Old Glenn Highway Scenic Drive

This unique fish­ery, about 25 miles north of Anchor­age, is com­prised of a small, arti­fi­cial eddy of water that comes down from a pow­er plant and con­nects to the main stem, Knik Riv­er. The glacial-fed water looks murky and blue-gray, and there’s very lit­tle cur­rent. While you won’t find much soli­tude here, you can usu­al­ly find a spot to set up a lawn chair for some lazy fish­ing. There’s abun­dant park­ing, too, as well as restrooms.

With moun­tains over­head and a rush­ing riv­er below that reflects the light in its swirling pat­terns, this bridge makes for a scenic cross­ing. You have to dri­ve the old Glenn High­way to get here, but it’s a nice alter­na­tive to the main Glenn Highway.

On the north side of the Knik Riv­er Bridge, turn off the main road­way and dri­ve down the riverbed.This is a good area to get out and hike around, you can walk beside the glacial­ly-fed Knik Riv­er while under the dom­i­nant peaks of the Chugach Moun­tains and Pio­neer Peak. 

The heart of the Matanus­ka Colony Farms, this loop road trav­els through green pas­tures and cul­ti­vat­ed farm­land, and pass­es the Rein­deer Farm, a pet­ting zoo/​wildlife rehab cen­ter with moose, rein­deer, elk and bison.

With a length of just 1.5 miles and a sum­mit reach­ing only 874 feet, West Butte Trail on Boden­burg Butte — a 45-minute dri­ve north of Anchor­age — makes for a fine fam­i­ly out­ing. But even if you’re a more expe­ri­enced hik­er, don’t let the butte’s dwarf-like height dis­suade you. This small bump in the cen­ter of a grand allu­vial plain offers far-reach­ing views from its sum­mit; plus, the climb includes a pulse-quick­en­ing 0.25 miles of stairs up the steep  ...more

This is a short day hike, but a fan­tas­tic fish­ing spot. There are many lake trout, grayling and white­fish. It is one of the best fish­ing spots in the area. Fox, bear, moose and cari­bou are often seen in this area and there are good berryp­ick­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties along the trail.

At Mile 11 on the Old Glenn High­way, turn onto Boden­burg Loop Road. Pyrahs Pio­neer Peak U‑Pick Farm sits at mile three of Boden­burg Loop. With up to 35 dif­fer­ent kinds of pro­duce to pick (weath­er depen­dent) this is a great way to get some fresh veg­gies for home. Prices are by the pound, and hours of oper­a­tion vary by sea­son. The first farm in this area was home­stead­ed by John Boden­burg. It remains a rur­al area today, and farm­ing and farm…  ...more

Why Take This Hike This trail, locat­ed 90 min­utes north of Anchor­age just across the Matanus­ka Riv­er from down­town Palmer, makes no pre­tense about its pur­pose. Almost imme­di­ate­ly after leav­ing the park­ing area, it begins to climb straight up the steep west face of Lazy Moun­tain. For some 2,000 feet, there’s nary a switch­back or respite as the trail winds up to the sum­mit ridge. It’s a tru­ly breath­less work­out. The Details Out of Palmer,…  ...more

The Matanus­ka Riv­er Park fea­tures almost two miles of fam­i­ly-friend­ly trails just min­utes from down­town Palmer. Trails mean­der between the adja­cent camp­ground and the Matanus­ka Riv­er, rolling gen­tly through old-growth forest.

The folks at this non-prof­it farm out­side Palmer were doing sus­tain­able agri­cul­ture long before it was cool before most peo­ple used such a term. Locat­ed 45 min­utes from Anchor­age, the Musk Ox Farm pro­vides a fas­ci­nat­ing look at the ani­mal rein­tro­duced to Alas­ka in the 1930s.