Eagle River Sightseeing Tours

If you don’t mind the 45-minute dri­ve from Anchor­age up to the Eagle Riv­er Nature Cen­ter, where this trail begins, this trail is one of the most scenic easy hikes any­where near Anchor­age. You’ll walk a well-main­tained loop that pass­es through beau­ti­ful for­est, over a cou­ple nice wood­en bridges, past beaver deams, and along the swift­ly flow­ing glacial waters of Eagle River.

Under an hour from Anchor­age, this 22-mile dri­ve takes you away from Alaska’s towns and cities, and into Chugach State Park. The road is smooth with twists and turns, and runs along­side Eklut­na Riv­er, and the beau­ti­ful and glacial Eklut­na Lake. You can also see Twin Peaks over the trees.

The annu­al four-day Bear Paw Fes­ti­val brings fun events like live music and danc­ing, races, a car show, car­ni­val rides, food and drink, and all kinds of ven­dors every mid-July to down­town Eagle Riv­er. Don’t miss the only-in-Alas­ka events like the Slip­pery Salmon Olympics

Along a his­toric trav­el route that dates to the Gold Rush era, these four pub­lic use facil­i­ties offer peo­ple a flat walk to a seclud­ed river­ine wilder­ness only an hour walk from a trail­head that’s an easy dri­ve from town. Man­aged by the Eagle Riv­er Nature Cen­ter, the three yurts and one cab­in are per­fect those who want to hike and explore the Eagle Riv­er cor­ri­dor, known both for its wildlife — bald eagles, brown and black bear, moose — and  ...more

While the North Fork of Eagle Riv­er is only 40 min­utes from Anchor­age, it has as much beau­ty and some of the haz­ards of much big­ger, more remote Alas­ka rivers. Class I and only 7 miles long, this float is still fair­ly-com­mit­ting, espe­cial­ly dur­ing low water when the entire trip from the mile 7.4 put in to the take out can take 4 – 5 hours on the water. The riv­er isn’t braid­ed so you’re in one chan­nel the entire float, but there are a lot of…  ...more

Beach Lake is a local gem locat­ed in the Eagle River/​Chugiak area, 20 miles north of Anchor­age. Enjoy a qui­et, uncrowd­ed view of the Chugach Mountains.

Eagle Riv­er camp­ground is con­ve­nient and mod­ern. Right beside it are also class IV rapids. Kayak­ers and rafters call them Camp­ground Rapids. But near­by are a cou­ple of places not nor­mal­ly asso­ci­at­ed with camp­ing. Do you like ghost sto­ries? Do you have some trash pil­ing up in the back of your truck? Maybe you should stop in and have a look. But don’t say we did­n’t warn you!

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.

New in 2016, Dol­ly Var­den Cab­in offers the same recre­ation oppor­tu­ni­ties that you’d find while car camp­ing in the Eklut­na Camp­ground, but you sleep inside an insu­lat­ed with a wood-burn­ing stove and loads of space. Aimed at peo­ple who might want to expe­ri­ence the pad­dling, bik­ing, hik­ing and climb­ing pos­si­bil­i­ties of the stun­ning Eklut­na Val­ley, but don’t want to ​“rough it” or chop wood for heating.

Hik­ers on the Crow Pass Trail may stop and take a brac­ing dip in Glac­i­er Lake on a warm sum­mer day. The lake’s posi­tion at the base of Eagle Glac­i­er means there is often ice float­ing in it.

Long pop­u­lar with fam­i­lies who seek a wilder­ness-like set­ting with­out leav­ing the urban area, the place has a rep­u­ta­tion for clean­li­ness and seren­i­ty. But you have to make peace with the riv­er: it is loud. 57 camp­sites are nes­tled along three wood­ed lanes and the inter­est­ing grav­el bars of Eagle Riv­er are nev­er more than a few min­utes’ walk away.

It’s not as dif­fi­cult as you might think to hike to stand atop the pre­cip­i­tous, gul­ly-scarred face of Bear Point. But it’s not easy, either. The 2‑mile hike ascends 2,100 feet and can be tricky. But your reward is an amaz­ing view in all direc­tions, from the Kenai Penin­su­la to Denali and the Chugach Moun­tains to Matanus­ka Peak.

Short, flat hike to access main braid of Eagle Riv­er. Walk is approx­i­mate­ly one mile through woods. To the right of the park­ing lot is a small­er braid of the riv­er that blends into main chan­nel in about 1 mile as well. The riv­er at this point can be float­ed very eas­i­ly, but unless you have expe­ri­ence with rapids, rec­om­mend you get out at the bridge. Although the bridge is only 5.5 miles from where you put in as the crow flies, the riv­er is…  ...more

This is a flat and easy trail. There is no bridge at South Fork Eagle Riv­er like you would expect. This is a nice ski trail as well. The trails con­tin­ue on to the oppo­site side of river.

This small-town cof­fee shop fea­tures couch­es, com­fort­able tables, and a fire­place, along with top-qual­i­ty cof­fee, tea, and baked goods. It’s def­i­nite­ly a local hang­out: friends chat, teens do their home­work, and the baris­tas know most everyone.

The nation­wide ice cream chain has sev­er­al loca­tions in Anchor­age and one in Eagle Riv­er. You’ll find the same great ice cream here, made fresh on site with cre­ative fla­vors. It’s a treat on hot sum­mer days and even in sub-zero winters!