Flattop Mountain is a Grunt, but Worth the Effort

If you are looking for places to hike around Anchorage, the trail that comes up on top of the list is Flattop Mountain. In fact, it is the most used hiking trail in all of Alaska and you can understand why when you consider the trail head is an easy drive from downtown on paved roads, and the views from the top are more than worth the rugged climb to the top.

Starting up the Trail

The views begin as soon as you start this trail; you have beautiful panoramas of Anchorage, the Cook Inlet, Turnagain Arm and the Chugach Mountains. To the north you can even see Denali’s snow covered flanks.

Denali looming to the north

Partway up on the easy stuff

Seriously Steep Staircase

LInda slogging the stairs

Rugged Section

Starting up the scree slope to summit

The mountain is not that high at 1070 m or 3,510’ and you have about a 366 m or 1200’ vertical gain during the hike. The first half of the 2.8 km (1.75 mile trail) is a fairly easy wide gravel path. Past the half way point the hike becomes moderate, climbing some fairly steep grades and up some poorly maintained railway tie steps. This eventually gets you up to the saddle, a good place to stop, take a break and evaluate the rest of the climb. The trail now becomes moderate to difficult as it pushes up a very steep boulder slope over very unclear paths. The final 100 yards or so are near vertical scrambling up the rocky face. Tip: Take the time to evaluate the trails up here. There is a tendency for people to want to take the shortest route, particularly coming down and this isn’t necessarily the easiest way to get up or down as you are working your way through large loose rocks. To make matters worse, people seem to want to follow each other creating traffic jams at the difficult spots. There are some better paths that traverse or switchback up to the top and even though you are traveling further, they are much easier to deal with, not to mention safer. I was able to easily pass the worst of the congestion this way.

Steep Slope on way to summit

Looking Down from summit

Steep Scramble near the top

View from the Summit looking at the Chugach Mountains

On the Summit

Looking back at Anchorage from the summit

In spite of the difficulties, it is amazing how many people are climbing this mountain. People of all ages, some people running, families with small children, school groups and folks with their dogs, are all making this climb. It reminds me of images I have seen of the traffic jams of people on Everest, with everyone waiting to do the final scramble to the top. Although this was a spectacular day, it is still not peak season. I can’t imagine what it is like during the peak summer months.

Lots of familys and small kids

Crowds at the saddle

Congestion on the way down

On the way down we took a turn on the trail around the backside of a lower hill, off the more commonly used route. It turned out to be a good choice as we had some spectacular views looking up at Chugach Mountains and as we started back down the valley we spotted a moose off in the distance, and soon after, we spotted a black bear ambling down the valley at the base of the slope we were on. We followed a parallel course to him all the way down, and eventually had to be a little careful, as we appeared to be on an intercept course as he angled toward the trail. He popped out of some trees not far below us, spotted me taking some pictures then trotted on across the trail below some other oblivious hikers.

On the way down

Moose in the valley below us

Black Bear in the valley below the trail

Bear approaching the trail

Once we got back to the parking area about mid afternoon, it was full. This is one big parking lot and there is even another overflow area. Judging by all the no parking signs on the streets leading up here, it gets insane up here. Best to get here early in the day if you want to find a spot and beat the rush to the top.

Fresh Margaritas

The rewards for hiking Flat Top

Access to the trail head: From the Seward Hwy take O’Malley east, right on Hillside Dr, left on Huffman and left on Toilsome Hill and follow the signs to Glen Alps. There is a $5.00 parking fee. There is also a shuttle service, Flattop Mountain Shuttle that is available to pick up and return hikers downtown. Ph. 907-279-3334