Red Shirt Lake: Pleasant, buggy, and kind of flat
Okay — the trail to Red Shirt Lake isn’t really a very flat hike. But a round-trip elevation gain of 750 feet still counts as relatively flat in these parts. If you’ve been sorting through the “flat hikes” tag, please consider this one an “almost flat,” or “flat-plus” hike of moderate difficulty.
Heads up: This wooded trail can be supremely buggy on calm summer days; hiking when there’s a breeze helps reduce the inevitable bug-o-rama. Canoe rentals at the lake can be arranged ahead of time with Tippecanoe Rentals in Willow.
The hike to Red Shirt Lake is trail 14 in Day Hiking Southcentral Alaska.
| Round Trip: 5.6 miles | Nearest community: Willow |
| Elevation gain: 750 feet | Typical season: May to October |
| Parking fee: $5 or Alaska State Parks parking pass | Nearby trails: Nancy Lake Canoe Trail, Curry Ridge, Scout Ridge, Cottonwood Creek |
Red Shirt Lake Trailhead Directions
From Wasilla, drive northwest on the Parks Highway for about 25 miles. For years there have, confusingly, been two left turns off the highway marked for Nancy Lake. Take the second, which is also signed for South Rolly Lake Campground, at mile 67.3 of the highway.
Continue on Nancy Lake Parkway for about 6.5 miles to where it ends at the trailhead, which doubles as South Rolly Lake Campground. In winter, the road is closed at the winter trailhead, which is at mile 2.2 of Nancy Lake Parkway.
Hiking to Red Shirt Lake
Here’s another nice thing about this hike: It’s so straightforward that you don’t need any special directions. Hit the trailhead, hit the trail, and stick on that main trail until the end. Easy peasy.
I will say, the trail to Red Shirt Lake doesn’t pack the kind of stupendous, glacier-iffic scenery you may associate with some other trails. (Portage Pass and Trail of Blue Ice, I’m looking at you.) The hike to Red Shirt Lake is a pretty enough trail, you just spend most of your time in the woods. But the lake at the end is well worth it, and if you plan ahead you can reserve one of the canoes that is stored at the shore.
There is also a public use cabin on the lakeshore, along with a series of other public use cabins in this region. Some are accessible only by water during the summer, but open up to snowshoeing and skiing once the lakes are solidly frozen over during the winter.
For more information on the cabins, go to the Matanuska-Susitna region of the above-linked page, then select Nancy Lake State Recreation Area.
This region (Nancy Lake State Recreation Area) also includes a canoe trail with several noteworthy portages.
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Lisa Maloney
A long-time Alaskan, Lisa has written three award-winning guidebooks including "Day Hiking Southcentral Alaska" and "50 Hikes Around Anchorage." She also served as senior editor of Alaska magazine and has written hundreds of newspaper columns and magazine articles about her adventures around the state. Learn more about her at http://maloneywrites.com.
