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DAY TRIPS: Adventure awaits a short drive outside Anchorage

By STEVE EDWARDS
Anchorage Daily News

Published: April 19th, 2006
Last Modified: April 20th, 2006 at 04:18 AM

It's hard to decide what's the best thing about Girdwood -- the destination itself or the trip to get there.

About 35 miles south of Anchorage, the small community tucked in a green valley just off Turnagain Arm is a beautiful taste of Alaska. Whether it's hiking, paragliding, arts, ATV riding or fine dining, Girdwood has something for everyone. It's an ideal day trip for visitors making Anchorage their home base.

But first you've got to get to there. Don't worry, it's an easy drive along the Seward Highway, but there are more than a few distractions along the way. The Seward Highway was designated a National Scenic Byway in 1998 and is considered by many the most beautiful drive in Alaska.

Before you've left Anchorage's southern limits, you'll come upon the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge; Potter Marsh will be on your left. During summer months, it's a great place to look for arctic terns, Canada geese, gulls, ducks, grebes and other birds. Nearby is one of several trail heads for the nine-mile Turnagain Arm Trail.

Farther down the highway is McHugh Creek, a lovely place for a picnic or a hike. There are spotting scopes available to help visitors locate Dall sheep on the mountain terrain.

Just a few miles farther down the road is Beluga Point, the best place to look for white beluga whales, which spend much of the summer searching for food in Turnagain Arm. Next stop along the highway is Windy Corner, where Dall sheep will often come right to the edge of the highway to eat.

At Indian, there is an opportunity for gold panning and the start of a biking-hiking path that parallels the highway all the way to Girdwood. Bird Creek is popular with anglers. Next up is the Bird Point Scenic Overlook, which juts into Turnagain Arm and has outstanding views east toward the head of the bay and west toward Cook Inlet. It is an ideal place to watch for a bore tide. A bore tide is a breaking wave of water up to 6 feet high moving at about 15 mph with an incoming tide.

If you need more things to do on the drive to Girdwood, consider all the waterfalls that cascade near the Seward Highway and the stunning view of the Kenai Mountains across Turnagain Arm. If you manage to overcome all the distractions, Girdwood and the surrounding area will keep you busy.

Alyeska Resort (www.alyeskaresort.com) is the center of fun in the Girdwood area. Put these activities on your to-do list: tandem paragliding, aerial tram ride to an elevation of 2,300 feet, glacier hiking, dog sled rides on a glacier, bicycle ride or a downhill mountain-bike ride and hiking in a temperate rain forest.

"The No. 1 attraction is the tramway," said Todd Clarke, director of marketing for Alyeska. "People like to take the tram up and then take a leisurely hike down. The view up there is just outstanding."

While the ride up the 60-person tram costs $16, a ride down is free, so adventurous hikers can work their way up the mountain, enjoy the view and then take a comfortable ride down.

The tram also makes it easy for paragliders to reach a good takeoff point. Alyeska has teamed with Alaska Paragliders (www.alaskaparagliding.com, 301-1215) to offer tandem paragliding from Mount Alyeska. A tandem paragliding ride is $185.

"In the summer, the skies are filled with colors from all the paragliders; it's wonderful to watch," Clarke said. "It's also great to do. Your expectation at first is to be afraid, but it's a pretty controlled sport. The pilots are very experienced.

"You've never seen the view quite as you have being on a paraglider. It's very quiet, very peaceful. Sometimes you ride for 20 minutes or more."

Another tram-based Girdwood experience is a glacier hike with The Ascending Path (783-0505, www.theascendingpath.com). Guides take trekkers on a 50-minute hike to the edge of Alyeska Glacier, where they pull on over-boots, crampons and harnesses and rope up for a glacier excursion. While on the ice, guides explain various geological features of glaciers.

The three-hour excursion offers excellent views of the seven glaciers in the Girdwood bowl. The trips leave at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily from mid-June through September. From June 13 to July 13, midnight sun glacier hikes are offered at 9 p.m. The trip is $139.

Hikers who want to stay closer to sea level can enjoy the Winner Creek Trail, which begins beneath the tramway at Alyeska Resort. The 5 1/2-mile round-trip trail follows boardwalks that cross sections of muskeg dotting the spruce and hemlock forest. After about a mile, the boardwalk gives way to a more traditional trail.

