Alaska.com: Alaska's Travel Website

Many visitors speed past Girdwood on their way between Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula.

That's too bad.

Girdwood and its neighbors at the eastern end of Turnagain Arm are worth a stop. The area makes a perfect day-trip destination. In fact, you could easily spend a couple of days exploring.

Girdwood, while technically part of the Municipality of Anchorage, seems to be a world away. The town is small and nestled in a valley at the base of the Chugach Mountains.

It's at the northern end of a temperate rain forest. Rain is possible -- even likely -- but that's part of the charm. The rain contributes to lush surroundings and huge trees. In winter, all that precipitation falls as snow, which helps explain why the area has so many glaciers.

Since glaciers cover the landscape, why not get an up-close look at the ice? Alyeska Resort and The Ascending Path have teamed up to offer glacier hiking.

"It's a really great experience," said Gary Scott, communications manager for Alyeska Resort. "All different ages can do it. It's a fairly short hike of 20 or 30 minutes up to the glacier on Mount Alyeska. You put on crampons and then you walk out on the glacier.

"The guides point out crevasses and other features on the glacier. Last year, there was an ice cave that was easy to show off."

The hike begins with a ride up the ski resort's tram to the 2,200-foot level on the mountain. The three-hour trip begins at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily and costs $139 per person. From June 13 to 27, Midnight Sun glacier hikes will be offered starting at 9 p.m. For more information, call 783-0505 or visit www.theascendingpath.com.

Alyeska Resort (www.alyeskaresort.com) offers other exciting adventures, including tandem paragliding and downhill mountain biking. Summer visitors can even experience dog sledding on a glacier after a quick helicopter trip into the mountains.

For those looking for an adventure that's a bit more calm, the resort's tram is available for use throughout summer. The tram drops visitors off near the historic roundhouse, which dates to 1959 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Tram tickets are $16 per person. There is a cafeteria and the elegant Seven Glaciers restaurant at the top of the tram.

"It's an easy way to get up the mountain for some beautiful views," Scott said. "In the middle of summer, you can have dinner at 9 and look out the window at all this daylight. It's incredible."

Hikers or walkers who want to stay closer to sea level can enjoy the Winner Creek Trail, which begins at Alyeska Resort. The 5 1/2-mile round-trip trail follows boardwalks and has several bridges that cross short sections of muskeg that dot the spruce and hemlock forest.

If you make it all the way to Winner Creek Gorge, the view is stunning. Just up the trail is a hand-pull tram on cables that spans Glacier Creek. Once you're in the tram, the creek is more than 100 feet below. For a longer hike, connect with a section of the original Iditarod Trail that runs through the area.

Girdwood is also home to some excellent dining opportunities including the Double Musky, Maxine's Glacier City Bistro and the Chair 5 restaurant.

The activities at Girdwood and Alyeska Resort are only part of a day trip south of Anchorage.

The Begich, Boggs Visitor Center (783-2326) near Portage Glacier is one of the most visited sites in Southcentral Alaska. It is on the Portage Highway off the Seward Highway south of Girdwood. In addition to a view of Portage Lake, which often has icebergs from the glacier, the visitor center includes exhibits about Portage Valley, Prince William Sound, Alaska animals and stories about Alaskans.

Daily interpretive walks include the Iceworm Safari on Tuesday and Saturday afternoons. A guide takes visitors to the toe of Byron Glacier where they search for iceworms. Iceworms that have been on display at the visitor center are returned to the ice.

"You never see people get more excited than when they're looking through a hand lens at a little iceworm," said Lezlie Murray, director of the visitor center.

New at the center this year is a learning center with a classroom for experiments and demonstrations. The learning center and some new technology will allow some changes in the regular programming. The 20-minute film "Voices From the Ice" will show several times daily.

"Now we can have interpretive presentations and movies at the same time," Murray said. "This will revolutionize what we do here."

Changes also are ongoing at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (www.alaskawildlife.org, 783-2025) at Mile 79 Seward Highway, near the intersection with the Portage Highway. The center receives more than 200,000 visitors a year, including many cruise ship passengers.

The nonprofit center has several animals roaming around its 200 acres. Most of the animals have been injured and orphaned and can't be returned to the wild. Last year, the center took in seven coyotes, two lynx, three deer, two brown bears and a moose. Additionally, black bears, elk, caribou, musk ox and an eagle are at the facility.

The center will have two naturalists on staff this year to talk with visitors, and interpretive signs will be placed around the facility for visitors who walk around on their own. The center can accommodate people on foot or in vehicles.

"We really want people to understand what we're trying to do here," said executive director Mike Miller.

The center is also working on its wood bison project. Wood bison were once thought to be extinct. There are no wild wood bison in Alaska, but the center has 13 of the animals at the facility and hopes to eventually be able to reintroduce the species into the wild.

NORTH

While a trip along Turnagain Arm will keep visitors busy for a day or more, heading the other direction out of Anchorage offers plenty of activities too.

Eklutna Lake is a popular entrance point to the 500,000-acre Chugach State Park. The seven-mile-long lake is fed by a glacier and surrounded by beautiful mountain peaks that rise more than 7,000 feet.

Lifetime Adventures (www.lifetimeadventures.net, 1-800-952-8624) rents bicycles, kayaks and camping gear right at the edge of the lake. The company has a popular paddle-and-pedal trip. Guests paddle a kayak from one end of the lake to the other, then pick up bikes and return.

The 13-mile-long Lakeside Trail runs alongside the lake. The trail is easy for most bicycle riders and can be hiked in about six hours, one way. ATVs are allowed on the trail Sundays through Wednesdays. The 2 1/2-mile Twin Peaks Trail is popular with hikers because of its easy access to good views of the entire Eklutna Valley. Berry picking is good at the upper portion of the trail.

The Bold Ridge Trail is about 3 1/2 miles and starts at Mile 5 of the Lakeside Trail, so it's more than eight miles one way. The trail climbs steeply into the alpine tundra. The moss-covered tundra supports an abundance of hardy wildflowers and berries. Occasionally, bears or wolves are visible on the surrounding mountains. The trail provides excellent views of the Eklutna Valley and glacier.

Special sections editor Steve Edwards can be reached at sedwards@adn.com or 257-4316.