Anchorage has over 200 miles of urban cycling and jogging trails. We had opportunity to check out two of them, the Chester Creek Trail and Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. Other major trails include the Ship Creek Trail and Campbell Creek Trail. Most of the municipal parks have trails through them. There are connector trails and paved trails along numerous roads.There are several Bike Fixit Stations in Anchorage.

Anchorage Bike Trails Map is free and can be picked up at the Visitor Center

Bike trails are a great way to explore Anchorage. View of Chugach Mountains & Westchester Lagoon from Chester Creek Trail

One of the Bike Fixit Stations in Anchorage

Overall, we found the main trails, which are paved, to be in good condition. Some of the connector trails had areas of damage from tree roots. Caution should be taken in those areas. Also, you are in moose country and they spend time in town, don’t forget to watch for moose!

Those sharing the trail in Anchorage may include moose

Chester Creek Trail is about five miles long and travels through a green belt along Chester Creek. The trail travels between Goose Lake near the University of Alaska Anchorage campus and the Westchester Lagoon, where it joins the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. We road our bikes from our campground, Golden Nugget RV Park, to access this trail. We road to the Coastal Trail and checked out some of the connectors.

Westchester Lagoon from the trail

Bridge over Chester Creek

Chester Creek

The trail was paved and very well maintained. It had no major street crossings, utilizing under or overpasses throughout. There were some minor park access roads we had to cross. There were many treed and shaded sections. The trail travels through several parks. There were walkers, walkers with dogs, joggers, and other bikers. We used the trail on a weekday morning and the traffic was not very heavy. I would expect traffic to increase during peak times. The trail had many junctions with other trails, including the Campbell Creek Trail, and was fairly well marked. There were a few junctions where it was not immediately 100% clear which way the trail went. This was a great ride and we recommend it.

Chester Creek Trail is a paved bike trail

Tony Knowles Coastal Trail is an eleven mile paved trail that stretches from the west end of 2nd Avenue all the way to Kincaid Park at Point Campbell. Along the way, the trail goes by the Westchester Lagoon, Earthquake Park, Point Woronzof and its namesake park. As assumed from the name, it travels along the coast of Cook Inlet, with varying visibility based on vegetation. Along the trail, in addition to views of Cook Inlet, there were some views of downtown Anchorage and even the Ted Stevens International Airport’s runways. The planes were taking off and coming in for a landing over top of us near Point Woronzof.

Memorial in Earthquake Park

We chose to start the trail at Earthquake Park, where there is a memorial to the earthquake victims of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami on Good Friday 1964. The park is home to a great display about the earthquake and its impact on Anchorage. There is parking and a connection to the Coastal Trail at the memorial. The trail was used by bikers, joggers and walkers, including walkers with dogs. The dog owners were very attentive to their animals and ensured they were not bothering bikers. We used the trail on a weekday morning and the traffic was not very heavy. I would expect traffic to increase during peak times. The further we traveled south of Earthquake Park, the less traffic we ran into. The area north of Earthquake Park was more heavily used.

Cook Inlet view from the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail

View of downtown Anchorage from the Coastal Trail

The trail was in excellent condition. It had no major street crossings, utilizing under or overpasses throughout. There were some minor park access roads we had to cross. We did run into a very short section  (about 20 yards) with root damage. There was also a small tree down across the entire trail, which we were able to lift our bikes over. There is minimal elevation change on this trail. We loved this trail and recommend it highly.

Tony Knowles Coastal Trail

Point Woronzof from the trail