Regions in Brief

The Towns

Kenai, on Cook Inlet on the west side of the Kenai Peninsula, is the largest town in the region. Ten miles up the Kenai River, Soldotna is Kenai's twin, and together they form a unit with about a fourth of the Kenai Peninsula's population of 50,000. They're also the least interesting of the peninsula's communities. Homer, at the southern end of the peninsula, has wonderful art and character and lots of ways to get out on the water. Seward, on the east side, is smaller and quieter, a charming gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park.

There are three towns on Prince William Sound. Valdez is an oil town at the southern terminus of the trans-Alaska pipeline where tankers are loaded. Cordova is more attractive, a historic community on the eastern side of the Sound, with outdoor activities close at hand. Whittier is a grim former military outpost, but a convenient gateway to the protected fjords and glaciers of the western Sound.

Getting Outside

The towns of the region are like beads strung along the laces of the highways; everything else is wilderness. You can find all the activities and isolation you seek here, yet the presence of the towns means that comfort is closer at hand than in other parts of Alaska.

Chugach National Forest takes in all of Prince William Sound and most of the eastern Kenai Peninsula. At 5.3 million acres, it's more than double the size of Yellowstone National Park. Anywhere else but Alaska it would be a national park, and one of the largest and most spectacular, with some of the best sea kayaking, hiking, backpacking, wildlife watching, and scenery anywhere. General information, camping, and ideas on remote areas in the Chugach are covered in section 3, while details about National Forest areas near towns are in the appropriate town sections.

Kenai Fjords National Park protects the outer edge and ice cap of the Kenai Peninsula's southern side. The park is incomparable in its remoteness, stark beauty, and abundance of marine wildlife. Access is though Seward.

On the peninsula's western side, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge has Alaska's most accessible wilderness lake and river canoeing, as well as extraordinary fishing, with access from roads near Soldotna.

Kachemak Bay State Park offers good sea-kayaking waters and wilderness hiking not connected to any road. The Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge protects the wildlife habitat of remote islands and seashores around the state.