We spent a lovely, sunny, breezy Alaskan summer afternoon hiking in Chugach State Park along what we thought was the McHugh Creek Trail. When you take off up the trail from the upper parking lot, the first thing you reach is a poorly-signed four-way split. The one that goes up and to the right is a nice enough trail, narrow with several switch backs framed by some lovely fields of lupine and columbine, but when it straightens out along the east side of the mountainside over the creek it eventually devolves into bushwhacking. We found a warm boulder with a great view of Turnagain Arm and took a seat for a snack after the trail fizzled.
If you want McHugh Creek Trail, go left at the four-way (the left and right are Turnagain Arm Trail) for maybe ~150m and the trail will be a well-signed right turn. We managed to stumble across the trail further up the mountain and upon reaching the bottom discovered the signpost at the bottom of the hill with a giant orange "DANGER, trail closed, moose kill" stapled to it (!).
Day use fee is $5. There's a pretty little waterfall easily accessible from the highway/lower lots. Views of Turnagain Arm and Kenai Peninsula beyond are excellent. read more