Chugach State Park Parks & Trails

Some 50 miles north of Anchor­age, this 1.5‑mile trail makes for a fine fam­i­ly out­ing. From the pic­nic table at the upper­most end of the trail, you’ll find a sat­is­fy­ing panoram­ic view of the Matanus­ka Riv­er and Knik Riv­er val­leys. It’s a view as good, or bet­ter, than that from many summits.

If peo­ple sug­gest climb­ing Flat­top, tell them you’d rather climb Ren­dezvous Peak. Flat­top is arguably Alaska’s most pop­u­lar (and there­fore, most crowd­ed) moun­tain; Ren­dezvous is far less crowd­ed and offers bet­ter views from the sum­mit. See them by hik­ing up 1,500 feet to the 4,050-foot summit.

Con­sid­ered to be one of the best hikes in all of the Chugach Moun­tains, Crow Pass fol­lows a por­tion of the orig­i­nal Idi­tar­od Trail, includ­ing its high­est point. End to end, it’s a 21-mile trail, which most peo­ple do in 2 days, but just the first 4 miles will lead you past some breath­tak­ing scenery. Along the way you’ll find glac­i­ers, water­falls, wild­flow­ers, wildlife, mine ruins, and berries (in late August and Sep­tem­ber). Hik­ing is not  ...more

This trail quick­ly gains ele­va­tion on its way to an alpine mead­ow framed by the dra­mat­ic Twin Peaks and Goat Rock, but climbs to mag­nif­i­cent views over­look­ing the entire val­ley. Dall Sheep are often spot­ted above the tim­ber­line. From here there is a spec­tac­u­lar view of the lake below. This is also a good place for berry pick­ing in the fall. Because of the crushed rocks, the trail is hard­ly ever muddy.

You don’t have to be a moun­taineer to reach the sum­mit of O’Malley Peak — the promi­nent spire ris­ing from the Front Range above Anchor­age — but don’t mis­take it for an easy climb. Some of the 5‑mile-long trail climbs quite steeply; oth­er parts add very loose grav­el to the incline. Still, these con­di­tions don’t make this hike exces­sive­ly dan­ger­ous, just sat­is­fy­ing­ly laborious.

Well used trail by locals as a short (1−2 hour) aer­o­bic hike with nice views. Take Eagle Riv­er Loop to Sky­line, and fol­low the road as it swich­backs going up and even­tu­al­ly ends with park­ing along­side the road.

You’ll have a hard time los­ing your way on this 2.5‑mile climb of 4,301-foot-high McHugh Peak. You’ll also have a hard time for­get­ting the view from the sum­mit, which extends up the length of Tur­na­gain Arm and across Knik Arm to the Alas­ka Range. It’s even more sat­is­fy­ing know­ing that you found your way to the sum­mit with only min­i­mal help from the trail.

Flat­top is Alaska’s most vis­it­ed peak. Ascend the 1.5 — mile, 1,350 ver­ti­cal foot trail to the rocky, foot­ball field-sized sum­mit in about an hour and take in panoram­ic views from Denali (Mt. McKin­ley) to the Aleut­ian Islands. If you want vis­tas with­out the hike, walk the short path from the park­ing lot to the overlook.

This trail has its own sit­ting area and view­ing deck with views of Anchor­age, the Alas­ka Range, and Cook Inlet. It is real­ly good for see­ing sun­sets in the evening but it is also windy. The whole route is wheel­chair acces­si­ble. This is a good short hike for the fam­i­ly to see the view over Anchor­age, but not a good trail for the train­ing runner.

Who can say no to a cool water­fall only a half-hour’s dri­ve from town? One of the most pop­u­lar ​“first hikes” for fam­i­lies with small chil­dren, the one-mile trail to Thun­der­bird Falls tra­vers­es a hand­some birch for­est along the Eklut­na Riv­er canyon to reach a deck with views of a 200-foot water­fall. Dur­ing win­ter, the falls can freeze, form­ing fab­u­lous columns of blue ice.

