Moose Pass Parks & Trails

The 23-mile John­son Pass Trail offers hik­ers, back­pack­ers and bik­ers a well-marked route through a lush pass in the Kenai Moun­tains — fea­tur­ing grad­ual climbs, two lakes with fish, spec­tac­u­lar peaks and some way cool gorges.

Begin­ning 103 miles south of Anchor­age on the Seward High­way, the 3.5‑mile-long Ptarmi­gan Lake Trail makes for a fine fam­i­ly out­ing. The lake itself is a long and nar­row body of water squeezed between ridges and moun­tains that tow­er as high as 6,000 feet. It even offers a small beach upon which to relax and enjoy the view while cool­ing your feet.

This trail is a good day hike for the whole fam­i­ly. It alter­nates between open mead­ows and forests and offers the option of tent camp­ing or stay­ing in Cres­cent Lake Cab­in. There are options for longer hikes and there is a lot of wildlife to be seen such as moose, goats and bears.

The wild­flow­ers are abun­dant and ver­dant under­growth can be check high some­times. Most of the trail lies below tree­line, so there are estab­lished camp clear­ings along the way that are nes­tled into the trees. One of the best camp­sites is 10 miles in from the north­ern trail­head, set among trees on a spruce-cov­ered knoll look­ing over the trail and Bench Lake.

No oth­er min­ing trail on the Kenai Penin­su­la climbs as high or takes in more exten­sive views as the 6‑mile-long Crown Mine Trail. Begin­ning some 2 hours south of Anchor­age on the appro­pri­ate­ly named Mine Road just south of Trail Lake, this trail climbs to 3,900 feet above sea lev­el to a unique spot — a glacial cirque lit­tered with min­ing paraphernalia.

The John­son Pass Trail orig­i­nat­ed in the 1890s as a route for Idi­tar­od min­ers who raced north from Seward to Nome. It lat­er was devel­oped into a wag­on road by mer­chants and min­ers who set­tled the area. The Alas­ka Road Com­mis­sion then used it as a thor­ough­fare through the 1930s. Today this pop­u­lar hik­ing trail trav­els por­tions of the his­toric Idi­tar­od Trail between Moose Pass and Gran­ite Creek with bridged streams, most­ly easy grades, and…  ...more

The trail takes hik­ers past mine activ­i­ty on the low­er part of the trail. The first mile is steep, but after that it lev­els out. Moun­tain goats and brown bears are seen on the moun­tain­side occa­sion­al­ly. There is excel­lent berry-pick­ing here in the fall. This trail should only be trav­eled in the sum­mer due to avalanche danger.

This trail fol­lows an old min­ing road to the-still active- Prim­rose Mine. After mile 4 the trail becomes steep and erod­ed. There is a view­point that offers nice vis­tas here. The trail con­tin­ues to a bridge that will take you to Lost Creek and Lost Lake even­tu­al­ly. This is a good 2 – 3 day hike for fish­ing and camping.Keep an eye out for black bear and moun­tain goats.