Girdwood is a small resort town tucked into a glacial valley off the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet, about 60 km southeast of Anchorage along the Seward Highway. Officially it is part of the Municipality of Anchorage, which makes Girdwood the southernmost neighbourhood of one of the largest cities by area in the United States. In practice it is a separate village of around 2,000 people, surrounded on three sides by the Chugach Mountains and on the fourth by a tidal mudflat famous for its bore tide.
The town exists because of Alyeska Resort, Alaska's largest ski area, whose runs and the cable car run straight up out of the valley to Mount Alyeska's 2,750-foot summit. In winter the resort gets prodigious amounts of snow — over 600 inches a year on the upper mountain — and is the centre of Alaska's ski scene. In summer the Alyeska Aerial Tramway runs sightseers up the mountain for panoramic views of Turnagain Arm and seven hanging glaciers visible from the deck of the summit restaurant.
The town itself has a hippie-meets-ski-bum atmosphere. The buildings are timber-frame and unpretentious, scattered along a few streets that follow the curves of Glacier and California Creeks. There is a real bakery, Bake Shop, that has been pulling sourdough out of the oven since 1979; an excellent restaurant, Jack Sprat, at the base of the resort; and the Sitzmark bar where the ski patrol drinks. The Forest Service maintains a campground at the head of Crow Creek.
The hiking is exceptional. The Winner Creek Trail — a level rainforest walk to a gorge crossed by a hand-pulled tram — is the most popular short walk in the valley. Crow Pass climbs from a trailhead at the back of the valley over the Chugach to the Eagle River, a serious 24-mile point-to-point. Portage Glacier, with its drive-up visitor centre and boat trips, is fifteen minutes further down the highway and one of the easiest tidewater glaciers to reach from Anchorage.
Girdwood is the right base for the Turnagain Arm. Spend a couple of nights here rather than commuting from Anchorage and you will eat better, sleep quieter, and start your hikes an hour earlier.