Stunning! The views are breathtaking from start to finish, and the trail itself is well-kept and…read moreeasy to follow. The scenery changes as you go, with incredible overlooks and peaceful spots to take it all in. Definitely a must-see if you're in the area!

This is a great hike! It's probably right around the longest you can go for a weekday, after-work…read morehike...and still get to bed at a normal time. (unless you trail-run, of course) If you start at the Bear Valley trailhead, the stats are: 5.4 miles round trip, 2,300 ft. elevation gain BIG SIDE RANT INCOMING: About that trailhead. It's located in an area with many McMansions. The people that live in these McMansions chose to build their McMansions within spitting distance of PUBLIC lands. And yet, they hate it when people use these public lands. Parking is tiny and STRICT. The police left these wealthy McMansion owners with a sign explaining these rules. Rampant theft in all of Anchorage and these one-percenters in the hills waste law enforcement's time because someone parked on the side of the road. Of course, their excuse for this is "safety", because of course it is. Safety, like children, is always a great excuse to get your way. WHAT?! ARE YOU SAYING YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT SAFETY?! WHAT IF MY HOUSE IS ON FIRE AND THE FIRE ENGINE TAKES 2 SECONDS LONGER BECAUSE A HIKER PARKED ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD? The icing on top is that these McMansions are usually vacant. Such beautiful land with beautiful views: wasted. Anyway, be prepared to not have a parking spot if you're here on a good weather day and/or a weekend. There is an "overflow" (seems silly to use "overflow" when the "main" lot only has 3-4 spaces) place you can park, but it will add another half-mile to your hike. A half-mile with scenic views of McMansions. The hike takes you a softly-undulating ridge. It leads up and down a few false-summits until you arrive at the castle-turret-looking formation that is the true summit of McHugh Peak. There are numerous ways to the top, of varying difficulty. Plan your route accordingly. If you start to climb up and feels very difficulty, maybe back down and try a different side. There is some steep relief on some sides of the summit. A fall would be...."real bad".

Ah, the Seward Highway!…read more Crown Jewel of the Alaska roadsystem! Always in the top-5 of every click-bait list of roadtrips/drives/roadside photography/wildlife/etc. The highway technically starts in Seward and ends in Anchorage. Along the way, you'll pass by two major mountain ranges: Chugach and Kenai. You'll see many glaciers from the road. Wildlife abounds: Moose on the ground, Beluga Whales in the water, Sea Otters in Seward. There are hundreds of rock climbs and dozens of ice climbs on the cliffs bordering the highway inbetween Anchorage and Girdwood. Points of interest from Anchorage to Seward (many also on Yelp): - Chugach State Park - Turnagain Trail - McHugh Creek Trail - Beluga Point - Falls Creek Trail - Mountain Spring - Froth and Forage (Indian) - Girdwood - Wildlife Conservation Center (Portage) - Turnagain Pass - Seward

The Seward always promises to deliver three things: beautiful vistas, danger and frustration. The…read morebeauty along the mountainous Turnagain Arm with her swirling clouds, tumbling falls and possibility whales, bears, dall sheep and eagles makes for a very risky drive. Distracted driving is a real risk. Add in falling rock, impatient/sleepy/influenced driving and NO passing zones on most of the Highway and it can be some tricky driving. For Alaskans that drive it regularly, we get really frustrated driving behind tourists who are enamored by the beauty and go well below the speed limit when we are just trying to get home. The State of Alaska is taking it's sweet old time expanding the Highway to four lanes.... SIGH. When there is an accident, which is frequent, the entire highway can close the ONLY artery that connects Anchorage with the south for as long as 12 hours, which is frankly a nightmare. But living in Alaska, you just learn this like all things is just how it is, so relax and resist the temptation to lay on your horn. The traffic will move when it's good and ready. This is why Alaskans are always ready for EVERYTHING (pack snacks.)