Rarely do two lakes lie with­in a few feet of each oth­er. For­tu­nate­ly, the trail to see this geo­log­i­cal rar­i­ty begins just a 30-minute dri­ve north of Anchor­age. From the trail­head for South Fork Eagle Riv­er Trail, it’s a grad­ual 4.8‑mile (one-way) climb up a wide val­ley, lead­ing to a nar­row isth­mus between the green waters of Eagle Lake and the blue waters of Sym­pho­ny Lake.

Forty min­utes from down­town Anchor­age lies Eagle Riv­er Nature Cen­ter, a gate­way to Chugach State Park and a glacial riv­er val­ley as wild and dra­mat­ic as any in Alas­ka. Enjoy an easy, 3‑mile nature walk on the Albert Loop or trek up-val­ley 5 miles to see plung­ing water­falls and 3,000-foot cliffs. In win­ter, tra­verse the trails on cross-coun­try skis or snowshoes.

This trail is a good one for run­ners with dogs. Dogs must be on a leash when on the trail and open fires are pro­hib­it­ed. This is a beau­ti­ful trail any time of year and is easy and a good trip for the whole fam­i­ly. Please be sure to avoid the water because there are beavers in the area and it is pos­si­ble to get beaver fever aka Giardiasis.

Steep moun­tain walls, moun­tain peaks, beau­ti­ful val­leys and streams, mature Sit­ka spruce for­est, and areas rich in wildlife pro­vide plen­ty of enjoy­ment. Dall sheep can some­times be seen graz­ing. Use binoc­u­lars to scan grassy fin­gers below ridges across the val­ley, espe­cial­ly dur­ing spring and sum­mer mornings.

While many peo­ple find sat­is­fac­tion in climb­ing to the top of Bear Point, oth­ers may won­der about reach­ing the sum­mit of Mount Eklut­na, the promi­nent peak ris­ing just to the east. It involves two more miles of hik­ing, up 1,100 feet, includ­ing a short, sharp scram­ble up a grav­el trail. You can return to the Peters Creek Trail trail­head via an alter­nate route, which makes for a fine loop hike.

If you like cas­cad­ing water­falls, a great stream, and excep­tion­al views of Tur­na­gain Arm, you don’t want to miss this hike. The rum­bling stream with grad­ual cas­cad­ing falls and moun­tain views pro­vides a pic­turesque val­ley set­ting unique to this trail. The trail is rough and steep and climbs high enough that you’re like­ly to see Dall sheep, gold­en eagles, and Arc­tic ground squir­rels in the high­er ele­va­tions. Spruce grouse can also be spotted…  ...more

If you only have a lit­tle expe­ri­ence doing off-trail hik­ing, then this scenic 5‑miler will help you get a bit more under your belt. Begin­ning on Rab­bit Creek Trail, in the Front Range just above Anchor­age, this hike vis­its a sur­pris­ing­ly expan­sive and scenic plateau that remains hid­den from sight until you actu­al­ly climb to it. 

The trail goes up for a short dis­tance and then joins with the orig­i­nal trail which is more direct but it cross­es pri­vate prop­er­ty. Con­tin­ue up, and when you get to the sad­dle, you can turn right onto the Mt. Mag­nif­i­cant Trail to fol­low the ridge that ends at the moun­tain, or left con­tin­u­ing along the orig­i­nal trail. The trail offers nice views of Cook Inlet and even Denali on a clear day.

This trail is an off­shoot of the South Fork Trail that leads to Eagle and Sym­pho­ny Lakes. It pro­vides some awe­some views of the Eagle Riv­er Val­ley and South Fork Eagle Riv­er as it works its way up into the hang­ing val­ley perched above the Eagle Riv­er Val­ley floor. The final des­ti­na­tion for most hik­ers, near the end of the val­ley, is the hid­den Hang­ing Val­ley Tarn, nes­tled in a seclud­ed cirque. This is an excel­lent camp­ing area gar­land­ed with…  ...more

The easy-to-fol­low Ptarmi­gan Val­ley Trail guides you through forest­ed slopes and even­tu­al­ly to open alpine tun­dra in the Ptarmi­gan Val­ley. It starts out rel­a­tive­ly steep and grad­u­al­ly climbs until you hit the tun­dra above the tree line.

