Togiak National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

Togiak NWR, Dillingham, Alaska: It’s hard to tell top from bottom in this view of the Ahklun Mountains reflected in mirror-smooth Upper Togiak Lake. The Ahklun Mountains cover about 80 percent of Togiak National Wildlife Refuge’s 4.2 million acres. Refuge lakes and waterways may be ice-covered from October-April so views like this are fleeting. Togiak refuge boasts a diversity of Arctic habitats and wildlife from the Bering Sea, with its walruses, sea lions, whales and seabirds, to the alpine tundra with its bears, eagles, hummingbirds, and minks. Fisherman rate the refuge’s Kanektok River best in the country for Arctic char, rainbow trout, grayling, and five species of salmon.