Destination: Canyon Campground – Eklutna Lake, Chugach State Park

Large, private site perfect for parties.

     Two friends’ birthdays are a day apart so to celebrate they had a “Dirty 30” get-together at Canyon Campground at Eklutna Lake in Chugach State Park – a dozen people, a roaring fire, food, beer, and midnight push-ups. How can you go wrong? It was another incredibly fun car camping experience in another discovered gem within an hour from the city.

     Eklutna Lake is a seven mile long glacier lake 30 miles north of Anchorage and 1000 feet up and 15 miles into the Chugach Range. Despite living so close to it all this time, I had never I visited before this winter when we drove up to watch the northern lights when they were happening this far south. I really liked the place, so much, that this was my third trip this summer. It is close, has good, moderate hikes with great views, is a good kayaking and Dolly Varden fishing lake and even offers a very mellow dirt road/bicycle trail along the coast that runs 15 miles back to Eklutna Glacier. My first summer visit was biking the trail with Campgirl. The last time was hiking Pepper Peak with two buddies and two 24 year old German couch surfer girls I was putting up for a few days. During this hike I was lucky enough to see the herd of sheep that live around Twin Peaks and often roam the hillside.

View from the first bench on Twin Peak Trail

     Still, I hadn’t camped at Eklutna Lake. When I was there previous times, the main campground spots looked pretty close together and there were lots of RVs. Not my scene. But for their party, the girls rented a private campsite – Canyon Campground. I didn’t know this spot existed until this weekend. It is a very large, flat and gravel covered canyon floor, back a gated road, near the entrance of the park (far away from the main campsites) and could hold as many people as you wanted to invite. Due to its large size you can spread your tents out so late at night it is quiet and peaceful.

The Ranger in Canyon Campground

     There are about 8 large, iron ring fire pits and a few even have flip over grates. This came in handy for the foil packet Shake ‘n Bake™ pork chops and the sweet potatoes, onions, and apples with brown sugar Campgirl brought for the trip. There are no amenities directly at the site, but there are dry bathrooms near the regular camping area. It is a bargain too at only $100 for the entire site.

This was as delicious as it looks.

     This particular trip Campgirl and I decided to go geocaching in the morning. My father recently gave me his ancient (1999) handheld GPS unit and I was itching to use it. Geocaching is worldwide GPS orienteering hobby where people hide tiny caches, sometimes with prizes, and post the coordinates online. People then walk around wooded areas with low hanging branches, missing nature’s beauty, focused on a GPS screen risking eyeball impalement and forehead bruises so they can write their name on a little log and hide the cache again. There are about a dozen caches up each the Twin Peaks trail and down the bike road. We headed up Twin Peaks trail, found a couple caches and saw two bears across the valley wandering the hillside. It was a fun time even though we didn’t find the cache in Ghost Car.

My first geocache ever. Photo courtesy of Campgirl.

     To sum up, if you ever want a large, private spot to have a party or get-together, I highly recommend Canyon Campground. It is quiet and has great camping spots. Eklutna Lake offers a lot of different activities so you could easily fill up a whole weekend. Go gather some friends and get out there.

Arctic Lupine was beautiful in late June.