This hike is pop­u­lar in spring for those look­ing for an aer­o­bic work­out. It is very steep, but offers secure foot­ing. One of many high­lights along the scenic Seward High­way, Bird Ridge Trail climbs 3,000 feet in a lit­tle more than a mile to mag­nif­i­cent views of the fjord-like Tur­na­gain Arm. 

The start of this trail leads to the seclud­ed Eklut­na Lake, a great spot to pic­nic, hike, or fish. The trail is nice and easy, and takes you out 10 miles where you can then con­tin­ue on to get a bet­ter look at Eklut­na Glac­i­er! Eklut­na Lake­side Tri­al is also a pop­u­lar bik­ing trail. Alter­nate days 4 wheel­ers have use, but they can­not use the cut­offs clos­est to the lake. The trail fol­lows the lakeshore for 7 miles, then onto glacial gravel…  ...more

This wide trail con­tin­ues from mile 4, up the val­ley to the Bird Creek cross­ing. A less devel­oped trail con­tin­ues on for anoth­er 2 miles, then quick­ly gains ele­va­tion to the pass. Trav­el­ing to the East from Bird Creek Pass will lead you to Griz­zly Bear Lake and Moraine Pass.

This trail is pop­u­lar in the win­ter for ski­ing (low avalanche dan­ger) and sum­mer for views, and berry pick­ing. Many peo­ple begin at Glen Alps Park­ing lot and ini­tial­ly fol­low Pow­er­line Pass trail until it turns off to the left. Go down and over the creek and then fol­low the trail up an easy slope towards what is com­mon­ly known as the Ramp and the Wedge, on either side of the val­ley. When you get to the pass, or ridge, look down towards the…  ...more

Black Tail Rocks is a very airy climb that stretch­es to 4,446 feet above Eagle Riv­er, a town locat­ed just north of Anchor­age. It’s a jour­ney that involves only a min­i­mal amount of hand-over-hand scram­bling; you’ll be fol­low­ing a trail for most of the 4‑mile, 2,750-foot hike. And you’ll have a fine view from the top, look­ing up the length of the seclud­ed Mead­ow Creek Val­ley and well into the deep inner reach­es of the Chugach Mountains.

Trail head begins by tra­vers­ing pri­vate land, but an ease­ment has been pro­vid­ed for such. Easy to bike, ski, run or walk to mild slope with a wide sides, mak­ing is safe from avalanch­es in the win­ter. Should you choose to turn left at the start, you can go to Flat Top as an alter­na­tive route or Peak 2 or 3, depend­ing how far down you go down the trail before turn­ing left. Ptar­ma­gan Peak would be a more promi­nate peak just before the Rab­bit creek  ...more

This trail is per­fect for days when your time or ener­gy for a longer hike is lack­ing. Lying on the out­skirts of Anchor­age, these trails are most­ly flat. Though it is pop­u­lar with locals, espe­cial­ly for ski­ing and snow­shoe­ing in the win­ter, the trail is hard­ly crowded.

With just a short walk from the park­ing area you will find a beau­ti­ful 20 foot water fall. The trail­head starts off par­al­lel­ing the Tur­na­gain Arm and there are a num­ber of small trails that go to dif­fer­ent look­outs. Take the trail to the left for a short dis­tance and you will find the McHugh Trail branch­ing off to the right. The trail zig-zags upward through the woods and pro­vides ever bet­ter views of the Tur­na­gain Arm and mountains. 

This is part of the Hill­side Trail Sys­tem. It is one of the trails that is groomed for ski­ing in win­ter. You can access this trail via the Pow­er­line, Gasline, Denali View, and Gold­en Grass Trails.

