On a map of Anchorage, the city's four great multi-use trails — the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, the Lanie Fleischer Chester Creek Trail, the Campbell Creek Trail, and the Ship Creek Trail — connect to form a 32-mile loop that, with a little squinting, looks like a moose. It's a quirk of geography that the Anchorage Park Foundation noticed in 2019, and it has since become the centerpiece of one of the city's most beloved annual traditions: the Moose Loop Trail Challenge.
This year, from September 12 through September 19, the sixth annual challenge invites people of all ages and abilities to create their own route along the Moose Loop trail system — or anywhere else they please — and complete a 5K, 10K, Mini Moose (a 16-mile bike ride), or the Mighty Moose (the full 32-mile loop by bike). There are no timing chips, no starting guns, and no winners. Participants simply register for $35 (free for anyone 17 and under), pick their distance, and head out whenever and wherever works for them. The event is untimed, all-ages, and all-abilities, designed as much for a family strolling a favorite neighborhood path as for a cyclist grinding out the full circumnavigation.
The challenge is, at its heart, a fundraiser for the Anchorage Park Foundation, a nonprofit working to improve parks and trails. In recent years, the foundation has used the event's momentum to push for safer trail connections, better signage, and infrastructure improvements along the loop.
The Moose Loop itself is a relatively recent concept, but the trails that compose it are anything but. Anchorage has one of the best urban trail systems in the United States, with hundreds of miles of paved and multi-use trails connecting neighborhoods, parks, and natural areas. The four main trails that form the Moose Loop each have their own character. The Tony Knowles Coastal Trail runs 10.5 miles, the Campbell Creek Trail runs 7.5 miles, the Ship Creek Trail runs 2.5 miles, and the Lanie Fleischer Chester Creek Trail runs 6 miles.
The route passes through Mountain View, where bicycle boulevards carry riders past the Welcome to Mountain View mural by Alaska artist Andrew Garcia. It passes Russian Jack Springs Park, where you can see the polar bear. It winds through the U-Med district, past University Lake. Along the way, riders encounter salmon fishermen on Ship Creek and — if they're lucky — actual moose, which are commonly seen on the trail system and are a major draw for visitors.
The idea for the loop crystallized in 2019, when the Anchorage Park Foundation realized that the four trails, when connected, outlined the shape of one of Anchorage's most iconic forms of wildlife. The foundation launched an effort to promote the route.
For those who want to tackle the full loop, the foundation provides detailed directions, an interactive Google map, and route files for STRAVA, Ride with GPS, Avenza, and Trailforks. The route is marked with mile posts every half mile, each with emergency locators. Most of the loop uses paved, multi-use trails off limits to vehicles, though certain sections require riding on sidewalks or paths next to roadways and crossing streets at designated crosswalks. Dogs are welcome but must be leashed. And as with all trails in Alaska, participants are advised to dress in layers, bring water and snacks, and carry bear spray.
The challenge has also spawned new variations. A Moose to Muldoon route on the east side adds 16 miles, creating a 38-mile loop. A new 5K Goose Loop in the U-Med district offers a shorter option, and two laps make a perfect 10K challenge. The foundation even sends a free Moose sticker to anyone who completes the full loop and lets them know.
But the real reward is the experience itself — the chance to see Anchorage from its greenbelts, surrounded by lush green space and the quiet of the outdoors.