Kincaid Park

A short dri­ve from down­town Anchor­age will land you in the mid­dle of Kin­caid Park, the jump-off point for this mod­er­ate two-mile out and back hike to Anchorage’s only big, sandy beach. If not for the cool Alas­ka temps, it’d be easy to think you were in South­ern Cal­i­for­nia. The sand is fine and very lit­tle mars its sur­face oth­er than the occa­sion­al piece of drift­wood. Flanked on one side by tall bluffs and on the oth­er by gor­geous views of…  ...more

If you only have a lim­it­ed amount of time in Anchor­age but want go out for a great hike, con­sid­er Kin­caid Bluff Trail. Just a 20-minute dri­ve from down­town Anchor­age, this is a 6‑mile loop hike to Kin­caid Chalet. Along the way, you’ll find 3 miles of rugged trail that skirt the sum­mit of pre­cip­i­tous bluffs at the end of the Anchor­age Peninsula.

A giant sand dune ris­es into the trees of Kin­caid Park near the south­west cor­ner of the Anchor­age Bowl. Its brown face of gor­geous speck­led grains looms more than 40 feet above the sur­round­ing for­est floor, pre­sent­ing a pyra­mid-steep slope that just begs to be climbed. This nat­ur­al fea­ture is a blast for the whole fam­i­ly, per­fect for any­body who has ever delight­ed in a romp at the beach.

This is a great pock­et of wilder­ness right in Anchor­age: easy to get to, qui­et and pret­ty idyl­lic. Set in the north­east­ern sec­tion of Kin­caid Park, Lit­tle Camp­bell Lake is packed with lily pads and sur­round­ed by a thick for­est lined with trails. Spend the after­noon hik­ing, swim­ming, fish­ing, or pad­dling around the lake. 

If bik­ing on trails through the woods appeals to you, then Kin­caid Park is an ide­al des­ti­na­tion. It fea­tures an exten­sive net­work of trails per­fect for moun­tain and snow bik­ing. Whether you seek stiff climbs and sharp turns —or if you just want a leisure­ly out­ing with fam­i­ly and friends — you can find the per­fect cycling route some­where in the park. While win­ter does close the main trails to all uses except ski­ing, there are plen­ty of snow-season  ...more

If you love hik­ing or walk­ing in a mature for­est with well appoint­ed trails and inter­est­ing geog­ra­phy — includ­ing a menagerie of Alaskan wildlife plus access to miles of shore­line — you can’t go wrong in Kin­caid Park. With 35 to 40 miles of offi­cial­ly main­tained trails equipped with map kiosks, plus many unsigned but well-trod sin­gle-track paths, the park is a lit­er­al maze. It’s great for every lev­el of inten­si­ty — from fit­ness run­ners to families  ...more

Kin­caid Park con­tains a fab­u­lous spread of sev­en reg­u­la­tion-size soc­cer fields down the hill to the north of the chalet, plus one beau­ti­ful soc­cer sta­di­um with arti­fi­cial turf to the south. These facil­i­ties are pop­u­lar with leagues and are often reserved for games or tour­na­ments dur­ing Alaska’s sum­mer sea­son. But they are open to pub­lic use when no games or prac­tices are scheduled.

Perched atop the bluff in Kincaid’s south­east cor­ner, the Jod­phur Road Motocross Park is open to dirt bikes on non-race days between April and Sep­tem­ber. (Hours are 10 am to 8:30 pm Wednes­day through Sun­day.) The 11-acre area fea­tures closed tracks over dirt and rock, with some jump­ing berms and chal­leng­ing ter­rain. The facil­i­ty — along with races and class­es for new rid­ers — is main­tained by the Anchor­age Rac­ing Lions. 

An archery range with tar­gets open to the pubic winds through for­est about a quar­ter mile from the Kin­caid Sta­di­um off Rasp­ber­ry Road, with entrances off the for­mer World Cup Start Area. The facil­i­ty also fea­tures sev­er­al tar­get ranges open only to mem­bers of the local archery organization.

Rid­ers will expe­ri­ence faster flow and more banked turns, plus fun fea­tures that are built on the side of the trail.

Accessed from either the Jodh­pur park­ing lot or the cor­ner of Kin­caid Rd. and Jodh­pur St. (where there is a con­ve­nient pullout).

This sec­tion of trail cuts along the back side of the Kin­caid Sand Dunes, an area that is open to ATV use from Wednes­day through Sunday.

This trail in Kin­caid Park leads you into either L Train or the Bluff Trail. It climbs from the sand dunes up to the ridge, then splits into the descent into L train or con­tin­ues on a long run towards the chalet, with an option to cut left onto the Bluff Trail.

The high banked turns — some that near­ly dou­ble back on them­selves — flow smooth­ly, and undu­lat­ing ter­rain keeps the speed in check while still pro­vid­ing a quick descent if you’re will­ing to let the bike run.

Offers a lot of tech­ni­cal fea­tures inter­spersed through­out a smooth run.

This sec­tion of trail used to be known as the ​“Ridge Trail,” and has some of the best view­points of both the Chugach Moun­tains and Cook Inlet.

Twist­ing, curvy addi­tion to the north end of Bolling Alley

It gets its name from the scores of young bik­ers who take part in the Nordic Ski Association’s ​“Mighty Bike” pro­gram dur­ing the summer.

Ready for a chal­lenge? Though tech­ni­cal­ly not part of the sin­gle track com­plex, this long trail in Kin­caid Park snakes along the edge of the bluff, and is best rid­den only by advanced bik­ers. The views are stun­ning at points, but with tall grass, logs, and roots crowd­ing the trail it’s best to keep your eyes on the busi­ness at hand. Take care not to slide off the edge on a few sandy sec­tions where more than one expe­ri­enced bik­er has slipped…  ...more

With an aston­ish­ing maze of groomed trails over all kinds of ter­rain — includ­ing 12 to 15 miles equipped with lights for night ski­ing — Kin­caid Park is the region’s pre­mier des­ti­na­tion for cross coun­try ski­ing. The sys­tem ranges from sedate, pas­toral loops suit­able for fam­i­lies on an out­ing to demand­ing expert work­outs with hard climbs and scream­ing descents. This venue has ski­ing for every lev­el of experience.

One of the most pop­u­lar fam­i­ly sled runs in Anchor­age yawns down the hill just north of the Kin­caid Out­door Cen­ter chalet. Built beside berms that once pro­vid­ed tac­ti­cal cov­er for activ­i­ty in a 1950s mis­sile base, the sled area includes some steep drops into a gul­ly on the back­side. This decent­ly long run fea­tures stun­ning views of Denali and the Alas­ka Range on clear days.