Backpacker Magazine – January 2011

Trip Finder: Alaska

Your favorite Alaska hikes—from dayhikes to weekenders to multiday trips.

by: Kristy Holland

Tags:
• Destinations
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• Alaska
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DAYHIKES
WILDLIFE Old Women’s Mountain Trail
Pack binocs and bear spray: You’ll likely spot whales and Kodiak brown bears. From Aviation Hill Loop Road, climb 1.5 miles to a lookout tower, then continue to the ridgeline. Scour Chiniak Bay for gray and humpback whales and the slopes of Barometer Mountain for bears. kodiak.org

FISHING Red Shirt Lake Trail
Rainbow trout and Dolly Varden bite in Red Shirt Lake, but northern pike are the real prize (they reach up to four feet in length). From South Rolly Lake Campground in Nancy Lake State Recreation Area, hike three miles south and cast Egg-Sucking Leeches from shoreline. dnr.alaska.gov

GLACIERS Root Glacier Trail
Explore ice-sculpted ravines, bubbling moulins, and blue pools on the Root Glacier on a four-miler in Wrangell-St. Elias NP. From the visitor center, cross lupine-covered moraines overlooking the blue ice, then descend a quarter mile to the toe of the glacier. nps.gov/wrst


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