Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / Alaska / Chugach Mountains

Rabbit Lake Trail

Chugach State Park, Alaska State Parks (Rabbit Creek Trailhead at the end of Canyon Road, Anchorage Hillside)

Rabbit Lake sits in an alpine bowl right under the rock walls of the Suicide Peaks, in Chugach State Park above Anchorage. The trail follows an old road up the valley and climbs gradually most of the way. One 2026 newspaper guide calls it “a popular first backpacking trip,” and it’s a good one: short enough for a first night out, with the alpine scenery of a much longer walk.

The lake is cold and the bowl can be very windy. Bring a tent that stands up to a gust and a warm layer for the evening.

The hike

For years this valley was hard to reach. In 2007, a land trust working with Alaska State Parks secured public access to the Rabbit Creek valley, opening it to park visitors “for the first time in 20 years,” according to the trust.

The trail starts at the Rabbit Creek Trailhead at the end of Canyon Road, off DeArmoun Road on the Anchorage Hillside. One travel guide warns the drive is winding as the road turns to dirt and climbs into the foothills, and a 2026 newspaper guide says the access road is rough with serious potholes. The park says parking is limited.

Past the gate, the park’s trail guide says, the route follows an old roadbed through brush and soon opens to views of the Rabbit Creek valley. Later the road fades into a narrower trail to the lake. One magazine guide mentions alder patches and a few shallow creeks along the way. About a mile above the gate, a travel guide warns of a rough stretch where road damage left mud holes and rocks.

The trail climbs gradually to a high knoll above the last trees, where you get your first look at Rabbit Lake, about 2 miles off, according to the same guide. From there you follow Rabbit Creek up the valley. The park lists the trail at 4.4 miles one way with about 1,200 feet of gain, and one guide puts the lake at about 3,000 feet. Bikes are allowed as far as the lake, but not beyond it, the park says.

The lake sits below North and South Suicide Peaks, rock-walled summits that one travel guide calls popular climbs for experienced scramblers. The same guide describes a rough path along the lake’s north side to a narrow beach at the base of North Suicide Peak, a nice place for lunch. Weather can change quickly, especially near Windy Gap at the head of the valley, and the park’s guide says plainly that the “area around lakes can be extremely windy.”

For a point-to-point trip, continue over a low pass to McHugh Lake and down the McHugh Lake Trail to the McHugh Creek trailhead on the Seward Highway. The park lists that trail at 6.4 miles one way with 2,900 feet of gain, and the full traverse at 10.8 miles. Most backpackers will want to go in from Canyon Road. One hiking site says hauling a full pack up from McHugh “would be a real chore,” and points heavy-pack trips to the Canyon Road side. Arrange a car shuttle for the traverse.

Brown and black bears and moose live here, one magazine guide notes, so give wildlife plenty of room.

For another Front Range lake overnight in the same park, see Williwaw Lakes.

Tips

Camping

The park’s trail guide says camping is allowed only more than half a mile from the trailhead or a developed road, and camping in an undeveloped area of a state park is limited to 10 consecutive days. Open fires are not permitted; portable camp stoves are. No permit or reservation for camping was found. Treat all water from the lake and creek.

Inside Intel: Rabbit Lake is no secret. A photo caption posted in 2011 notes that the lake is only a couple of hours from the last houses on Canyon Road, offers little solitude in summer, and usually has a few groups camped nearby. For more room and a big view, one hiker camped in the foothills of McHugh Peak above the lakes, with Rabbit Lake, the Suicide Peaks, McHugh Lake and the Alaska Range all in sight. Another hiker’s advice for the lake itself: find shelter, because the wind “is howling and the breeze can be quite chilly, even in summer.”

Trail facts

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Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.