North Fork Eagle River: A great little hike that goes nowhere

The hiking trail along North Fork Eagle River is as pretty as they come, thanks to the brilliantly colored waters of the river flowing so close by. But it’s also barely long enough to be considered a “trail.” Once again that’s thanks to the river, which shifts course unpredictably as most glacier-fed rivers do, and thus has made a hobby of chewing away part of the riverbank the trail used to run along.

This is hike 37 in 50 Hikes Around Anchorage.

North Fork Eagle River Hiking Directions

The first half-mile of the North Fork Eagle River trail is a pleasant stroll on a wide, hardened gravel trail — almost a road by Alaska standards — until you reach a prominent sandbar overlooking one of the rippling river channels. You can just see it peeking into the water in the photo.

You could stop here if you like, confident that you’ve seen the prettiest part of the river. (Just ignore the bits of brush that tend to get caught up in the water, then deposit when it flows around curvy bits like the sandbar you’re standing on.)

But if you want to keep going, hang a left and see how much further you can follow the trail. Sometimes it’s a straightforward ramble around patches of grass, alder thickets, and scrubby willow trees. In other places you’ll find the trail crumbling into the water or gone entirely. Watch out: In some places the bank is steeply undercut and could break under your weight, depositing you in that cold water.

If water levels are low enough, you can prolong the hike by walking on sandbars until you’re able to pick up the trail again. Either way, this is an interesting enough trail that it’s worth visiting at least once. It’s also a pretty good place for spotting moose (from a distance, please).

If you have absolutely nothing better to do and don’t mind crawling through sometimes-thorny brush and wading through mucky, sometimes stagnant water, you can keep going and make a loop hike up this channel of the river until it forks, then turn left and follow the bank of the other fork back to the trailhead. But that is not a fun circuit and, having done it once just to see what it’s like, I have zero desire to ever do it again.

North Fork Eagle River Trail Information

• Distance: Anywhere from 1 to 3.2 miles round-trip
• Elevation gain: 235 feet
• Difficulty: Very easy
• Typical season: Year-round
• Nearest community: Eagle River
• Nearby trails: Eagle and Symphony Lakes, Hanging Valley, Harp Mountain, Baldy and Blacktail Rocks, Albert Loop, Rodak Loop, Dew Mound, The Perch and Icicle Creek
• Notes: $5 parking fee or buy a Chugach State Parks parking pass, but fee applies only during the winter months when this doubles as a popular access point for snowmachiners.

North Fork Eagle River Trailhead Directions

From Anchorage, take the Glenn Highway northeast to the Hiland Road exit (about 10 miles). Take the exit and turn right onto Eagle River Loop Road. Turn right at the stoplight for Eagle River Road, then continue for about 6 miles. Look for a brown Alaska State Parks sign indicating a right turn to the North Fork Eagle River access. There is a $5 parking fee, but only during the winter months.

There are two “trails” here; you want the one that starts on the south end of the parking lot, the furthest from the pit toilets.