Hiking 3 EPIC trails in Alaska’s Chugach Mountains (+ FOOD in Anchorage! 🍕🍦)

Just minutes from Anchorage is Chugach State Park which is named after the indigenous people of the Uppercook Inlet region and is one of the largest state parks in the entire United States. The park is home to over 280 miles of trails with some trailheads being only 20 minutes from downtown making it Alaska's most accessible natural area. But don't let its proximity to Alaska's largest city fool you. This park provides an epic nature escape with tons of peaks to climb, alpine lakes, rivers, and so much more. Over the next few days we're going to hike three of the best trails in the park plus enjoy some local eats in Anchorage and we're starting with the South Fork Valley Trail which is 10.7 miles and it's going to take us to two lakes. All of the hikes we'll be doing in this video have a daily fee to park. It's $5 per day to park at Chugach State Park or $60 for an annual day use pass. But one thing that's really really nice is they actually have credit card payment systems at each trailhead we believe so it makes it super easy to It is a gorgeous morning. We've got a pretty much completely clear sky and the sun is still behind this ridge of mountains over here so if you look off in the distance you can see the light kind of filtering through between these mountain peaks in front of us. It is so beautiful and one thing that we're really liking about this hike is right from the get-go as soon as you leave from the parking lot you have views the entire way so far. We're about halfway to the lakes and even though this trail is a little bit longer it's really not that steep at all. It only gains around 1500 feet or so and about five and a half miles so it's a pretty gradual climb but we do hear that when we get closer to the lakes there's gonna be this boulder field that's pretty tricky to cross but man this hike has been stunning. It is hard to believe that these epic mountains exist so close to a city because this is the kind of stuff that you normally have to drive hours out of the city to get to. Alaska is just insane. We have made it to the beginning of the boulder field and we're getting our first glimpse of one of the lakes there. It is so blue and so gorgeous but to actually get to the lakes we got to go through all this. The boulder field hasn't been as bad as a lot of reviews made it out to be. There's kind of a matted down path during some of it and some cairns so it's not too hard to know where to go. Some of it's more of a choose your own adventure style but we think it just adds to the fun. This beauty right behind me is Eagle Lake. It has that milky glacial blue color that I love. I think glacial blue lakes and epic mountain backdrops like this is like my favorite type of scenery in the entire world. There is another lake called Symphony Lake and it's actually on the other side of the rocks over there and they're very very different from each other so to get a better look at both of them and show you the differences we're gonna hike somewhere up there. There's apparently a good spot to view on both. Oh this is way harder than I thought it would be. I didn't realize we were gonna go so high up. We'll put a video from ground level and point to where we're going up to right now. We weren't totally sure where we needed to go to see this view. To be honest you don't have to go this far up to see the view we're going to show you but we just figure we might as well do it. Oh yeah it's This was worth it. It was. It was worth it. Oh we did it. This lake here is Symphony Lake and over here is Eagle Lake and despite being right next to each other they are two completely different colors. Eagle Lake is fed by a glacier so it has that milky blue color and Symphony Lake is fed by snow melting so it has that deeper more clear blue color. Just having one of these lakes on this hike would have been incredible and beautiful but putting them right next to each other and then making them two different colors that is just such a unique view. You might have noticed I lugged my fly rod out here and that's because Symphony Lake has grayling and trout in it. They actually stock it so I know for a fact there are tons of fish in here. Since being in Alaska I've fished a few times haven't had very good luck. I've actually been skunked. I haven't caught anything so I've been watching lots of videos reading articles and I went to a fly shop to pick up some recommended flies so just saw a fish jump right there. Today is the day. It's happening. It's happening. I can feel it. I can feel it and I'm gonna go for that one that just jumped right there. Oh my gosh. Oh no. Oh my gosh. I mean does that count? No I didn't catch it but oh my gosh that was the coolest feeling ever. Whoa. Okay you'll get another one. My heart is racing. That was so cool because I could see it like I could see him like thinking about it. Oh he didn't get the fly. It didn't break off. He just got loose so I didn't like set the hook I guess. As they say I'm hooked. Wow. Baby come back. Did you get another one? He bit at it. Today we've learned Kona hates when Adam fishes. She wants to bark at it the whole time. Kona you're scaring the fish away. I had him. I had him in my hand and he like slipped out of my hand and he broke the line. He took my fly. Dang it. Oh no. So close. I'm too excited. I'm too excited. That kind of hurt. Can you believe it? I'm catching fish. This is this is so cool. This is so awesome. Don't drop them. Come here little guy. That's a grayling. All right I'm gonna call it here. I think Kona is at her wits end. She is causing lots of trouble and it's getting late but this one was very successful. I caught three fish. I'm counting them. This hike was just phenomenal. From the gorgeous lakes to the gorgeous mountains to Adam catching some fish. It was just perfect. It was like all of our Alaskan dreams in one hike and one big benefit that we mentioned earlier about this state park is how close it is to Anchorage. So we're gonna head back to the van so we can go have a post hike feast. Hands down the number one food spot recommended by y'all here in Alaska was Moose's Tooth which is not only one of the top pizza places in the U.S. but it's also the highest grossing independent pizza