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The last way any trail user wants to start their adventure is in need of a “creative way” to park their vehicle (especially if it has a trailer) in a congested parking lot. Until recently, this was the situation at the Alaska State Parks Eklutna Lake All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) trailhead—a popular staging area for hunters and riders in close proximity to Southcentral Alaska’s major population centers. Here, inadequate maneuvering space and an insufficient number of parking spots caused delays, blocked vehicles/trailers, and left users feeling discouraged from accessing Chugach State Park’s public lands when they found the lot was full.
The Motorized and Non-Motorized User Experience
Hundreds of people can be counted hiking, biking, and four-wheeling on the popular trail on any sunny Sunday during summer (four-wheeling is allowed Sundays through Wednesdays April 1-November 30). From the beginning of hunting season on September 1st until winter, the trailhead is heavily used and is the only official truck-and-trailer parking area for hunters who use the trailhead to offload/load ATVs and leave their trucks with trailer to head down the 12.5-mile lakeside trail for extended periods of time.
The trail is also popular for skiing and snowmachining in winter. The lakeside trail accommodates motorized recreational ATVs as well as bicycles and hikers. In some sections, both user groups share the same roadbed. In other segments, bikes are diverted onto a narrower, more overgrown roadbed that is closer to the lake. ATVs are not allowed on the bike portions of the trail and may only operate on the lakeside trail.
Investing in Quality Adventure
To better meet the needs of trail users, multiple partners came together around a project to expand the capacity of the gravel parking lot from 20 to approximately 40 spaces for truck-and-trailer vehicles that includes additional overflow parking on the uphill side. The entire ATV parking area is also now paved. These changes help smooth the staging experience so recreationalists can unload and leave their trailers and worries about being parked in by another user behind.
"We routinely would run out of room in years past and had to squeeze people in different places to make it work. This second level is helping us a lot and allowing a lot more people to enjoy the ATV experience, including the lakeside trail." - Keith Wilson, Park Ranger, Alaska State Parks
Project partners include the State of Alaska, Eklutna Inc., the Native Village of Eklutna, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Conservation Investment. The Alaska Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation put $292,000 in Wildlife Restoration funds and $90,000 in state match towards improvements at this site. The federal Wildlife Restoration funds come from excise taxes levied on firearms, ammunition, and archery equipment manufacturers and is made available to State fish and game agencies under the Wildlife Restoration (Pittman Robertson) Act of 1937 through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Hunter access projects such as this are an eligible use of these Wildlife Restoration funds and The Alaska Department of Fish and Game chose Alaska State Parks as a subrecipient to use some of their apportionment of these funds to complete this hunter access project.
Additionally, Alaska Trails, in conjunction with Alaska State Parks, State Legislature and Capital Improvement Project funds,realigned and rebuilt sections of this popular motorized and multi-use trail where it had collapsed into Eklutna Lake. A ribbon cutting ceremony for the Eklutna Lakeside trail improvements and new motorized use parking lot was held on September 24th, 2024.
"I like to go into these types of projects with partners. We obviously couldn't have done it ourselves so it was great to work with Katie [Alaska Department of Fish & Game] and Jonathan [U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service]. There were bumps in the road, there were some hurdles, but clearly we overcame all of that and delivered." - Rys Miranda, Chief of Design and Construction, Alaska State Parks
Respecting the Land and Others
The ATV parking lot is on land owned by Eklutna Inc. and managed by State Parks under the North Anchorage Land Agreement. Please respect wildlife and other users along the Eklutna Lake multi-use trail by driving with care and packing out and disposing of trash properly.
Learn More:
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Office of Conservation Investment
Alaska Department of Fish & Game Eklutna Lake project page and Eklutna Lake Management Area
Alaska Department of Natural Resources Eklutna Lake Trail System
In Alaska we are shared stewards of world renowned natural resources and our nation’s last true wild places. Our hope is that each generation has the opportunity to live with, live from, discover and enjoy the wildness of this awe-inspiring land and the people who love and depend on it.
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