Photo Credit: Rendezvous Peak Trail

Best Things to Do in Eagle River

1. Eagle River Nature Center

Don’t miss a stop at this scenic gateway to Chugach State Park, the Eagle River Nature Center.

You’ll find hiking trails and community programs for adventurers of all ages.

Take advantage of cabin and yurt rentals—all within two miles of the center—and stay awhile. Or just enjoy the wildlife viewing here, including great birding, salmon viewing from platforms, and the occasional moose or bear!

2. Hiking Trails

Stunning scenery is the draw on the most popular hikes in Eagle River.

You can opt for the South Fork Eagle River Trail, a 5.5-mile climb leading to a geological oddity: two lakes that lie within a few feet of each other.

For something shorter, check out Mt. Baldy, a 2-mile climb that ends in a nice view.

Or tackle the moderately difficult route of the Mile High Saddle Trail, a 3.4-mile route that takes you to Mt. Magnificent and great views of Cook Inlet and even (on a clear day) Denali.

If you'd like to explore the trails with a guide, reach out to Go Hike Alaska!

3. Birding

You may expect great birding in a place named Eagle River, and this area doesn’t disappoint—it’s an awesome place to look for these magnificent birds.

In fact, you’ll often see eagles in town, congregating near the fire station and behind Mike’s Meat, on Farm Ave.

You can also look for them near the river at Eagle River Campground and at the Eagle River Nature Center, especially during salmon spawning season (hint: head to the salmon viewing deck!)

4. Get Out on the Water

Whether it’s kayak­ing, canoe­ing, or pad­dle­board­ing, you’ll find top-flight equip­ment for rent at AK Pad­dle­sports, along with expert-guid­ed kayak­ing tours and lessons. Local favorites include Mirror Lake, Beach Lake, Edmonds Lake, and Fire Lake. They will also offer delivery service!

Or head 45 minutes north of Eagle River and rent kayaks or join a guided kayak tour with Lifetime Adventures at the glacially fed Eklutna Lake.

5. Biking

Love to bike? It’s another reason you’ll love this area. One option: the Old Glenn Highway Bike Path.

Take North Eagle River Exit and Park at Fred Meyer; the trail starts at the north end of the parking lot and continues for about 10 miles to Peter’s Creek, with several scenic parks along the way.

Another great bike trail parallels the Glenn Highway for the same distance heading toward Downtown Anchorage; just be prepared for more traffic noise.

Or head 45 minutes north of Eagle River and rent a bike or join a guided bike tour with Lifetime Adventures to explore a beautiful, gravel bike trail beside the glacially fed Eklutna Lake.

6. Sightseeing

Year-round you can arrange a private tour with Escaping Anchorage and explore Eagle River. They will pick you up wherever you'd like and take you to the fascinating nature center while taking an easy hike to South Fork Falls.

Sightseeing Tours View All

Get an insider's view of Eagle River

Season: Year Round $99+ 2 hrs - Multi-Day

Get out there on one or more of these super-acces­si­ble trips, which range from easy nature walks to stren­u­ous alpine mul­ti-day treks. You’ll not only get a healthy dose of scenery, you’ll also exer­cise your body, mind, and soul. In win­ter, mar­vel at frozen water­falls, snow­shoe treks and even heli-snowshoeing!

Season: Year Round $99+ 3+ hrs

Short on time and want to see anoth­er side of Anchor­age and the gor­geous sur­round­ing area? Take a small-group tour with Escap­ing Anchor­age, whose own­er, Brit­tney, cre­ates per­son­al­ized adven­tures fea­tur­ing beau­ti­ful scenery and real insights.

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Bicycle Tours & Rentals View All

Pedal your way around the gorgeous Eklutna Lake, Eagle River and Chugiak

Season: May 15 – Sep 30 $25+ 2+ hrs

Hop on a full-sus­pen­sion moun­tain bike and ped­al your way around the gor­geous Eklut­na Lake with expe­ri­enced tour com­pa­ny Life­time Adven­tures. Rent a bike and set off your own, or take the guid­ed bike tour and gain insights along the way! Com­bi­na­tion tours that include kayak­ing or hik­ing are also available.

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Paddleboard Rentals & Tours View All

Kayak, paddleboard & canoe rentals. Expert guides available.