place in the United States. So safe to say this place is very very very popular. We had to wait to get really long but we only waited like 30 minutes on a Tuesday at 5 30 p.m. which is a very good thing because we are starving. They have a mix of traditional and unique pizzas and we hear the best way to experience this place is to get some unique ones. So we got the amazing apricot and the call of the wild. The amazing apricot is blackened chicken, red peppers, carrot threads, green onions, cilantro, mozzarella, provolone, cream cheese, and apricot sauce. And the call of the wild has reindeer sausage, steak, bacon, mushrooms, red peppers, green onions, garlic cream sauce, mozzarella, provolone, and garlic oil. And if you can't tell already we got the large sizes. We didn't come all the way to Alaska, the biggest state, to get the smallest pizza. Come on. These are giant slices. Adam is one happy boy. I feel like we have a whole pizza between us right now. How are you doing over there? I'm good. So many mushrooms on there. They have a hearty taste. But the first thing that really stood out to me was the crunch of the pizza crust. I gotta say that first. The crunch of that was delicious. The mushrooms are just so hearty like I said. The bacon, all the veggies on there. But then the cream, the garlic cream sauce really shines through. You really taste the garlic cream. Yeah this is good. This pizza is making me feel very short right now. Oh you just lost half your carrots. Oh no. I was worried it was going to be really sweet, but it has a really good balance of kind of sweet with a little bit of spice from the blackened chicken. All these carrots on top give it a nice like fresh crunch. I love the cream cheese in there. I just love the creaminess of it. And yeah this crust is bomb. While I love a good old traditional pepperoni pizza, it is so fun to try unique pizzas because this is a flavor profile I would have never thought to even put on a pizza. Snacks for later. Today we're hiking Flattop Mountain which is about 3.3 miles round trip and it's said to be the most popular hike in Anchorage. It gets very busy which almost steered us away because we just don't like hiking with crowds, but we figured it's popular for a reason so we're going to give it a shot and to hopefully beat the crowds. And because it stays light so late here we're starting this hike at almost 9 30 p.m for sunset. And if you notice behind me we've already got our bed made so we can just crash as soon as we get back. We had to pay for two days of parking because we're probably going to be getting back technically tomorrow and these expire at 11 59. Even though this trail isn't very long it is said to be pretty difficult and we are still exhausted from yesterday's longer hike. I drank so much coffee today that way I could actually be awake right now because normally normally we'd be going to bed right now. But also so I could have the energy to do this hike. I'm finally feeling that second wind coming. I think I can do it. So many steps. There's a flag flopping at the top of this peak here. That's where we're going. The only thing that separates us is this little rock field rock scramble here. And we hear this is the toughest part. But I think we're ready to do it. We're so close we can almost taste it. Yeah. Despite being on the verge of falling asleep all day long I have so much energy right now. So far this has not felt too hard. I'll probably eat my words when we get to the top but we can at least see the top. That's always more encouraging than when you can't see the top. I'm pretty tired though. Falling asleep all day. I'm not up yet. I'm never a huge fan of scrambling. I just get really nervous especially when it's this kind of slick dirt. But this part really isn't bad. I'm just nervous but I don't think it's actually that bad. I read a review that said you'll get on all fours for this part and they weren't lying. I did it. I did it. I did it. A little bit of a mental breakdown but I did it. I did it. It is 11 20 and the sun sets in 10 more minutes and look at what you can see. You can see the water, downtown Anchorage, tons of mountains this way. I'm getting blasted with wind right now. Hard to breathe. There are views all around. I've woken up in the middle of the night just to see how light it still is in the middle of the night and at 2 a.m you can still see like it's not pitch black. So weird. The sun rises at like 4 30 in the morning. It's crazy. So even though we're up here at sunset we should still have enough light to get down. We safely made it down from the rock scramble and for some reason it was easier for me going down than going up and out of the three hikes that we're doing here in the state park this is probably the hike I was least excited about. I was still excited about it but just hearing how busy it is just made me a little leery of doing it but I was so pleasantly surprised by this hike. For one we had the entire top to ourselves which was so unexpected and also I was worried that it's really close to the city and I knew there were city views and I was worried that it wouldn't feel I guess naturey enough like we weren't deep in the mountains but I loved the mix of all the different types of scenery out here and the mountains you do get to see are just crazy. I know I said this yesterday but it is hard to believe that these mountains are just a half hour or less from the city. It is just gorgeous out here. It is 12 30 a.m and you can still see outside it is not pitch black but we just made it back to the van and now it's time to go find our home for the night. There's so many people here. Home sweet Cabela's. Since it was too late or I guess too early to get a treat after our hike we're gonna get ice cream for breakfast. Fun fact it is said that Alaska consumes more ice cream per capita than any other state in the United States and y'all know we love our ice cream and for years one of the spots I've been most excited to try in the U.S. is Wild Scoops here in Anchorage. So Wild Scoops is known for small batch ice cream using local Alaska ingredients. They have some pretty unique flavors using stuff that you can only really find here in Alaska but quite possibly the most unique thing is this baked Alaska topping you can get. It's their