Alaska.com: Alaska's Travel Website

Alaska is a wild place, and millions of people visit Alaska just to get a taste of the state's natural beauty.

It's easy to see why.

Alaska is home to 39 mountain ranges, including Mount McKinley, the highest peak in North America. It's also home to about 100,000 glaciers and too many lakes to count. It has more coastline than the rest of the United States combined.

Anchorage-area visitors can get a glimpse of the state's beauty without ever leaving the municipality -- through the parks system.

Look east and one of the area's jewels is staring back. The Chugach State Park, all 500,000 acres, has plenty of outdoor adventures awaiting visitors and residents alike. From a pleasant picnic to a heart-pounding adventure, the park is packed with action.

Chugach is one of the largest state parks in the nation and lies entirely within the Anchorage municipality boundaries.

"It's the closest place to get a view of wild Alaska," said Al Meiners, superintendent of Chugach State Park. "You can see most wildlife species found throughout the state right here in Anchorage. You can take short hikes. You can go on long expeditions.

"It's a great place."

Meiners said there are 2,000 Dall sheep, several hundred black bears, up to 30 brown bears and "a lot of moose" in the park. There also are wolf packs "roaming less than eight miles from downtown Anchorage. The wildlife is amazing."

There are a number of easy access points to the park.

Two local favorites are the Glen Alps trail head and the McHugh Creek trail head.

Glen Alps offers access to Flattop Mountain, the state's most often hiked peak. For the less adventurous there is a short walking path that leads to an overlook of Anchorage, Knik Arm, Turnagain Arm and Mount Susitna. On a clear day, Mount McKinley is easily visible to the north. Blueberry Knoll is an intermediate hike along a well-maintained trail and in late summer the area lives up to its name, and is covered with wild blueberries. Picnic facilities are located at the trail head.

McHugh Creek flows into Turnagain Arm at another popular trail head in the park. The location is easy to reach from the Seward Highway just a few miles south of downtown Anchorage.

The trail head is one of the entry points for the Turnagain Arm Trail, which stretches along Turnagain Arm for nearly 10 miles. The area also has picnic tables, restroom facilities, an interpretive walk and an observation platform with viewing scopes to watch for Dall sheep in the mountains. Some of the trails wind along McHugh Creek as it tumbles down through the mountains.

Other popular access points to the park include the Prospect Heights trail head, Crow Pass trial head, Eklutna Lake trail head and the Eagle River Nature Center. There are campgrounds at Eagle River, Bird Creek and Eklutna Lake. There is a paved bike path from Bird Point to Girdwood. Chugach Park headquarters are in the Potter Section House, Mile 115 of the Seward Highway just south of Anchorage.

There are a number of parks in the city that offer other outdoor opportunities.

• Alaska Botanical Garden: The 110-acre garden features walking paths that lead to perennial, wildflower and herb gardens. Interpretive signs and benches are scattered along the trails. The garden has a huge erratic boulder, left as a glacier receded.

• Kincaid Park: Popular with cross-country skiers during the winter, the 43 miles of maintained trails are great for summertime hiking and biking. The park, with 1,400 acres, is located along Turnagain Arm.

• Tony Knowles Coastal Trail: The 11-mile trail winds along Knik Arm from Kincaid Park to downtown Anchorage at Second Avenue. The paved trail is popular with walkers, bikers, joggers and wildlife, including moose.

• Greenbelts: Chester Creek and Campbell Creek greenbelts follow mountain-fed streams through the city. Chester Creek greenbelt has a six-mile bike trail that connects with the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, goes past Westchester Lagoon and ends at Russian Jack Springs Park.

• Delaney Park Strip: A perfect park for downtown visitors, it was originally built as a fire break to protect early 20th-century Anchorage from wildfires. It also served as the city's first airstrip. It now has tennis courts, sand volleyball courts, horseshoe pits, softball diamonds and basketball courts. And it's close to most downtown hotels.