Kontrashibuna Lake

This trail is really two hikes stitched together. The first half follows the popular path to Tanalian Falls, where most day-trippers turn around. Push past the falls and you cross into designated wilderness — and the crowd evaporates. The trail climbs through dense spruce forest before opening up to reveal Kontrashibuna Lake, a glacially-carved basin ringed by snow-streaked peaks that looks like it belongs on a postcard nobody's sent yet. The water is impossibly clear, fed by snowmelt and rainfall with no road or development anywhere near it. At roughly five and a half miles roundtrip, the moderate difficulty comes less from any single steep pitch and more from the cumulative effort and uneven, root-laced tread beyond the falls. This is a trail for hikers who want to earn something most visitors never see — Lake Clark's backcountry without the bush plane commitment.