Where is all the blue ice? I don't see no trail! Well... I did see a couple of glaciers up top…read moreunder white snow, so I saw sprinkling of blue ice. This is the Tony Knowles Coastal trail of Portage. You start at Moose Flats, or Visitor's center, and walk/jog/bike/skate/meander 5 miles to the opposite end. I started at Moose Flats and it was a good time viewing natural and unnatural areas of interest. Scouted out camp spots, watched kayakers in a lake, and enjoyed walking over bridges during the jaunt. It was good, not great. So much so, that instead of walking all the way back I hitched to get the car and pick up walking companion. Then we jetted over to Byron's Glacier for a proper, albeit shorter, hike. Would come again if camping in area, but would pass for future hiking funsies due to lack of interest.

This is a flat 5-mile trail that links together the many sights and sounds of one of my favorite…read moreareas in Alaska: Portage. Despite being located a little over an hour from Anchorage, this area gets obscene amounts of snow and rain. As a consequence of all that H2O falling from the sky, the mountains in here are heavily glaciated, even though they are not very tall by Alaska standards. (tallest in the area is around 6,000 ft, with many in the 3,000-4,000 ft range) Because this trail is so flat, it's very commonly cycled. Bring your bike and make a half-day of it, or bring only your boots for a much fuller day. There are places to view Salmon here, but I can never seem get the timing right. Stuff to see in this area from/next to the trail: Explorer Peak (and Explorer Glacier): https://www.yelp.com/biz/explorer-peak-portage Byron Glacier Trail: https://www.yelp.com/biz/byron-glacier-trailhead-anchorage Portage Glacier visitor center: https://www.yelp.com/biz/portage-glacier-and-begich-bloggs-visitor-center-girdwood

Fantastic park with free access & parking, informative signage, public outhouse style toilets with…read morehand sanitizer. Elevated wooden walkways over this grand marsh area, that is a bird sanctuary, with occasional other local wildlife sightings. They have equipped most platforms with free binoculars for viewing. Lots of locals frequent this park and provide friendly tips on where to view eagle nests or other sightings to share. Relaxing to walk through the marsh and hear the flow of water from a creek and occasional loan whistle of a passing train in the distance facing the ocean coastline. Definitely worth a stop along the magnificent Anchorage Alaska outskirts. I only wish I had more time to make further discoveries into this beautiful land surrounded by magnificent snow capped mountains, tranquil water ways, a variety of trees, shrubs and distant ocean views.

I've been here more times than I cam count. I am an unsophisticated year round bird watcher and my…read morehusband humors me. Potter's marsh is great, especially since they removed the parking fee. Its handicapped friendly and has several entry points. There's benches and a few binoculars keenly placed as well. The variety of birds here is really cool. Sometimes theres even wild life. Since you're high up on the boardwalk, its largely safe, by Alaskan standards. Highly recommend for anyone interested in birds. It also has a lovely view of the mountains, especially at fall.

The Begich, Boggs Visitor Center at the Portage Glacier is definitely worth a stop. It doesn't cost…read moreanything extra and has some fun activities for kids, as well as some informative displays for adults. Once you've ridden the Ptarmigan out to Portage Glacier, you will want to go inside and get warmed up anyway, so a stop at the Visitor Center is definitely a good option! I thought the Portage Glacier Cruise was a wonderful experience, especially for being pretty affordable (about $45). We rode around for about an hour and a half and got to glide right up to the face of the glacier. It was beautiful and piercing blue. There were also many small waterfalls all around the lake that were great to look at too as we strode by. It was raining and sleeting when we took the cruise, but we still managed to trod up to the outdoor deck and snap pictures of the glacier up close. The tour guides were very informative and open to questions, and they even let me take home some glacial till that they had extracted as samples! Overall, a great way to spend a half-day. I definitely recommend it if you're near Girdwood.

