Here's an overview of some of the most popular hiking areas in Alaska.
Denali National Park
The jewel of Alaska's national parks has a half-dozen campgrounds and many trails ranging from easy to strenuous. Several guidebooks cover established trails and suggest routes for the adventurous.
Some trails start near the park headquarters. Trails such as those down the Savage River and deep in the park can be reached by shuttle bus.
• Tent camping: Backcountry adventurers can camp anywhere within an enormous assigned block of scenery. Tent camping is allowed at several established campgrounds.
• Recreational vehicles: RVs are allowed in three Denali campgrounds.
Private campgrounds with tent and RV spaces and cabins are established just outside the park along the Parks Highway.
• More about Denali.
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
The nation's largest national park is open to hiking and camping just about anywhere. Check with the park office at Copper Center for a map of privately owned lands inside the park.
Two popular routes are up the Kennicott and Root glaciers and down the Goat Trail. Air taxis deliver hikers into the backcountry.
Backcountry hikers and climbers should be train to handle their own emergencies. Help can be a long way off.
• Tent camping: Just about anywhere on public land, but watch for bears.
• Recreational vehicles: RVs can camp at the end of the McCarthy Road.
• More about Wrangell-St. Elias.
Kenai Fjords National Park
Kenai Fjords doesn't have established trails beyond the few at Exit Glacier. Those provide routes from the parking lot (a quarter-mile away) and up onto the ice field.
• Tent camping: There are spaces at Exit Glacier, but hikers and kayakers can set up camp just about anywhere. Remote camping is available along the Gulf of Alaska shore.
• Recreational vehicles: RVs are allowed in one campground, at Exit Glacier.
• More about Kenai Fjords.
Chugach State Park
Trails lead into the wild country from several access points on Anchorage's Hillside, from Eagle River, Peters Creek and Eklutna Lake. Long trails include the historic Iditarod Trail from Girdwood to Eagle River, the Crow Pass to Indian route and the old road along Eklutna Lake.
Climbers will find some tough peaks, especially in the eastern part of the park. But there are also more moderate mountains with established trails, such as those at Eklutna and Anchorage's Arctic Valley and Flattop Mountain.
• Tent camping: Tenting is allowed in the Eagle River and Eklutna Lake campgrounds as well as just about anywhere else that's off the trails.
• Recreational vehicles: Campgrounds at Eagle River and Eklutna Lake accept RVs.
• More about Alaska state parks.
Denali State Park
Trails lead into the into the forest from the Parks Highway and the Byers Lake campground.
• Tent camping: Tenting is allowed at informal campsites as well as at Byers Lake.
• Recreational vehicles: The Byers Lake campground accepts RVs.
• More about Alaska state parks.
Chugach National Forest
Many established trails head off from small parking lots along the Seward and Sterling highways. Bus lines to Homer and Seward will drop off hikers at the trail heads and pick them up if reservations are made.
• Tent camping: Camp just about anywhere, but watch for bears. Some public-use cabins are available.
• Recreational vehicles: RVs are allowed at campgrounds along the roads.
• More about Chugach National Forest.
Tongass National Forest
Trails lead off into the forested mountains from every ferry or highway town in Southeast Alaska.
• Tent camping: Camping is widely allowed, and there are public-use cabins, too.
• Recreational vehicles: The Inside Passage has few roads, so it's not an RVer's paradise. Private campgrounds are available where ferry routes and highways exchange vehicles.
• More about Chugach National Forest.
