Gina, glad to hear you're back from Costa Rica. Hope it was a good trip.

We did get reservations at Thompson Chalet and would like to know more about hiking possibilities there. Some comments have been that it's not a good area for hiking.

We'll be starting our trip in Girdwood, and I know Gina and Kay have mentioned some good trails there. Could you pass on the names so I can look them up?

Any other suggestions for hiking would be appreciated. Sometimes people know of wonderful less publicized trails that you'd never find on your own.

Yes, we had a good trip to Costa Rica. I will reread my notes and let you know where we hiked. But for us the Thompson Pass is the best. There are no hiking trails. We parked in a few different places and just hiked as far as we wanted all the way to the glacier (almost). I don't know when you are going there but if in the summer you will be walking on a soft blooming tundra. And you will be alone. There are many people who stop in Thompson Pass, they park a car in one of the pull-offs, look around, maybe they take a 5 minutes walk and then they are gone. What a great feeling to have this place to ourselves. We will be there in the end of July. If you are staying in Thompson Pass Chalet (19 miles from Valdez)Matt who owns this place will give you some ideas about hiking trails. His chalet is small (but what a setting) so I hope there are only two of you. Did you check his web site? I think there are some ideas on hiking.

Clousie, if you are planning on staying in Girdwood I would recommend hiking the Bird Ridge. There are also trails in the rainforest in Girdwood. It is interesting that so many people mention crowds in Alaska. Once you get on a hiking trail there are not many people and most ot the time you will pass maybe two or three other hikers on one trail. At least this was our experience. On Bird Ridge we saw maybe 50 or more bald eagles fishing in the Turnagain Arm and then soaring with fish above our heads.

Where to stay in Girdwood? Thanks

We stayed at the Aleyska Resort -- which is very pricey, but we got a good deal on their website.
I had read about a hike near there, but oddly enough even the hotel concierge couldn't tell me about it -- they were too busy trying to sell package tours, and she said she didn't know anything about the hiking trails around the hotel. But we went out the back of the resort hotel and turned to the left, following a boardwalk through the rain forest, then a trail, which eventually came to a gorge which you cross by pulling yourself across on a suspended cable car -- this was built by a local volunteer group in the last couple of years, so I would think most anyone in town could normally tell you about this hike. After crossing the gorge we followed the trail and ended up at the entrance to the old gold mining place that is at the end of the road that goes past the famous Double Musky restaurant (a great fun place in Girdwood for dinner by the way, be prepared to wait at the bar). We followed the road back into Girdwood, but I believe it is also possible to get a bus at the gold mining camp. We left the hotel at about 8:30 in the morning and arrived at the Double Muskey at about 4 in the afternoon -- so it was quite a hike, but very scenic. During the entire day we only passed about 8 or 10 other people, one a local guy who does this hike once a week, he helped us with directions on how to find where we were going.

I got hiking information in advance from the websites of the State of Alaska parks and trails.com. From Girdwood I drove up a road that turns to dirt to a parking area for trails that connect all the way to Anchorage and the Nature Center on the other side with huts along the way--something Creek Road and trail. I just did an up and back trip as time allowed. I also stayed at Alyeska and know several people took the trail from the hotel as Patrick mentioned and enjoyed it. We actually got a printed description of the trails around the hotel from the staff with no problem. Some friends rented at a B&B in Girdwood (sorry, don't know names) and were happy and another family rented an apartment with kitchen there and were happy as well.

Just checked the travel file--the road from Girdwood I took was Crow Creek Road to Crow Pass Trailhead. Trail leads from Chugach National Forest through Chugach State Park. Bird Creek is also in Chugach State Park. Trails out of Anchorage at Flattop Mountain provide interesting views of city, but the area is very busy on weekends. We had planned to go to Eagle River Valley or Elkutna Lake north of Anchorage, but several days of heavy rain made walking there difficult so we went to the cultural center instead.

In Valdez we walked up Mineral Creek Drive (5 miles of dirt road one-way) to Mineral Creek Trail (1 mile) but didn't go all the way on the trail because of water and ice. The road is an easy walk with black bears, flowers, waterfalls, etc. Popular in the afternoon. We heard good things about Solomon Gulch Trail (2 mile one-way) that climbs up above the hatchery and oil terminal to a lake. There is also a trail that leads out along the edge of the bay to a wildlife/marine preserve that we could see from our boat as we headed there to kayak. The locals and the boat captain told us the trail was deep with water and the wet foliage thick on the trail so they were discouraging people from hiking that route when we were there, but if it were dry it might be interesting.

ttt