Chugach State Park, Anchorage

At almost a half-million acres—most of that wilderness—the third-largest state park in the United States is a unique urban amenity for Anchorage residents and visitors. With lakes and mountains, rivers and woods, bears, moose, wolves, mountain goats, eagles and more, the park offers almost all the wild attractions that draw visitors to Alaska—and all in the city limits. A small interpretive facility, the Eagle River Nature Center (www.ernc.org), describes the park. Hundreds of miles of trail thread it; one popular hike, to Flattop Mountain, is a daunting 1.5-mile 1,300-foot climb that yields panoramic views of south-central Alaska. This trek is the best way for visitors to experience the park by themselves.

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