Eagle Glacier Trail

Eagle Glacier Trail often earns a rough reputation for a long 7 mile mud slogging swamp of a trail. Nothing that a good pair of Tufs can?t handle with very little elevation gain, the trail mostly follows the floodplain of the Eagle River. There are boardwalks covering many parts of the trail, but the amount of water and mud found on this trail makes upkeep difficult. Roots and nurse logs make up the mass majority of this trail during the summer, but by time winter rolls around the trail becomes much easier to ski or snowshoe.

If you choose to brave the slick boards and mud, you will be rewarded with one of our favorite cabin spots. The silted eagle lake in front provides spectacular reflections of the massive granite bowl of surging waterfalls with Eagle Glacier at the end.

From the cabin, Eagle Glacier is only another 2 miles along the lake to reach. Trail is used loosely here. It begins easily recognizable and steadily diminishes until you have to find your own path along the rocks and cliffs that lead up to the glacier.

Getting to Eagle Glacier Trailhead

The trailhead is a little after the 25 mile marker heading north immediately after you cross Eagle River Bridge. During the red and silver salmon runs many black bears can be seen along the river. Take a little extra caution during these runs. There are many little ponds and lakes along the way which are great places for birding. They are popular for many waterfowl, eagles, great blue herons along with a couple species of frogs, trout, and beaver.

Eagle Glacier Cabin earns one of the top spots because of the view, but also because of its remoteness, which is actually harder than it seems to achieve in Juneau. The sound of cars and boats don?t reach this cabin and air traffic is considerably lower. In winter the lake often freezes enough for people to walk out on the lake and explore areas made trickier in the summer months.