Soldotna Parks & Trails

Two sets of stairs to riv­er and 625 feet of ele­vat­ed boardwalk.

This 2.2‑mile loop trail is an off-shoot of the Keen-Eye Trail that departs from the Kenai Nation­al Wildlife Refuge Vis­i­tor Cen­ter. It is less crowd­ed than the Keen-Eye Trail (which was built to accom­mo­date large groups), and while it’s not a dif­fi­cult hike, it fea­tures some light hills and var­ied terrain.

This park is a can’t miss for dog own­ers and dog lovers! It’s one of the busiest parks in town, with peo­ple and their dogs there prac­ti­cal­ly ²⁴⁄₇. If you’re trav­el­ing with your dog, it’s a great place to give Fido some exer­cise. You’ll also have an oppor­tu­ni­ty to meet the locals, learn what it’s like to live in Sol­dot­na, and get the inside scoop on the best things to see and do from peo­ple who live here.

This beau­ti­ful park set along the turquoise Kenai Riv­er hosts com­mu­ni­ty events, has a board­walk, access to the riv­er, play­ground and more. There’s an ice loop for skat­ing (free ice skates are avail­able dur­ing win­ter fes­ti­vals) and ani­mal cutouts with white twin­kle lights on them. 

The pop­u­lar, paved Uni­ty Trail begins in Sol­dot­na and winds its way around 9 miles to Kenai. It’s pop­u­lar with locals and trav­el­ers alike for all kinds of activ­i­ties: walk­ing, bik­ing, jog­ging, bird­ing, rollerblad­ing, and more.

The Cen­ten­ni­al Camp­ground Loop Trail is a great place for a walk right in town at any time of year. It’s well-traf­ficked, well-marked, wide, and easy for most peo­ple to use. The trail is busiest in sum­mer — espe­cial­ly the part near the camp­ground where anglers access the Kenai Riv­er — and a lit­tle qui­eter dur­ing the oth­er seasons.

This wide, mul­ti-use trail is pop­u­lar with locals and a fun hike for every­one. The ADA-com­pli­ant trail winds through bore­al for­est, and it’s the only head­quar­ters trail open to dogs and bicy­cles. You can even get your pup cer­ti­fied as a B.A.R.K. Ranger, meant to strength­en the rela­tion­ship with your dog on fed­er­al pub­lic lands.

This 10-mile cir­cuit of dif­fer­ent loop trails is well-main­tained and makes for fun hik­ing and ski­ing. Look for access from the park­ing lot at the Kenai Nation­al Wildlife Refuge Vis­i­tor Cen­ter, where there are bath­rooms and out­door port-a-pot­ties. If you come here to ski, warm up inside the cen­ter, next to the soap­stone mason­ry heater.

In sum­mer, the trails are open to all kinds of foot-pow­ered recre­ation — walk­ing, run­ning, hik­ing, bik­ing, pho­to­shoots, wildlife watch­ing and berry-pick­ing. There’s even an 18-hole disc golf course. K‑9 feet are wel­come, too. In win­ter, locals hit the trails for cross-coun­try ski­ing and fat-tire bik­ing. There are more than 25 kilo­me­ters of groomed ski trails, per­fect for clas­sic and skate cross-coun­try skiing.

Dur­ing the sum­mer months it’s a great spot for canoe­ing, kayak­ing, pad­dle board­ing, even pad­dle­board yoga. The cold­er months are just as live­ly as the warmer ones. There’s a skat­ing loop on the lake’s perime­ter, as well as sev­er­al skat­ing areas on the lake. The City offers free pub­lic skates Sat­ur­day after­noons, ice con­di­tions depen­dent, Decem­ber through February.

Six sets of stairs down to the riv­er, 800-plus feet of ele­vat­ed board­walks, and fish walks.

The Keen-Eye Nature Trail is .75 miles long through a wood­ed area with a side trail lead­ing down to Head­quar­ters Lake. The Cen­ten­ni­al Trail pro­vide an addi­tion­al 1.9 mile loop through a wood­ed area with fur­ther oppor­tu­ni­ty to view wildlife in the area.

If you have your own canoe or kayak, stop for a pad­dle on Ski­lak Lake, locat­ed in the Kenai Nation­al Wildlife Refuge. For a quick hike with good views, go down Ski­lak Lake Road, past Hid­den Lake camp­ground, to Ski­lak Lake Look­out Trail. Get a glimpse of Ski­lak Glac­i­er and look out over the lake. You can be up and back in 1−1.5 hours. Up for some­thing longer? Here are two good day hikes: Depend­ing on time, tack­le the Sky­line Trail. Right…  ...more