Hope

This out-of-the-way Kenai Peninsula town was a bustling gold mining hub in the 1890s. Today Hope is a virtual ghost town, with just 130 or so inhabitants and a fascinating collection of old log buildings and dirt streets. Get to Hope by driving 70 miles south from Anchorage on the Seward Highway. The Hope Highway turns west here, ending 17 miles later in Hope. Lodging, RV sites, and food are available, and the Hope & Sunrise Historical and Mining Museum is worth a visit. Walk around the town's historic log buildings, try your hand at gold panning, or check out the humpback (pink) salmon spawning in the creek. The tidal flats, however, should ...

This out-of-the-way Kenai Peninsula town was a bustling gold mining hub in the 1890s. Today Hope is a virtual ghost town, with just 130 or so inhabitants and a fascinating collection of old log buildings and dirt streets. Get to Hope by driving 70 miles south from Anchorage on the Seward Highway. The Hope Highway turns west here, ending 17 miles later in Hope. Lodging, RV sites, and food are available, and the Hope & Sunrise Historical and Mining Museum is worth a visit. Walk around the town's historic log buildings, try your hand at gold panning, or check out the humpback (pink) salmon spawning in the creek. The tidal flats, however, should be avoided since it's easy to get stuck in the mud and the tide can come in fast. Chugach National Forest's Porcupine Campground is just out of town, with woodsy camping and an easy 5-mile hiking trail that follows the shoreline of Turnagain Arm to Gull Rock. More adventurous backpackers traverse the 38-mile Resurrection Pass Trail, which starts 11 miles from town at the end of a winding dirt road. This trail has eight Forest Service cabins along the way, and is popular with mountain bikers. Sixmile Creek near Hope is one of the premier whitewater rafting areas in Alaska.

About the Expert

Don Pitcher has written or photographed 10 travel guidebooks to Alaska, Wyoming, Yellowstone-Grand Teton, and the San Juan Islands for Avalon Travel Publishing, Random House, and Sasquatch Books.