Very few visitors come to see these rare natural wonders each year and Crystal Creek Lodge is the only lodge in Western Alaska offering these kind of guided naturalist trips.
Design an adventure itinerary based at Crystal Creek Lodge to trek across the sky of Southwest Alaska. See a region that is wild, dramatic and incredibly diverse. You’ll be hundreds of miles from the thousands of tourists mobbing the popular cruise ship ports or highway-accessible regions of the State. The best part is you might be the only visitor of the day to some of the more exotic places we visit.
A combination of specialists from our guide team will host your day-to-day adventures. Dan Michels and Alex Oberholtzer, owners, pilots and guides, personally conduct many of the adventure activities. Flights to the destinations are between 30 to 90 minutes away from the lodge. The flights themselves will be filled with aerial points of interest and the day will be planned to encompass 2-4 stops at ground points of interest. Ample time on the ground will be available take advantage of interpretive possibilities relating to history, geography and wildlife abound.
How to Design an Itinerary
Pick either a four or seven-day package at Crystal Creek Lodge, then consider the activity and destination possibilities listed on the Adventures menu. Our guided fishing resources are substantial and fishing can be mixed into the itinerary as desired. Adventures can be incorporated into a fishing vacation, fishing can be incorporated into an adventure vacation or an adventure vacation can be designed of it’s own accord. Heather Oberholtzer and Dan Michels will personally work with you by phone to explain the best options for the time in season and desired interests: A custom-designed, sample itinerary will be submitted by email for your approval.
Note: Adventure itineraries are available June 1 – August 10. Guest parties typically are not divided and must participate together in day-to-day daily activities unless unusual circumstances allow. The delivery to any destination and participation in any activity is dependent upon favorable weather and other conditions of nature that are potentially beyond our control. We will do our utmost to deliver a safe, enjoyable vacation, yet the substitution of destinations and activities should be expected at some point in the trip. Hint: tell us your desired interests then “go with the flow”. It’s all great.
Bear Viewing
The nearby Katmai National Park and Preserve is world famous for its population of Brown Bears. Literally thousands live there. It is very common to see bears each day as we fly between the lodge and field destinations. It is also very easy to find and safely watch them on the ground as they fish, graze and interact with each other.
Katmai has been a bear sanctuary for decades, and as result the bears are accustomed to and not threatened by a human presence. A day of bear viewing is a memorable experience and is often the highlight of a vacation at Crystal Creek Lodge.
The bears move constantly to take advantage of concentrated food sources. Accordingly, we have several great bear viewing areas within the Park and nearby Alaska Peninsula Wildlife Refuge where bears congregate to feed. We can provide a great bear watching trip anytime during the season. The famous Brooks River in Katmai Park is a 15 minute flight from the lodge. Brooks is the easiest place in the world to see bears: just step off the plane, walk about a mile along an easy, graded path then watch up to 30 bears from the safety of an elevated viewing platform. There is excellent fishing for Rainbow Trout and Sockeye Salmon in the Brooks River for those who’d like to fish for part of the day.
Beachcombing
There are many places to go and find great beachcombing. What are we looking for? Shells, driftwood, interesting rocks, bones of giant sea mammals, antique artifacts and detritus from around the Pacific Ocean that washes up on shore. This is pure kids play and everybody loves it! Birders will love walking the seashore of Bristol Bay. There are many stories to be told in the myriad of animal tracks that follow the ocean edge, too.
A real treasure to find are the round, hand-blown glass floats, antiques formerly used by Japanese fishing vessels to float their nets. Most floats were made in Japan or Korea 30-60 years ago, and are shades of green because that is the color of glass from recycled sake bottles (especially after long exposure to sunlight). However, clear, amber, aquamarine, amethyst, blue and other colors were also produced.
Hiking
Our roadless region of Alaska is filled with inspiring possibilities for the hiking enthusiast. We have innumerable locations to find breathtaking wilderness hikes, and the floatplane is just the ticket to get you deep into the wilderness for a day hike and back home again in time for a hot shower and delicious dinner.
Imagine hiking a trail through a mountain pass used by Eskimos and Aleuts to portage and trade for thousands of years, then consider the same trail was used by Russian traders and explorers in the 1700′s when the land was Russian America. How about hiking to the rim of a volcano that has been dormant for 30 years? We have a few hikes set up to seek objectives such as to view birds, bears, caribou, walrus, seals and other various wildlife, waterfalls, rock formations or just plain beautiful scenery vistas. Of course there are all kinds of places to hike into and find great fishing.
Rafting and Kayaking
Two options are available for day adventures, one is a kayak day trip floating the from the headwaters of the Naknek River in Katmai National Park downriver to Crystal Creek Lodge. The other is a raft trip on a remote river in Katmai National Park. Both options have fishing available or you can just enjoy the ride.
The Kayak trip is a very easy float that is guided and safe for kayak operators of all skill levels. Before each float, the guides will ready the Kayaks and brief each guest about their operation and safety. Double or single Kayaks are available. The waters near the Kayaks are much protected and the current gentle.
The Raft trip is conducted from a very durable modern inflatable raft equipped with a rowing frame, which your guide will row. Again, this is a gentle float with minimal rapids in the water. A stream side lunch will be served halfway into the trip. Salmon shore lunches can be requested. The pace is leisurely and comfortable. The rafts and kayaks are so stealthy, we sometimes see bear, moose or caribou on the shorelines. Beavers and other small animals can be seen as well as a multitude of raptors, waterfowl, shore and song birds.
Walrus Viewing
Three of the only regularly used terrestrial haul outs for Pacific Walruses in the United States are within flying distance of the Lodge, two of the haul outs are on capes accessible by aircraft and one on an island accessible only by boat. We visit one site 125 miles south of the lodge that has the greatest number of approachable walrus.
The walrus viewing adventures are unique naturalist opportunities where you can see hundreds or thousands of wild walrus bobbing in the surf and hauled up on the beach. It is also probable to see herds of caribou, groups of bear, fox and other small mammals, estuaries filled with migratory waterfowl and numerous other rare upland birds in spectacular wilderness settings.
Very few visitors come to see these rare natural wonders each year and Crystal Creek Lodge is the only lodge in Western Alaska offering these kind of guided naturalist trips. The trips to the cape is a day trip by aircraft. The flights to these viewing places take you across some of the most spectacular flightseeing scenery in Western Alaska and your pilot/guide will interpret the dozens of sights and landmarks along the way.
National Parks
The 4,725,000 acre Katmai National Park and the 1,157,000 acre Becharof National Wildlife Refuge are both within sight of the lodge and the 4,000,000 acre Lake Clark National Park and the 4,100,000 acre Togiak National Wildlife Refuge are a short airplane ride away. Each offers a multitude of day trip possibilities.
Design an adventure itinerary based at Crystal Creek Lodge to trek across the sky of Southwest Alaska.
