Glenn Highway

Whatever draws you to the nation's last wild frontier, a trip down Glenn Highway provides you with a good glimpse of Alaskan life. The natural and untamed wilderness is a playground for outdoor enthusiasts, its healthy ecosystem drawing wildlife photographers and birders. Travelers looking for distinctive cultural experiences tour the museums, restaurants and city life of Anchorage.

Anchorage on a Moonlit Night (AK) [1]

Your trip down the byway begins at a civilized island nestled between untamable wilderness and massive mountains. Anchorage beckons to all travelers with a variety of activity. This thriving city boasts a truly international atmosphere, with residents and visitors from every corner of the planet. Surprisingly metropolitan considering the dense wilderness surrounding it, Anchorage offers fine dining, shopping and nightlife to the most sophisticated of visitors. In addition to the typical urban attractions, the city claims a variety of uniquely Alaskan cultural and historical sites. Visit several museums and cultural centers paying homage to Alaskan natives, early European settlers and American prospectors. Stroll through botanical gardens and tour early Russian Orthodox churches and museums.

Long Lake State Park (AK) [2]

As you leave the city, the byway takes on a wilder tone. In the shadow of the Chugach mountain range and surrounded by stately glaciers, Glenn Highway provides the traveler with diverse terrain, fantastic vistas and recreational opportunities. Wildlife abounds in the area, from bears and moose to salmon and birds of prey. For an up-close experience with nature, observe golden eagles and other raptors at the Mile 118 viewing area near the end of the byway. If you love the outdoors, you'll find ideal terrain for virtually every sport: from a pleasant backpacking trip or cross-country ski journey, to mountain biking or ice climbing on glaciers. For a more region-specific outdoor journey, dogsled across vast snowy plains and try your hand at gold panning, or fish for Alaska's famous salmon.

Visit some of the roadhouses along the latter half of the byway. Constructed in the 40s for settlers carving out a life for themselves in the area's often forbidding terrain, these roadhouses are a warm and welcoming place for travelers to enjoy a hot meal and good conversation. They are also a convenient stopping place for cross-country skiers, snowmobile riders and dog-mushers who traverse the snowy plains of an Alaskan winter. Stop in at a roadhouse for a relaxing evening and the perfect end to your trip along the byway.