Images of Lake Clark National Park – Southern Alaska, taken in July 2015.

Three mountain ranges, the Alaskan, Chigmit and Aleutian, converge in Lake Clark National Park, a rugged wilderness area with incredible sights and vistas at every turn.

Besides the obvious beauty of the Lake Clark area the park celebrates the story of survival in the wilderness as told through the perseverance of Richard Proenneke, an amateur naturalist and longtime resident of the area. In 1968 he built a cabin in the Twin Lakes region of the park and documented every step of his lifelong journey in a log as well as on film. This record is captured in the book “One Man’s Wilderness” as well as in a documentary that airs regularly on PBS. The story also has a direct tie to my visit to Lake Clark as I stayed at the Farm Lodge in Port Alsworth, an area settled by missionary and bush pilot Babe Alsworth in 1944. Babe was also the person responsible for flying supplies to Dick Proenneke and others in the region on a regular basis and his family still runs the Farm Lodge to this day. Additionally, my pilot and guide for my trip through the park was Glen Alsworth, Babe’s grandson. And to carry on the tradition, Glen’s sons and daughters, who all work at the lodge, are in training to also become bush pilots. They were all unbelievably accommodating and made my stay there an amazing experience.