Besides April Bowl…read more(https://www.yelp.com/biz/summit-lake-state-recreation-site-april-bowl-trail-willow), this might be the most-trafficked trail in Hatcher Pass. (https://www.yelp.com/biz/hatcher-pass-state-recreation-area-fishhook?page_src=best_of_yelp) And that ain't a knock against it! In the summer, you'll find lush green lichen-infused granite rocks and other-worldly turquoise water. It also makes for a fun weekend backpacking trip. In the fall, you'll find bright orange and red tundra loaded with blueberries. In the winter you'll find fresh, bright-white snow ripe for XC skiing or snow shoeing. The terrain at the trailhead is pretty rough, I'd recommend NOT parking right at the trailhead unless you like the bottom of your car getting scraped. If you continue down Archangel road you: 1) Should have a high clearance vehicle, the road rapidly degrades. 2) Will access Archangel Valley (https://www.yelp.com/biz/archangel-valley-palmer) a great place to rock climb and/or pitch a tent. But, I digress. The hike itself is about 4.5 miles with about 1,600 feet of gain. It's fairly moderate but it does have a boulder field in the middle where there is no trail and you'll need to do some minor route-finding. It can get slippery if there is snow (right now). Make sure you take a pole in the summer, and some good waterproof boots (and probably gaiters) if there is snow in late fall. In winter, it might be a good idea to take skis or snow shoes.

Love this vast area past Wasilla. The drive-in has some of the most beautiful scenery…read more Hatcher's Pass I believe, will be a left hand turn after you've passed the lodge. The road is pretty narrow and as you elevate, it gets tricky with oncoming traffic, especially if you're in a larger vehicle. We recently visited on a sunny day with lots of traffic. We saw multiple paragliders' take off and land. Many hikers and bikers. The weather was perfect. The lake was unsurprisingly still pretty frozen.

Most beautiful experience, good was comforting. Scenery, exemplary! Sitting by a warm fire,…read more eating a very tasty sandwich and hot cocoa what a beautiful memory.

Eklutna Lake is a special place and worth about a 20 minute (one way) detour off the main highway…read morebetween Anchorage and Denali. The drive itself is very scenic and once you arrive at the lake area, there's an obvious day use area where you can park and use the pay machines for day use fees. I didn't do much of the trail, as I was heading north to Denali but did spend about 45 minutes or so walking the rocky shoreline and taking in the amazing views. There are a number of trails to explore here as well as kayaking and guided hikes. It's a glacier fed lake and also serves as a water supply for Anchorage. Alaska has no shortage of wonders and it's pretty special that you can drive a short distance from its largest city and arrive to a place like Eklutna Lake. Carry bear spray-sightings are common though we didn't see any.

We didn't hike the full trail, just went about a mile up and back along the lake from the parking…read morelot, but even that short stretch was worth it for the views. There were plenty of spots along the old dirt road where you could step closer to the water and really take in the scenery. There were mosquitoes, but we came prepared with bug spray, so it wasn't too bad. Looking back, we probably would've enjoyed kayaking more. The lake was calm and the scenery was absolutely breathtaking. Even just sitting by the water felt peaceful. If we go back, we're skipping the hike and getting out on the lake.

Good place overall to go kayak around a smaller lake. The lake is close to the highway so you can…read morehear all of the highway noise so its not as peaceful.

We stopped by here on our way to Denali, it is was a random stop but turned out to be absolutely…read morebeautiful. We were here on Thursday afternoon and there was no one here. We had the lake to ourselves. The area around the lake was clean, there are plenty of picnic tables, bbq pit and kids play area around as well. They also have a boat launch area on the other side. Tip: Come here during week day to enjoy the quaint lake, 'cause when we stopped by on our way back on Saturday, the place was fully packed.

I can't tell you how great our tour was in words. The team…read morewas so great. We really enjoyed visiting with them, and the trip was incredible as well so much fun for our family. The only downside is we just did the half day trip Take the full day trip. The half day trip is worth it, but it's so much fun, you will want more. Thank you so much for making this such a great experience!

Highly recommend! Our family of six had the best time on our June tour!…read more Latrael & Katie were fantastic guides! They were encouraging, kept us safe and cheered us on all day long. They were also a wealth of information about local history and landmarks. Also, made some damn good salmon quesadillas! Beautiful views and interesting terrain all day long! If you're thinking about taking this tour, do it! You certainly won't regret it!

Willow and Houston have A LOT of ponds and lakes. Like, ALOT. And most of them are inaccessible…read morebecause they are surrounded by private properties like most lakes in Alaska. But we discovered a few lakes and ponds that had left public access with children's floaties, limited parking and lookouts. Prator Lake gets a 4 star review for clear signage, adequate parking, and by Alaskan standards- a decent swimming hole.

Prepare for the adventure of a lifetime. I think the company actually undersells just how insane…read moreof an experience this is. From the helicopter ride, to paddle boarding, to swimming the most amazing blue glacial pools, I was blown away by this tour. If you're even considering doing this, just book it right now. And I have to shout out our pilot Wes for flying us around to find bears, moose, and sheep. Also, we had a major travel delay and the team helped us reschedule to make sure we didn't miss out. 10/10.

We had an amazing experience with Outbound Heli. My fiancé and I were heading to Alaska for the…read morefirst time and were looking into helicopter tours when we discovered that elopement packages were a thing. We toyed with the idea, called the office and asked a bunch of questions (which were all patiently answered), and decided to go for it. On the day of our scheduled tour, we got ready at the hotel and were walking out the door when they called and said the weather wasn't favorable for flying. They said they would monitor and call us back to let us know if we could still go out that day. They did call back about 2 hours later but the weather was still bad, so we would try again tomorrow. The next day we got dressed up again and headed over. We were delayed a couple hours (again due to weather) but ultimately we were able to go out. Seeing the glaciers up close and getting to walk on it was incredible, and my now-husband and I are so glad we chose to elope this way. Our trip was cut a little short bc it started to rain and it was cold and by that point we were all over it lol. Our pilot, Casey, was awesome and picked amazing spots for us to land, and our photographer Arielle got us beautiful photos. It took about a week to get them back. They made everything so easy and it was very reasonably priced (definitely worth it to not have to deal with the stress of planning a traditional wedding).

Steep at the start but easy after that. It took us about an hour round trip at a relaxed pace,…read moreincluding time at the falls. Good payoff for a short hike.

Thunderbird falls is a nice little trail. Parking lot is fairly small. $5 for parking per day…read more Credit card only. Bathrooms and info signs as well at the trailhead. We went may 2023 and the trail was not very maintained yet as there were several Rees we had to climb over/go around that had fallen. Not sure if/when somebody cleans them up. No trash around which was nice. Pretty small viewing areas for the amount of people that are trying to see the overlook or the falls. I recommend going down to the bottom where the bad of the falls are, you don't exactly get to the base of the waterfall but pretty close. I recommend this trail, some steep hills but took us an hour to go to/down to the bottom, and get two geocaches and we were back in the car.