homemade marshmallow fluff that they then torch to make it like a baked Alaska on top of your cone. Oh wow. It's just like when you have a campfire and you're making s'mores and you get that gooey marshmallow very sticky. I don't know what I was expecting that to be like but it is heavenly. Oh that is so good and so creamy and so fluffy too wow and then the burnt little taste there it's like marshmallows on the campfire man. So we each got a cone with two scoops but three flavors total and my top flavor is this one called the sunshine club I believe which is lemon curd and it has snickerdoodle cookies in it which is a really interesting combination I had never thought of. Oh that lemon curd pops with zestiness those cookie chunks are so good. My flavor on top here is the fireweed ice cream and fireweed is a flower that's grown here in Alaska and we just saw a ton of it on our hike last night and this one is fireweed in it and then also a little bit of honey in there that's really good you can taste the honey in there I'm not sure how to describe that fireweed it's kind of florally a little bit a little bit fruity. It has just like a good sweet flavor it's really hard to pinpoint what it actually tastes like it doesn't taste like you're straight up eating a flower though which was kind of my concern it's much more enjoyable than that it's just really sweet and kind of yeah kind of fruity. My second flavor here is the sitka swirl which is sweet cream base and then it has a little caramel sauce going through there and then Alaskan salt so it's like a salted caramel oh yes sweet caramelly just like it says and then a little bit salty. I'm not totally sure why I'm eating my cone with a spoon they just gave me a spoon and I've just been going for it but we both got as our final flavor the rhubarb crumble which is a cinnamon nutmeg ice cream an odie streusel and then Alaska rhubarb jam the spices in there kind of give it like a holiday type flavor that streusel is delicious the spiciness of the base of the ice cream is good alone and then you throw in that jam that just has so much flavor going on in there and then the little bits of the crumble as well it's got a little bit of a crunch good texture so many flavors so many textures going on in this that's one of my favorite ice cream flavors I think I've ever had that is so good man this is one of the best ice cream places we've been to in the U.S. it lived up to all the hype I had for years in my head and we're probably gonna have to find a way to come back here before we leave Alaska but for the rest of the day we're just gonna take it easy and work a bit before we conquer our final hike in Chugach State Park tomorrow. For our final hike in the Chugach Mountains we're in Girdwood Alaska to hike part of the Crow Pass Trail which actually follows part of the original Iditarod Trail. It is 26 miles from end to end and begins and ends in different spots so instead of doing the whole thing we're just doing about a seven mile round trip portion to Crystal Lake. So it turns out I misspoke at the beginning of this video when I said that every hike we were doing had a day use fee you actually park in the National Forest for this trailhead and there is no fee and I believe we're starting in the National Forest but we're going to hike into the State Park. We're about 1.5 miles into the hike and the first part was very brushy but you could still see some views and it's now clearing up quite a bit so you can see way more views and we just got to this junction in the trail where you can either go to the left or to the right. They both end up taking you to the same spot in the end so we want to go one way on the way up and one way on the way down and we've decided to go to the left first. One neat feature about this trail is you'll come across some rusty mining ruins from the Monarch Mill which was active from 1909 to 1938. Holy smokes and this mine actually produced over a hundred thousand dollars per year for several years. The weather is taking a turn. Catherine spotted way up on the hill up there two mountain goats a mama and a baby. Even though the weather's not ideal today it's kind of cloudy and it's pretty windy and cold and we're getting rained on right now the views out here are breathtaking. Thankfully the weather has not clouded any of the mountains so we can still see all the mountains which are stunning but check out all these waterfalls right behind me. Man every single hike that we've done in the state park and in this video they've all been so different from each other even though they're all so close together. I think we have just about made it to the lake just over this ridge here that we're about to crest. Oh yeah I see the cabin. Oh cool. Yeah we've now got a good view of the lake that I mentioned and this is Crystal Lake and I also mentioned a cabin as we were coming up and there's a cool little A-frame cabin you can actually reserve to stay in for up to seven nights from June to September but good luck with that because we hear that it is booked pretty much the entire time. The route we've been following on all trails ends at the lake but many reviewers said to continue on to see the Raven Glacier it's either one mile each way or one mile round trip I don't really remember but it's not that much longer and people say it's very much worth it. Yeah I think the glacier was worth the extra I think half a mile it ended up being. Considering how epic these first three to four miles have been of this trail we can only imagine how the rest of the trail would be. We would love to backpack it or hike the rest of it but it was just going to be too logistically challenging to do it on this trip so we have got to come back to see the rest of this it just blew us away figuratively and almost literally. All three hikes that we did at Chugach State Park were so epic and so much fun we do plan to explore a little bit more of the park in a few weeks or so but for now we're going to be heading to the Kenai Peninsula which we hear from many people is one of their favorite areas in this part of Alaska. They have a mix of traditional and unique pizzas and we hear the best way to The camera eats first and then we finally get to eat. I caught three frish. I'm counting them. Call them frish. Frish.