Stopping in this visitor center was an unexpected delight on a rainy day! It has a mini museum…read morewithin and a really well done video talking about the history of the park. Definitely worth a stop on your visit!

Absolutely stunning trail! Very friendly to all ages and all levels of athleticism. I've hiked out…read morethere with people as young as 3 and as old as 70-something! It takes about 10 or 15 minutes to walk out there if you're going at a relaxed/moderate pace. PLEASE be careful around the snow and be VERY aware that the ice above the river is often very thin! You'll see other footprints over it, but you are NOT supposed to walk on it, especially on the parts above the river! The water is eroding it from the inside out and one wrong footstep could send you falling 20ft into an ice cavern :( You can have just as much fun here without risking your life!! I always wear bug spray here, but I've seen only a few bugs. Don't drink the water unless you have a filter with you. If you're driving in from Anchorage, the Alaska Wildfire Conservation Center is directly on the route and definitely worth stopping at!

This is the perfect trail for a family! People of all ages can come. It's super short with an easy,…read moreflat dirt path. We saw senior citizens, kids, dogs, etc. all comfortably share this path. I took my husband and parents who are in their 60s to this trail. My parents aren't too fond of when I take them on what they call "too crazy of an adventure," but this trail they handled just fine. It only took 55 minutes to drive from Anchorage to the trail head. And you get to drive the beautiful scenic Seward Highway. That itself already made the trip worth it. The trail is only 1.4 miles one way. There are no river crossings or switch backs. It's just out and back. It's a pretty sunny walk, so bring a hat/sunscreen. At the endpoint, you get a nice view of the Byron Glacier. Apparently you can even sometimes visit ice tunnels. Those weren't available when we went because an avalanche reportedly happened the week prior. But it was still definitely worth the trip. If you take your time to enjoy the walk and glacier, the "hike" takes about 3-4 hours.

OK, OK. Whoever…read morenamed everything in this area BIRD or bird-related names probably thought they were being cute, but they were really just making things VERY confusing. This is a trail that starts at the Bird Valley Trailhead. This is NOT the same as: Bird Ridge, the steep and popular hike. That trailhead is a couple miles west (closer to Anchorage) of here: https://www.yelp.com/biz/bird-ridge-trail-anchorage Bird POINT, a sightseeing area on the Turnigan arm a few miles EAST (farther away from Anchorage) of here. Bird Creek CAMPGROUND, a car-camping area near the highway that is a mile from this trailhead...known for nearby combat fishing: https://www.yelp.com/biz/bird-creek-campground-anchorage To get to this trailhead, you'll be on a bumpy, un-paved road. If it looks like you ain't supposed to be here...you're probably in the right spot. Once you reach the trailhead, if you hike maybe 2 miles and keep veering right, you'll eventually reach a junction. Head left at the junction and that's the Penguin Creek Trail. (look at the PDF this page links to and it all will make much more sense, trust me) "Creek Trail" is apt, because you are often hiking up a flowing creek. Either bring high-rise waterproof boots are some beater shoes you don't care about. Why would you come to this trail? 1) If you're on an ATV and want to make it go splishy-splash! 2) You are on your way to climb Nest Peak or Bird Peak (yet another Bird name! Note: Bird Peak is NOTHING like Bird Ridge. It is MUCH more involved...review coming soon) If you aren't doing either of those things, there isn't much reason to come here, in my opinon. You'd be much better off going up Penguin PEAK, on the Penguin PEAK trail, which you can read my review of here: https://www.yelp.com/biz/penguin-peak-trail-anchorage

O'Mally peak is the craggy fang in the line of Chugach peaks you see from Anchorage…read more Most of us see it every day. There are numerous ways to climb it. The easiest way is up a loose scree gulley. I'd consider it very much a "hike". The other lines start to get a bit more complex and technical. Everything from 4th class to ice and mixed lines! Like many peaks in the Chugach, this starts at the Glen Alps traihead. (the same one as Flattop)