Photo Credit: Flickr: naql

Heading southwest out of town and then curving towards the north, this relatively short road offers access to salmon streams, wildlife habitat, hiking, winter recreation, the Coast Guard golf course, and a protected bay that’s great for sea kayaking and beachcombing. Much of the road is above treeline, so you’ll have great views and panoramic photo opportunities, as well as easy hikes to the alpine. The road cuts north from Rezanof Drive just after Buskin River and Beach at Buskin River Bridge #7. Wet your line at this famous salmon stream, with sockeye salmon crowding the river on their return to Buskin Lake. The beach is a good spot to watch incoming planes, since it’s under the flight path for the airport. There’s also ranching out this road, so watch for cattle, in addition to fox, deer, and other wildlife. Start at mile 4.7 on Rezanof Drive West.

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Scenic Drive Points

This was the largest base on Kodi­ak Island dur­ing WWII, and the cen­ter of the Har­bor Defens­es for Kodi­ak. At the peak, some 8,000 troops were sta­tioned here. Now all that remains are some unmarked buildings.

The moun­tain range to the right is Devil’s Prongs and Barom­e­ter Moun­tain is to the left.

Open from May to Sep­tem­ber, this is the only golf course on the island. This nine-hole course fea­tures a full ser­vice pro shop and dri­ving range; it’s oper­at­ed by the U.S. Coast Guard but open to pub­lic. The course opens ear­ly and clos­es two hours before sun­set,” which means you’ll have the oppor­tu­ni­ty for some late rounds dur­ing sum­mer sol­stice! http://​www​.kodi​akmwr​.com/​g​o​l​f​.​shtml

MP 3.2, Anton Larsen Bay Rd

Cross Fox Lakes on Kodi­ak Island are an excel­lent des­ti­na­tion for a fam­i­ly out­ing, pic­nic, or swim on a hot sum­mer day. You can con­tin­ue past the lakes and explore the ter­rain far­ther up the val­ley. In win­ter, the lakes are a great place for ice skating.

Difficulty: Easy

This is the high­est moun­tain close to town. If you tack­le this hike, you’re in for a climb, but a large por­tion of the trail is in the alpine, with beau­ti­ful flow­ers and tun­dra. You’ll be climb­ing 2,400 feet in ele­va­tion in just two miles. Watch for upland birds includ­ing Wil­low and Rock Ptarmi­gan, and Amer­i­can Pipits.

Difficulty: Moderate

Hike these scenic ridges and lush meadows

Watch for cat­tle as you dri­ve through open range. You can admire the views from the bridge, or take the trail up Sharatin Cirque & Moun­tain and explore flow­ery slopes and signs of wildlife, includ­ing Moun­tain Goats, Pip­its, and Ptarmigan.

Difficulty: Moderate

This trail can be hard to fol­low as it mean­ders through wet areas, thick veg­e­taion and up salmonber­ry slopes before it reach­es the rich sub­alpine mead­ows and even­tu­al­ly leads into a bowl-shaped glacial cirque at the base of the moun­tain. There is plen­ty of great bird habi­tat along the trail so watch for pip­its and ptarmi­gan up high and song­bird and snipe in the low­er elevations.

This scenic, tran­quil bay is a great place to access the water (there’s a boat launch) and to start hikes. You can hike to a beaver dam from a turnoff on the right at MP 11.6. Look for the white gran­ite in the cliffs; this is the back­bone” of the geol­o­gy here, the rock that the island is formed upon. From the end of the road, there is good hik­ing to a water­fall. To the right is a 2.5‑mile trail to Cas­cade Lake. You’ll have to cross the Red…  ...more