Fish Creek Trail

This trail is most used for its access during the salmon run. For that short month, this trail is packed up and down, but for the rest of the year this trail remains relatively quiet. From the parking lot at Fish Creek bridge the lower trail heads out into the mud flats that are very important to the local sea birds a provide a wide array of nutrients for tidal life. The upper portion is about 2.5 miles long and heads up to Fish Creek road, what locals call Eaglecrest road, for their beloved local ski hill. There is another lot about 2.3 miles up Fish Creek Road where the trail and road intersect.

Fish Creek park has proved to be a resilient estuary. Even through dredging and early settlement activity the area remains a thriving ecosystem. ?According to the Juneau Trails Project ?Almost every bird species recorded on the greater Mendenhall Wetlands has been seen here at tiny Fish Creek Park?a reflection of the fine-scale mosaic of many different habitats in the inner estuary and flats outside.?

While the trail only gets lite use throughout the summer and even less during the winter, there is one day that most people know the trail by. That day is the Juneau Mud run in which Fish Creek is the first part of the long course. It takes place the first week in May and covers many of the flats that make Fish Creek such a diverse system.