Season: Mid May– Early September $30+ day rentals 1+ day rentals

Whether it’s kayak­ing, canoe­ing, or pad­dle­board­ing, you’ll find top-flight equip­ment for rent at AK Paddlesports

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Winter Activities

A fun way to explore the riv­er cor­ri­dor, with con­nec­tions to exten­sive mul­ti-use routes

When snow allows, sev­er­al looped ski trails are groomed near Eagle Riv­er High School and along the slope over­look­ing the riv­er canyon. A fun option con­nects trails near the school to a mul­ti-use sec­tion over the snow­bound roads inside the Eagle Riv­er camp­ground of Chugach State Park. This 6‑kilometer sys­tem is a fun way to explore the riv­er cor­ri­dor, with con­nec­tions to exten­sive mul­ti-use routes

Forty min­utes from down­town Anchor­age lies Eagle Riv­er Nature Cen­ter, a gate­way to Chugach State Park and a glacial riv­er val­ley as wild and dra­mat­ic as any in Alas­ka. Enjoy an easy, 3‑mile nature walk on the Albert Loop or trek up-val­ley 5 miles to see plung­ing water­falls and 3,000-foot cliffs. In win­ter, tra­verse the trails on cross-coun­try skis or snowshoes.

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Kayak & Canoe Rentals and Tours View All

Explore Eagle River on a guided kayaking tour or opt to rent your own kayak or canoe

Season: Mid May– Early September $30+ day rentals 1+ day rentals

Whether it’s kayak­ing, canoe­ing, or pad­dle­board­ing, you’ll find top-flight equip­ment for rent at AK Paddlesports

Season: May 15 – Sep 30 $50+ 2+ hrs

Grab a pad­dle and set off in a kayak across the glac­i­er-fed turquoise waters of Eklut­na Lake with expe­ri­enced tour com­pa­ny Life­time Adven­tures. You’ll have the option of rent­ing a kayak or enjoy­ing a guid­ed tour around the lake in a sin­gle or dou­ble kayak — no expe­ri­ence nec­es­sary! Com­bi­na­tion tours that include bik­ing or hik­ing are also available.

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Parks & Trails View All

Explore Eagle River’s remarkable parks and trails, just 20 minutes north of Anchorage.

Forty min­utes from down­town Anchor­age lies Eagle Riv­er Nature Cen­ter, a gate­way to Chugach State Park and a glacial riv­er val­ley as wild and dra­mat­ic as any in Alas­ka. Enjoy an easy, 3‑mile nature walk on the Albert Loop or trek up-val­ley 5 miles to see plung­ing water­falls and 3,000-foot cliffs. In win­ter, tra­verse the trails on cross-coun­try skis or snowshoes.

Difficulty: Moderate Distance: 3 miles

If peo­ple sug­gest climb­ing Flat­top, tell them you’d rather climb Ren­dezvous Peak. Flat­top is arguably Alaska’s most pop­u­lar (and there­fore, most crowd­ed) moun­tain; Ren­dezvous is far less crowd­ed and offers bet­ter views from the sum­mit. See them by hik­ing up 1,500 feet to the 4,050-foot summit.

Difficulty: Moderate

Well used trail by locals as a short (12 hour) aer­o­bic hike with nice views. Take Eagle Riv­er Loop to Sky­line, and fol­low the road as it swich­backs going up and even­tu­al­ly ends with park­ing along­side the road.

Difficulty: Easy Distance: 3 miles

If you don’t mind the 45-minute dri­ve from Anchor­age up to the Eagle Riv­er Nature Cen­ter, where this trail begins, this trail is one of the most scenic easy hikes any­where near Anchor­age. You’ll walk a well-main­tained loop that pass­es through beau­ti­ful for­est, over a cou­ple nice wood­en bridges, past beaver deams, and along the swift­ly flow­ing glacial waters of Eagle River.

Difficulty: Easy

Short, flat hike to access main braid of Eagle Riv­er. Walk is approx­i­mate­ly one mile through woods. To the right of the park­ing lot is a small­er braid of the riv­er that blends into main chan­nel in about 1 mile as well. The riv­er at this point can be float­ed very eas­i­ly, but unless you have expe­ri­ence with rapids, rec­om­mend you get out at the bridge. Although the bridge is only 5.5 miles from where you put in as the crow flies, the riv­er is…  ...more

Difficulty: Moderate

The trail goes up for a short dis­tance and then joins with the orig­i­nal trail which is more direct but it cross­es pri­vate prop­er­ty. Con­tin­ue up, and when you get to the sad­dle, you can turn right onto the Mt. Mag­nif­i­cant Trail to fol­low the ridge that ends at the moun­tain, or left con­tin­u­ing along the orig­i­nal trail. The trail offers nice views of Cook Inlet and even Denali on a clear day.

Difficulty: Difficult Distance: 2 miles Elevation Gain: 2100 feet

It’s not as dif­fi­cult as you might think to hike to stand atop the pre­cip­i­tous, gul­ly-scarred face of Bear Point. But it’s not easy, either. The 2‑mile hike ascends 2,100 feet and can be tricky. But your reward is an amaz­ing view in all direc­tions, from the Kenai Penin­su­la to Denali and the Chugach Moun­tains to Matanus­ka Peak.

This is a flat and easy trail. There is no bridge at South Fork Eagle Riv­er like you would expect. This is a nice ski trail as well. The trails con­tin­ue on to the oppo­site side of river.

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