McHugh Creek – Chugach State Park

No complaints here. Went monday evening… Hardly anyone out so it was nice to get away. Alaska is gorgeous and its been way to long since coming back… I’ve been living in Texas so the outdoors experience is definitely a must without having to travel too far.

Probably my least favorite trail I’ve hiked in the Anchorage area. Quite boring actually lacking anything of real interest. The best views are actually from the parking lot. I kept to the trail that leads to McHugh lake. It gets confusing where trails converge and the signage add sucks. Only Thanks to comments here was I able figure out which way to go.
A mile in, you reach the tree line and finally you get some nice vistas of the inlet. All in all it wasn’t worth the hike though. All in all, other trails along the Turnagain trail have much better views and water features.
I’ll skip this trail in the future.

This is a fantastic trail! Very beautiful and peaceful. Their are quite a few trail runners here, even with it just being the end of April presently, so i’m sure their are even more in the summer months.
I would consider this hike to be moderate. Potters Marsh is 3.3 miles to your left (at the bridge) and rainbow creek is 4.2 miles. I decided to go towards rainbow creek. Be very prepared for mud and also alot of UP on your way there. I went two miles in (i started getting nasty blisters) and turned around. There are two great stopping points for lunch or a break, one at about .50 mile in and then also right at a mile from Mchugh creek. You can view Turnagain well. There are a few trails that fall into this trail, one being the sunshine trail. Their is also one spot to do minimal rock climbing with no harness.
All in all a great trail, i will for sure come and try the potters marsh trail and maybe finish that 4.2 miles to rainbow creek and turn around some time.

We spent a lovely, sunny, breezy Alaskan summer afternoon hiking in Chugach State Park along what we thought was the McHugh Creek Trail. When you take off up the trail from the upper parking lot, the first thing you reach is a poorly-​signed four-​way split. The one that goes up and to the right is a nice enough trail, narrow with several switch backs framed by some lovely fields of lupine and columbine, but when it straightens out along the east side of the mountainside over the creek it eventually devolves into bushwhacking. We found a warm boulder with a great view of Turnagain Arm and took a seat for a snack after the trail fizzled.
If you want McHugh Creek Trail, go left at the four-​way (the left and right are Turnagain Arm Trail) for maybe ~150m and the trail will be a well-​signed right turn. We managed to stumble across the trail further up the mountain and upon reaching the bottom discovered the signpost at the bottom of the hill with a giant orange «DANGER, trail closed, moose kill» stapled to it (!).
Day use fee is $ 5. There’s a pretty little waterfall easily accessible from the highway/​lower lots. Views of Turnagain Arm and Kenai Peninsula beyond are excellent.

Another beautiful stop along the Seward Hwy. Park has lots of parking in the fee lot. The park has a great look-​out spot high up on the hill that you can hike to and use the free telescope! There is also a beautiful waterfall in the wetter months.