Trail is nar­row and stream cross­ings not bridged. Wilder­ness char­ac­ter, wood­land veg­e­ta­tion, small lake.

This is part of the Hill­side Trail Sys­tem. It is one of the trails that is groomed for ski­ing in win­ter. There is access to this trail avail­able via the Pow­er­line, Gasline, White Spruce, Blue­ber­ry Hol­low, Alder, Panora­ma View, and Gold­en Grass trails.

Old­er books might have referred to this as the old John­son Trail, but anoth­er trail of the same name on the Kenai Penin­su­la made it too con­fus­ing for them to both keep their names. This trail is the first of the trails avail­able for hik­ing in the spring. It fol­lows the high­way, with mild ele­va­tion gains to allow awe­some views of the Tur­na­gain Arm. 

The trail­head to this route pro­vides access to Bear Moun­tain and Mt. Eklut­na. It leads along an old roadbed that can be steep and mud­dy in sec­tions. The trail also has a few stream cross­ings with­out bridges for the aver­age adventurer.

Not every­one should under­take this 13-mile tra­verse that begins at Glen Alps above Anchor­age. Con­sid­er­able off-trail hik­ing, plus a steep climb to a ridge top, might be out­side your com­fort zone. But this trail does offer a pro­found sense of soli­tude and some spec­tac­u­lar views. It also includes the nov­el­ty of hik­ing a mile-long sheep trail that tra­vers­es the back of The Wedge, some 500 feet above the seclud­ed waters of Ship Lake.

Long, beau­ti­ful hike. 1^st five miles flat and easy, so you can ride your bike in and ride on in the woods. Spec­tac­u­lar view of Eklut­na lake below and Bold Peak. This long day hike or overnight trip offers one of the best panora­mas in Chugach State park and is good for berryp­ick­ing in the fall. Bikes are avail­able for rental at the trailhead.

A short road called Konikson locat­ed just past Bird Ridge head­ing east will take you to the trail­head. Stay to the right until you see a trail about a quar­ter mile in going right and up. The trail fol­lows a small drainage, and quick­ly gets past the tree line.

With­out hes­i­ta­tion, the Bird to Gird is the most beau­ti­ful bike path in West­ern Alas­ka. This trail is 6 miles one way or 12 miles round trip; either way, the paved ride hugs Tur­na­gain Arm and con­nects three com­mu­ni­ties (Gird­wood, Bird and Indi­an). It’s per­fect for any lev­el bik­er — whether you just want to just cruise, go fast on a moun­tain bike, or expe­ri­ence the trail as a tourist (or even as a curi­ous local). It’s a shared trail, so you’ll  ...more

A Chugach clas­sic with big glac­i­er views, this trail is wide­ly con­sid­ered one of the best in Alas­ka! It begins out­side of Gird­wood and ends at the Eagle Riv­er Nature Cen­ter, with an option to pack­raft rough­ly 9 miles of Eagle Riv­er. Suit­able for a novice back­pack­er and begin­ner pack­rafter (if you choose the pack­raft­ing route option).

After park­ing, con­tin­ue down the road until it nar­rows into a trail. The land cross­es briefly some pri­vate land. Hun­dreds of peo­ple hike or ski this trail every year. The trail is a grad­ual ascent up Rab­bit Creek Val­ley, with the creek and McHugh Peak on the right and the back side of flat­top, and Ptar­ma­gan Peak on your left. The trail starts in alders, but with­in a mile or two, opens onto alpine mead­ows. The trail even­tu­al­ly takes you to…  ...more

This area is accessed from mul­ti­ple trails. Most peo­ple start at the Glen Alps park­ing lot and fol­low the trail toward Willi­waw Lakes. Once you cross over Camp­bell Creek, you can go over the ridge by tak­ing a right where the trail forks (steep but fast) or around to left (eas­i­er, but much longer). Good for hik­ing, snow­shoe­ing or ski­ing. Some even run this trail.