Skagway Parks & Trails

There's so much else to do in Skagway, few visitors consider it a destination for hiking other than making the epic trek along the Chilkoot Trail. But the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service and municipality maintain a half-dozen scenic trails leading to historic gravesites, campsites, cabins, glaciers, lakes and beaches. They show of this scenic valley that many cruise passengers miss. Start by picking up a copy of the Skagway Trail Map at the visitor information center on Broadway, or printing the online version.

Here's a sampling of some favorites close to downtown. The Lost Lake Trail and riverside sections of Chilkoot Trail make for fun afternoon outings at Dyea, 10 miles northwest of Skagway.

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Skagway Hiking Trails

Difficulty: Easy Distance: 2 miles

This mod­er­ate, 2‑mile loop trail near the Skag­way Riv­er cir­cles a boul­der strewn out­crop­ping. It also fea­tures sun­ny look­outs while mean­der­ing through a birch and pine for­est and lead­ing to a pro­tect­ed cove and pic­nic area.

Difficulty: Moderate Distance: 33 miles

An amaz­ing look at the his­to­ry of the Alaskan Gold Rush, with the added nov­el­ty of hik­ing from Alas­ka to Cana­da. This trip offers a vari­ety of scenery and dis­tinct­ly dif­fer­ent ecosys­tems: riv­er val­ley, coastal tem­per­ate rain­for­est, exposed alpine, and arid bore­al forest.

Difficulty: Moderate Distance: 8 miles

Tucked on the moun­tain­side over­look­ing the cruise ship docks, this mod­er­ate hike offers great views down Taiya Inlet and an idyl­lic camp­ing spot. This 8‑mile round trip trail is unknown even to some locals. It leads through a mixed stand of trees and descends to a beach­front jut­ting south towards Haines on Lynn Canal.

Difficulty: Difficult Distance: 10 miles

Com­plet­ing this all-day climb, a 10-mile round trip climb­ing near­ly 5,000 feet, isn’t for begin­ners. But at the top, you’ll be on the ridge sep­a­rat­ing the Dyea and Skag­way riv­er val­leys, with an awe-drop­ping, 360-degree view. Once above the tree­line, some rock cairns mark the way, but the trail can be vague due to heavy brush and rocky terrain.

This park across from the Skag­way Riv­er offers ball­fields, horse­shoe pitch­es, a BMX trail, and a disc golf course. Out­door town events and con­certs, includ­ing the annu­al sol­stice cel­e­bra­tion, are held at the park’s stage/​amphitheater.

Difficulty: Difficult Distance: 33 miles

This trail is con­sid­ered to be a very long muse­um and the old arti­facts left over from the Gold Rush Days must be left alone. Adven­ture­some trav­el­ers can retrace the stam­ped­ers’ route to the gold mines by back­pack­ing the 33-mile climb up and over the Gold­en Stairs,” immor­tal­ized in Char­lie Chaplin’s silent film, The Gold Rush”. The trail begins nine miles out of town in Dyea and on aver­age the trek takes five days to com­plete, but…  ...more

If you’re in Skag­way for a sum­mer job or just a week­end fling, take your bike. Most­ly flat ter­rain and a com­pact urban lay­out makes this town a fan­tas­tic spot to see on two wheels. There’s even a free bike-repair sta­tion out front of Skagway’s pub­lic library.

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