Alaska Boat Launches & Harbors

Want to let the kids romp on a beach beneath a mil­lion-dol­lar view of mile-high peaks? Pad­dle a pris­tine lake? Tucked into the woods at the north­ern foot of Eklut­na Lake in Chugach State Park, this camp­ground offers fam­i­lies unique access to a moun­tain wilder­ness val­ley laced with inter­est­ing fea­tures and 25-mile net­work of mul­ti-use trails.

Class II Pack­raft­ing River. 

If you want to camp beside sub­alpine Upper Sum­mit Lake close to trum­peter swans and fish­ing for rain­bows, take the fam­i­ly to this camp­ground deep in the Kenai Moun­tains off Mile 46 of the Seward High­way. The 35 sites are spread along a loop in the alder, wil­low and spruce woods on the hill­side above the lake, with clear-run­ning Ten­der­foot Creek pass­ing through 

Estab­lished in 1964, Seward’s Small Boat Har­bor is locat­ed on the north­ern edge of Res­ur­rec­tion Bay, which mul­ti­ple pub­li­ca­tions have ranked as one of the top sail­ing des­ti­na­tions in the Unit­ed States. From the har­bor you’ll find easy access to Exit Glac­i­er, Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park, fish­ing, kayak­ing, camp­ing, flight-see­ing, and an assort­ment of oth­er activ­i­ties. Seward plays host to a vari­ety of ves­sels that make up the com­mer­cial fishing…  ...more

RV park & camp­ground, kayak­ing, and fish­ing char­ters in Seward, Alaska

Access point to fish the Russ­ian Riv­er near the con­flu­ence of the Kenai and Russ­ian Rivers in Coop­er Land­ing. It also pro­vides park­ing for anglers using the Russ­ian Riv­er Fer­ry which is right next door. Fish­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for red (sock­eye) and sil­ver (coho) salmon, as well as dol­ly var­den and rain­bow trout.

This is a take out for the upper riv­er or a put in for the mid­dle and/​or low­er river.

Check out this salmon-friend­ly habi­tat and learn why so many salmon spawn here annually. 

This park is the con­flu­ence of the Kenai and Moose Rivers. Take a break at this recre­ation site named for the Eng­lish author Iza­ak Wal­ton who wrote The Com­pleat Angler. Look for the infor­ma­tion­al sign to learn about the Moose Riv­er Archae­o­log­i­cal Site. You will also find a host­ed camp­ground and boat launch. There’s excel­lent fly-fish­ing in this area.

View local­ly cre­at­ed fine art or the works of artists from around Alas­ka and the Pacif­ic Northwest.

This is a pop­u­lar boat launch for drift boaters fish­ing for king salmon. The Kasilof Riv­er red salmon dip­net fish­ery is here, but only open to Alas­ka res­i­dents. It’s worth a look if you’ve nev­er seen dip­net­ters in action before. There are 16 camp­sites, water, tables, toi­lets, hik­ing trails, a boat launch and fishing.

From the boat ramp park­ing lot, walk along the dri­ve­way to Sen­a­tor Gruening’s home. The path ends where Peter­son creek cas­cades down into Lynn Canal. It’s an amaz­ing place for wildlife view­ing when the salmon are running.

“Out the Road” ends at Echo Cove. You’ll see only a boat ramp and some out­hous­es, but walk about a mile down the beach and you’ll come upon the beau­ti­ful view of Berner’s Bay, Lion’s Head Moun­tain, and pos­si­bly a whale or 20. You like­ly won’t be alone, though; this is a pop­u­lar spot for ATVs, so be pre­pared for their noise. It’s also a pop­u­lar spot for kayak­ing, as Echo Cove offers great access to Berner’s Bay. But the cove is nar­row, shallow,…  ...more

Desh­ka Land­ing is a boat launch on the Susit­na Riv­er that pro­vides access to the Susit­na, Yent­na, and Desh­ka Rivers. The land­ing is open year-round (win­ter snow­mo­bile use) and is man­aged by the Desh­ka Out­door Asso­ci­a­tion, LLC.

Overview The Tal­keet­na Riv­er is, accord­ing to almost every guide­book or ref­er­ence you may con­sult, the most clas­sic, wilder­ness, white­wa­ter trip in Alas­ka. Its remote loca­tion, steep, fast-water canyon, abun­dant fish­ing and wildlife view­ing make it one of the true clas­sics for sure. It requires a bush plane to fly into the Tal­keet­na Moun­tains where there are huge views of the high­est peak in North Amer­i­ca, Denali, and in the head­wa­ters area…  ...more

Sur­prise! This bridge over the Susit­na Riv­er appears with­out warn­ing, so if you want to stop and see this huge drainage, slow down and pull off the road at either end. Alaskans call it the Big Su. We fish it, pad­dle it, and snow machine its frozen braids. Bush pilots even nav­i­gate by this riv­er. The Susit­na Riv­er winds its way over 313 miles of South­cen­tral Alas­ka; this old rail­road bridge cross­es the water on the east­ern edge of Denali…  ...more

There are 10 sites here, good for RVs or tents. They all over­look the lake, which is open to canoes, kayaks, and fish­ing. You can rent a boat here, or moun­tain bike/​hike the trails, which con­nect to the Matanus­ka Green­belt system.

