South Fork Valley Trailhead

If you're looking for a trailhead that's only 30 minutes from downtown Anchorage in Eagle River that takes you on a fairly easy hike into a beautiful glacial valley and which is about 6 miles in and 6 miles out so you can plan on 4 to 5 hours of awesome, stunning vistas and not overly tired legs-- then you have found it in the South Fork Valley Trailhead. A popular location for the locals and a delightful place for their dogs, you'll have a great time. Just bring dramamine for the curvy and up-and-down road to the parking lot.

Great hike, a June 2024 update though. First off, the mud is no more. There are now VERY nice wooden walkways over the mud on middle and last parts of the trail. We went after a 5+ day dry period, minimal wet areas, easily dealt with. There were fish visible near shore on Symphony Lake, opens July 1st, check regulations. We took about 5 hours for the round trip, spent 30 minutes on site.

Small parking lot with a broken parking meter. Lots of blueberries up the trail! People park along the road outside. The homeowners around have signs asking for no parking in front of their property’s so be courteous.

Absolutely love this hike, one of my favorites in the area. I've gone there in the fall several times, but finally hiked it in the winter and it's great. It was a little hard to find the trail out of the parking lot... Will you leave the parking lot just fine but then so many people have forked off to go skiing, snowshoeing, or hiking.. We didn't quite know which trail was the correct trail. We were able to get to the correct trail very easily. The winter trail is pretty narrow because people have packed it down single file. I would highly recommend snow spikes, but most of our group didn't have them and did just fine.

Great hike near town. A near 12 mile round trip. The boulder field is a bit large but I mean, it’s a boulder field resulting from a Glacier so it’s to be expected. But it has a beautiful view and the hike has very little elevation gain when doing the Eagle/Symphony lake trail. There are other hikes that start from this point as well that have some serious elevation gain but the main trail does not. Great hike.

Beauty trail. We didn’t go the full length to the lake, but we stopped at the bridge and then turned around. To the bridge and back was right around 5 miles. The kids had a great time, and the views around the bridge were gorgeous. A great trail for beginners looking for that next level up.

Views are to die for!! You have to pay for parking but it was so busy we had to park down the hill. The hike to the lake is 5.5 miles. The first half isn’t too bad since the trail is nicely kept but after that it gets muddy and narrow. There were a lot of dogs not on leashes, just a heads up. Also, once you get to the lake it’s nothing but big rocks. Smaller dogs may have trouble, there’s lots of holes your fur friend can fall into. Bring comfy shoes and something to keep you warm.

So beautiful! The first thee miles are easy going then the farther you go the trail is less maintained. Worth it probably any time of the year.