The only way to reach Kenai Fjords Wilderness Lodge is by boat. On calm June mornings, the half-hour trip from Seward crosses Resurrection Bay, past rocky outcrops where sea otters drift in kelp and puffins skim low over the water. When you step onto Fox Island’s pebbled beach, the noise of the harbor fades, replaced by the steady wash of waves and the occasional cry of a gull.

It feels far removed from the crowds, but the lodge sits at the gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park, which draws between 350,000 and 400,000 visitors annually. That popularity raises a problematic question for Alaska’s remote destinations: how do you make wild places more accessible without damaging the very environments that make them worth visiting?

For Kenai Fjords Wilderness Lodge and its partner operation

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