A great camp­ing option close to Wasil­la or Palmer, this lake­side camp­ground fills up on the week­end with Alaskans. The lake is a great place for kids to learn to fish; there are plen­ty of arc­tic char, rain­bow trout, and grayling in the waters. It’s also a good place to canoe or kayak (you can rent from a place just a few lakes away); while the lake is open to motor­ized craft, it’s not over­run by jet skis or powerboats.

Overview With the Tal­keet­na Moun­tains to the north and the Chugach Moun­tains to the south, the Matanus­ka Riv­er pours forth from the large Matanus­ka Glac­i­er in a swift, freez­ing cold, tor­rent of Class II to Class IV white­wa­ter for near­ly 70 miles before it meets the sea where the Knik Arm of Cook Inlet reach­es into the inte­ri­or. The riv­er runs down the trench formed where the Bor­der Ranges Fault line sep­a­rates the two mighty moun­tain ranges,…  ...more

Overview This inter­est­ing com­bi­na­tion of rivers and lake is a rarely done cir­cuit that would be a great mul­ti-day wilder­ness float trip for kayaks and rafts. With good fish­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties and only Class III at times, it is most­ly a Class II trip and for 80 miles it trav­els through an amaz­ing land­scape. The Nelchi­na Riv­er sys­tem is a rocky glacial riv­er with dai­ly water lev­el fluc­tu­a­tions amid a forest­ed val­ley and with spec­tac­u­lar views of…  ...more

If you’re not head­ing right back to Anchor­age, here’s anoth­er great side trip. A scenic 19-mile dri­ve north takes you into the park. Lake Louise is known for its trout and grayling fish­ing, views of Tazli­na Glac­i­er and Lake, and berry pick­ing — har­vest wild straw­ber­ries and blue­ber­ries in July and August, or cran­ber­ries come September. 

This swift, glacial­ly-fed riv­er deliv­ers one of the top sports salmon fish­eries in the Cop­per Basin, with pro­duc­tive bank­side fish­ing for famed Cop­per Riv­er reds and decent oppor­tu­ni­ties to land a big king salmon. You’ll find good park­ing and direct access to pub­lic ease­ments along the riv­er in Cop­per Cen­ter. Many pro­fes­sion­al guides also oper­ate in the community.

The Gulka­na Riv­er is an approx­i­mate­ly 80-mile long riv­er that can be done in 5 to 7 aver­age length days. It is a Nation­al Wild and Scenic Riv­er and one of Alaska’s most pop­u­lar white­wa­ter riv­er trips. It is an excel­lent fish­ing riv­er trip, as well, with a large King Salmon run and lots of small­er sport fish to try for. The first three miles are, gen­er­al­ly, Class II with 4 mph cur­rent and some Class III. The next 13 to 15 miles to canyon…  ...more

Pop­u­lar camp­ing, fish­ing, and out­door recre­ation spot just an hour south of Fair­banks along the Richard­son High­way. There are 19 camp­sites and 5 walk-in sites. In sum­mer, the area is pop­u­lar with boaters, fish­er­men, and jet-skiers / water skiers. The lake is stocked with Rain­bow trout, grayling, and Arc­tic char, as well as salmon. It’s also a pop­u­lar ice fish­ing spot in win­ter. You can even reserve an ice fish­ing hut!

Pop­u­lar fish­ing and camp­ing spot halfway between Fair­banks and Delta Junc­tion (about an hour in either direc­tion). There’s a boat launch, and fish­er­man can fish for trout, arc­tic char, and burbot.

Camp­ground with 15 sites, fire spits, pic­nic tables and shel­ter and toi­lets. There’s a boat launch for boat­ing, water ski­ing, and swim­ming. This is a pop­u­lar bush plane land­ing location.

Great camp­ground and fish­ing area just north of Delta Junc­tion. The loop camp­ing area holds 16 sites, and there are anoth­er 87 park­ing / camp­ing sites in the lot. Boaters will enjoy easy access to two boat launch­es. There are also pic­nic tables and a pavil­ion. Near the water, there’s a hand­i­cap acces­si­ble fish­ing dock, a swim­ming area, and a beach vol­ley­ball court.

You are now enter­ing the 397-square mile Chena Riv­er State Recre­ation Area. Here you’ll find activ­i­ties year round from hik­ing, rock climb­ing, and berry pick­ing to dog sled­ding and cross-coun­try ski­ing. Main­tained and well-marked trails lead into alpine coun­try and access very dif­fer­ent hik­ing expe­ri­ences. Once above tree­line, small­er trails lead away from the main, devel­oped trails to reach even more remote areas, many with unobstructed…  ...more

The Delta Riv­er, includ­ing Tan­gle Lakes to mile 212 on the Richard­son High­way, is an out­stand­ing riv­er to float, although there is a set of falls to portage around. It offers a vari­ety of water chal­lenges: qui­et lake, fast and rocky Class I to the falls, good Class II rapids fol­low­ing the falls, Class I mean­der­ing water to Eure­ka Creek, and fast glacial water to the take­out 7 miles below Eure­ka Creek. The scenery is superb with canyon,…  ...more