Eventually, the trail leads to a hand-pull tram that crosses Glacier Creek. From the tram, the creek is more than 100 feet below. For a longer hike, connect with a section of the original Iditarod Trail. As an alternative, a primitive trail branches off the main Winner Creek Trail to form the Upper Winner Creek Trail that climbs for several miles to Winner Pass.

"Quite honestly, this is a great trail," Clarke said. "It will cater to every population. It's through a pristine wilderness area, and it lets people get in touch with nature."

For those who want a little extra help getting in touch with their wilderness side, Tim Cook of Alaska ATV Adventures (694-4294, www.alaskaatv adventures.com) offers three-hour trips in the Girdwood area aboard ATVs. The 12-mile trips begin at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. daily and are $155.

"We get quite a few bear sightings and moose, eagles and lots of wildlife," Cook said. "It's really an interactive experience. We get off the machines and touch things. We get to smell the area and hear the sounds.

"It's a great way to cover several miles in a short period of time. You get a backcountry experience."

Those looking for guaranteed wildlife sightings should stop at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, a few miles down the road from Girdwood at Mile 79 Seward Highway.

The center (www.alaskawildlife.org) is home to a variety of animals including brown and black bears, moose, elk, wood bison, caribou, Sitka black-tailed deer and a variety of birds. Many of the animals come to the center injured or orphaned and can't be returned to their natural environment.

"When possible, we want to return the animals to the wild," said Malissa Casto, the center's director of operations. "If we can't return it to the wild, we have plenty of room to provide refuge for any animal."

Staff naturalists provide interpretive programs daily including ones dedicated to the care of animals, natural history and those with "education" animals like birds of prey.

Visitors can walk or drive through the park. There are interpretive signs at each animal habitat that describe the species, its Alaska habitat and some details about the specific animals at the center. There also is a narrated CD tour for those who wish to stay in the car.

"We hope people leave with a better knowledge of Alaska wildlife and how to protect that wildlife in its habitat," Casto said. "We also encourage people to take photographs. It's an awesome chance to observe and photograph the animals you just won't get in the wild."

Back in Girdwood, those looking for a bit of an indoor experience can enjoy a wonderful art display at the Girdwood Center for Visual Arts, on Olympic Circle next door to the Bake Shop.

The arts center is a cooperative of about 35 artists with displays including fabric, oil painting, glass, watercolors, pottery, photography and wood turning. The center represents artists from across Alaska, and the artists are often working behind the checkout counter.

"We're unlike most galleries because we're pretty much staffed by the artists themselves," said gallery coordinator Nikki Navarrete. "When you walk in, you're not going to meet someone trying to make a commission on a sale, you're going to meet one of the artists. They all love to talk about art."

Whether its mountain biking, glacier trekking, animal viewing or art shopping, those activities will probably leave the visitor plenty hungry. Girdwood won't disappoint when it comes time to satiate the appetite.

Some of the community's most popular restaurants include the Seven Glaciers Restaurant at the top of Alyeska's tramway, Jack Sprat and the Bake Shop near the art gallery on Olympic Circle, Maxine's Glacier City Bistro and the Double Musky Inn on Crow Creek Road, and Chair 5 Restaurant in Girdwood's "downtown."

HEADING NORTH

While a trip to Girdwood and points south is hard to beat, don't forget about fun the other direction.

Eagle River and Eklutna Lake are a pair of nearby northern destinations.

The Eagle River Nature Center (www.ernc.org) at the end of end of Eagle River Road offers wonderful hiking and wildlife-viewing opportunities. There is plenty of information about the 500,000-acre Chugach State Park and local geology, mammals, birds and plant life. The center offers guided hikes.

Eklutna Lake is a popular entrance to the 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. The lake is a fishing, kayaking and canoeing destination.

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 excellent at the upper portion of the trail.

Alaska ATV Adventures rents ATVs and offers guided tours along the Lakeside Trail. Rentals are $135 for five hours and guided tours are $165 for four hours.

"It's nice because the trail is easy riding, and we can get all the way back to the end of the lake," Cook said. "We stop the machines and hike back to get a good look at the glacier. The highlight is the wide-open vistas and all the wildlife back there."

Lifetime Adventures (www.lifetimeadventures. net, 1-800-952-8624) rents kayaks, bicycles and camping gear. 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 paddle-and-pedal is $75.

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 moss-covered tundra supports an abundance of hardy wildflowers and berries.

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