Explore Chinitna Bay, Lake Clark National Park, Alaska

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A trip to Chinitna Bay on Lake Clark's Cook Inlet coast offers a unique experience in the heart of coastal brown bear country. This page provides the information you need to plan your trip. Most visitors arrive in a small plane operating on wheels that lands on the beach. Though it is legal for float planes to land in the bay, many operators choose not to take their float planes here due to the corrosive nature of salt water and the extreme tides in Chinitna Bay that can make operating on floats tricky. The fight from Homer, Kenai, or Anchorage is less than an hour. It is also possible to travel across Cook Inlet in a boat, though the seas are often rough. A one way trip from the Homer Harbor is approximately 60 miles and can take four to five hours depending on the boat and ocean conditions. The meadow north of the slough is closed to hiking, camping, and all other human access May 1 to August 31. A map showing the area closure is available on the Visit Chinitna Bay page. Picnicking in Chinitna Bay from Glacier spit to the NPS ranger cabin (2 miles east) is prohibited above the beach June 1 to August 31.

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