HERE is a slideshow of the 20 least-visited National Monuments in the US. Most are in the southwest, but the two least-visited are, perhaps unsurprisingly, in Alaska. Here’s Number 1:
1. Aniakchak, Alaska
No roads will take you to Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve, on the Alaskan peninsula 450 miles southwest of Anchorage. To access this park you’ll need to hire an air taxi or a power boat. The park encompasses a 6-mile-wide, 2,000-foot-deep caldera formed by the collapse of a 7,000-foot mountain and offers visitors a taste of one of the wildest terrains in Alaska. Things to do in the park include hiking the caldera floor, sport fishing and rafting the Aniakchak River. This is beautiful, wild landscape but visitors should proceed with caution: Even in the summer the average temperature is only in the high 40s to 50s, and hypothermia is always a threat.
Visitors in 2009: 14
Yeah, baby… FOURTEEN. Sure it’s a pain to get to, but at least your chances of being swamped out by hordes of Horrible Little Brats seems vanishingly small.
2 Responses to “Where to go to be alone”
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Very nice! I would also visist Mt Katmai a little further to the NE. About a 100 years ago it created one of the biggest eruptions in the 20th century. The mountain top then collapsed into a crater lake.
Considering that Aniakchak last erupted in 1931, I’d worry about the temperature getting suddenly much warmer while you were walking around inside the caldera, as it looks kind of steep to get out of quickly if you had to:
http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/geologic_wonders/images/aniaichak.jpg