This year’s Alaska state budget includes funding for the first phase of the Alaska Long Trail, a proposed 500-mile hiking route that could run from Fairbanks to Seward. KTNA’s Colleen Love has more.
Alaska Trails is a non-profit organization that advocates for more and better trails. Last year, while working on separate trail projects, they realized that if the state connected the trail sections, Alaska could have a trail system that rivaled the Pacific Crest Trail or the Appalachian Trail.
Support from state government led to $13.2 million, drawn from COVID relief funds, to be set aside for trail connection and development. Those funds will be spent connecting existing trails. However, they may also end up as part of the overall Long Trail.
The Alaska Long Trail is still conceptual. However, it has motivated Alaska Trails to begin to organize meetings with communities along the proposed trail route. According to Alaska Trails Program Coordinator, Chris Beck, proceeding with the concept without tackling important issues would be reckless. Those aspects are management, maintenance, search and rescue capacity and multi-use conflicts.
At a recent Talkeetna Community Council meeting, Chris explained why the trail could be good for the state.
“Our motivations are several. They include the fact that we all enjoy getting out and being healthy and active outside. But it’s also very much of an economic initiative. If we can just get half of the typical visitors to Alaska to spend one more day, that’s an extra $137 million in spending, and our state’s looking at a lot of economic challenges. That isn’t to say that, sort of, mindlessly, more tourism is better, but it’s to think about trying to provide opportunities that are good for residents, good for visitors, to try to play that balance.
Worldwide, trails like the Camino de Santiago in Spain, the Great Himalayan Trail in Nepal, and the Inca Trail in Peru, are popular tourist draws. Most visitors don’t hike the entire trail. But section hiking is enough to experience a portion of wilderness in that part of the world.
Connecting some of Alaska’s existing trails, though, could be a challenge. Chris described how the trail might connect to and from the Talkeetna area.
“The hope would be for a trail link leading north out of Hatcher Pass, following the route that NOLS and some other folks have followed over the years, and dropping into Talkeetna. From Talkeetna up to the Denali State Park, y’all probably know, there’s a couple of non-trivial rivers in the way. And one thought is perhaps to try to get across the river with the railroad, the Talkeetna River, and then go up to the old Curry Lodge camp, where there was a suspension bridge, and use that to get across and up onto the Curry and Kesugi Ridges.”
Chris acknowledges that the plan is ambitious. Alaska Trails is hoping that the community will engage to tackle ideas for routes and ensure privacy for local land owners.
The community meetings regarding the Long Trail will be held in the fall, and Chris hopes that anyone with an interest in the project will provide feedback or tailor aspects of path to make it Talkeetna’s own.
