Location: 450 miles south of Anchorage on the roadless Alaska Peninsula. 

Description: The Aniakchak Caldera, covering some 30 square miles, is one of the great dry calderas in the world. Located in the volcanically active Aleutian Mountains, the Aniakchak last erupted in 1931. The crater includes lava flows, cinder cones, and explosion pits, as well as Surprise Lake, source of the Aniakchak River, which cascades through a 1,500-foot gash in the crater wall. There are no federal facilities within the national monument.

Activities: There are a no formal trails within the monument/preserve although open ash fields provide hiking/backpacking opportunities. Other activities include rafting, fly fishing, and wildlife viewing.

Getting there: Air charters fly from King Salmon to Meshik Lake, Surprise Lake, or Aniakchak, Amber, or Kujulik bays on the Pacific Ocean. King Salmon has daily commercial air service from Anchorage. Access is also available by power boat from any one of the numerous villages along the Pacific Ocean coastline. 

History: Proclaimed as Aniakchak National Monument on December 1, 1978; established as a national monument and preserve on December 2, 1980. 

See other National Monuments
See other National Preserves
See other Alaska National Parks