Arctic Valley Road Drive

The first mile is a straightaway past beautiful green lawns on both sides of the road, including the driving range for Moose Run Golf Course. Then the road starts climbing and the pavement ends, sending you up a wide gravel road. Within a few minutes, you're already high enough to look down on downtown Anchorage and across the Inlet to the Mat Su Valley. Ship Creek flows through the bottom of the valley to the west and steep mountainsides hem in the road on the east. Around mile six, there is an old abandoned Nike missile site (although not currently accessible to the public), part of Fort Richardson Military Reservation. Another mile of switchbacking four-wheel-drive road takes you to the top. Here you'll find Alpenglow ski area, which offers miles of hiking trails and late-summer berry picking.