Glenn Highway Audio Guide

Did you know Anchor­age has traf­fic issues? Rush-hour demon­strates this. Between 5 and 6pm just get­ting across town takes half an hour or more. But the Glenn High­way real­ly backs up, espe­cial­ly after work. Thou­sands of com­muters head home to Eagle Riv­er, Palmer, and Wasil­la. Fresh snow slows traf­fic even more. Dur­ing a storm, the trip from Anchor­age to Eagle Riv­er, just 15 miles north, can take an hour. 

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!

This pull-out won’t be here for­ev­er. The fast-flow­ing, glac­i­er-fed Matanus­ka Riv­er wash­es by right below, tak­ing dirt and debris with it every day. This is an excel­lent exam­ple of a braid­ed riv­er. Matanus­ka Glac­i­er, far­ther up the Glenn High­way, feeds this water­way. It’s fast and cold, and can be extreme­ly dan­ger­ous to nav­i­gate, though peo­ple do raft it. His­tor­i­cal­ly, Natives and gold seek­ers used the frozen riv­er for win­ter travel.

Keep your eyes open for rocks on the road above Long Lake. Alas­ka Depart­ment of Trans­porta­tion clears boul­ders off the high­way in this slide area every day of the year, but you could still col­lide with one if you come around a cor­ner too fast. On the oth­er hand, don’t linger under this crum­bling bank!

Gee is a dog mush­ing term for turn right. Idi­tar­od mush­er Zack Steer owns Sheep Moun­tain Lodge and trains his team in this area. Spec­tac­u­lar col­ors on Sheep Moun­tain itself are from iron stains on ancient vol­canic soils.

In the 1950s, an Anchor­age fam­i­ly worked tire­less­ly at their dream of build­ing a ski resort here at the base of Gun­sight Moun­tain. They built a small chalet and erect­ed a rope tow. But financ­ing was always a prob­lem. Busi­ness did not boom. Today, the chalet is all that’s left of their efforts.

Prospect­ing in ear­ly Alas­ka meant col­or­ful char­ac­ters and remote liv­ing. Moun­tain pass­es were often the best routes for men hik­ing hun­dreds of miles to reach gold. Most min­ers owned at least one gun. And they shot to kill.

This is one of Alaska’s pre­mier recre­ation mec­cas. You’ll see lots of big-boy toys around Eure­ka Sum­mit: RVs or big trucks pulling trail­ers with ATVs or brand new snow machines. This sum­mit receives sev­er­al feet of snow each win­ter, and rugged trails open access to the ter­rain dur­ing sum­mer. Eure­ka Sum­mit is the high­est point along the Glenn Highway.

Even though black spruce forests look sick­ly, they’re actu­al­ly healthy trees. Their shal­low roots spread over per­mafrost, so they grow slow­ly. Soil above the per­mafrost melts and freezes, buck­ling the ground and mak­ing the trees tip. This stand might’ve sprout­ed around the same time as World War I, or even ear­li­er. Maybe back when there were only ten miles of paved roads in the entire country.

It’s dis­ori­ent­ing to dri­ve through mile after mile of wilder­ness only to sud­den­ly arrive in a small town. You might ask, ​“Why in the world would any­one live out here?“Glennallen may seem like it’s in the mid­dle of nowhere, but its ori­gins make sense. And about 500 peo­ple call it home. They work in sev­er­al indus­tries, main­ly tourism, gov­ern­ment ser­vices, edu­ca­tion, and health­care. There are also a few small farms in the area.