At Beach Lake, the Mushers' Trails and the Skiers' Trails Keep Different Calendars

Off South Birchwood Loop Road in Chugiak, one park holds two trail networks. They have different keepers, different maps, and different rules about who can use them in winter. The Chugiak Dog Mushers Association marks its Beach Lake sled-dog trails as "Dedicated to mushing Aug 1 - April 15." The Nordic trails next to them are groomed by a different organization under a different agreement with the city. A walker, a skier and a dog team can all park at Beach Lake on the same December afternoon, and each of them has a different set of trails to use.

For most of the park's history, that split left a gap. People who weren't on skis or behind a dog team had no year-round legal way to get around the lake. The new multiuse trail on the west side of Beach Lake is filling that gap. It explains a lot about how the park will work this winter.

Two keepers, two maps

The quickest way to read Beach Lake is to see who maintains what. The two systems share parking, scenery, and occasionally a crossing. Little else is shared.

The mushing side was built by hand over decades. On its trail map page, CDMA says club members built and maintain more than 16 miles of groomed trail through birch forest, spruce bog, open meadow and lakes. The page offers maps of the 2-, 4-, 8- and 20-mile routes and notes that trails beyond the 8-mile loop are not finished.

The ski side dates to 1977, after Chugiak High School was completed. According to the Nordic Skiing Association of Anchorage trail map, volunteers from the Eagle River Nordic Ski Club, with support from Chugiak-Eagle River voters and the Parks and Rec Board, grew the system to nearly 20 km of trail, 8.6 km of it lighted. Skiers get on at the chalet on South Birchwood Loop Road, or from Chugiak High through a pair of tunnels that start at the school's soccer field. The Municipality's January 2026 public review draft of its recreational trails plan lists NSAA as grooming 20.5 miles at Beach Lake and Edmonds Lake combined. The same draft credits the Chugiak-Eagle River Nordic Ski Club with building and improving ski trails at Beach Lake.

Why August 1 matters more than the first snowfall

On most Anchorage-area trails, winter starts with the first snow. The dog trails at Beach Lake switch over on a fixed date. In a 2022 project write-up, the Chugach Mountain Bike Riders explained that the Anchorage Assembly dedicated these trails for mushing, and that Parks and Rec manages them as mushing-only from August 1 to April 15. They are open to multiuse from April 16 to July 31.

So the dog trails are already closed to everyone else by the time leaves turn in the Chugiak hills. That is when teams start dryland training, and CDMA notes that all of its dryland classes use the 2-mile trail.

The same CMBR write-up describes where the old arrangement broke down. The trail along the lakeshore was the natural route around Beach Lake, and it was a mushing trail. In the group's words:

"Several 'MUSHING ONLY' signs have been placed along the trails, but according to recent trail counts, there are more hikers using the lakeside mushing trail than dog mushers, leading to user conflict and unsafe conditions for both mushers and hikers."

The group also pointed out that the setup at the time offered no year-round legal option for hikers, bikers or other multiuse activity around the lake.

The lake trail that changes the winter math

The fix the groups picked, called "Alternative E" in the 2022 proposal, moves about half a mile of lightly used lakeside mushing trail elsewhere in the system. Half of that stretch ran through wetland that floods in summer. In its place goes a new gravel path, 8 feet wide, set at least 25 feet back from the lake. Where the walking trail meets the dog trail, the two cross once, at a single two-way mushing crossing with 250-foot sight lines. Split-rail fencing and signs keep each group on its own route, and the plan calls for 100 feet of separation where the trails run side by side.

Here is how the project moved forward:

1. November 2022. CMBR publishes the trail alternatives, with Alternative E as the preferred option.
2. December 2023. After a Dec. 13 public hearing, the last meeting in the approval process, CMBR lists "Muni approval and $250k of funding secured for the West Beach Lake trail" among its 2023 successes.
3. January 2024. CMBR issues a request for proposals to design and build about 1.5 miles of hardened gravel trail, with a target completion date of September 30, 2024.
4. 2025. In its year-end letter, CMBR lists coordinating construction of "an additional mile of the Northern Extension Coastal Trail around Beach Lake, connecting Eagle River to the Inlet, a part of the Historic Iditarod Trail."
5. 2026. The Municipality's draft trails plan lists the next piece as "Proposed 2026." That piece is an extension of the multiuse trail to Chugiak High School, which would extend the Parallel Recreational Trail segment of the Iditarod National Historic Trail. The same draft lists Beach Lake Master Plan trail improvements as "In Progress" and proposes upgrading the mushing trails for dryland events and shoulder-season use.

The proposed Chugiak High link would connect two things already in place. The ski trails reach the school through the soccer-field tunnels, and the new lakeside trail heads toward the Inlet. With both, Beach Lake would have a route for people on foot that runs from the school to the coast.

December's first dates, side by side

The mushers' season began in the fall without snow. CDMA's dryland program ran three Alaskan Dryland Points Races in September and the Dryland Derby on Oct. 3–4, 2026. Once there's snow, each trail system has its own first December date, and the two don't overlap.

• Sunday, Dec. 6, 12:30 p.m. The Chugiak-Eagle River Nordic Ski Club's first tour of the winter meets at the Beach Lake parking lot by the lake, not the chalet lot. The plan is to ski the lake and the lakeside trails, and possibly Fire Creek estuary. Ros Singleton leads the tours this year. According to the November 2026 Alaska Nordic Skier, tours are for club members, aren't meant for beginners or children under 12, and allow dogs that are well-behaved, stay with their owners and don't fight with other dogs. Dates may change with snow conditions.
• Wednesday, Dec. 30, 6:30 p.m. CDMA's Jr/Sr Night Race is the club's first snow race of the 2026–27 calendar. Classes are junior two-dog for ages 8 to 9, junior three-dog for ages 10 to 17, and senior three-dog, and racers need a CDMA membership.

After that, the CDMA events page lists the Southcentral Challenge on Jan. 16–18, the Solo Sweepstakes on Jan. 23, the Eagle River Classic on Feb. 6–7, and the Friends of CDMA & Easter Fun Run on March 21, 2027. Races are held on the Beach Lake Park trails unless the club says otherwise.

On the ski side, the same newsletter reports that the club's Junior Nordic program is full this year. It added Early Bird sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays and takes a winter break from Dec. 21 to 31.

All of these dates depend on snow. In the November newsletter, NSAA calls a strong El Niño "the elephant in the grooming shed" and says no one can say for sure what it will mean for snow this season. Each system posts conditions in its own place. Skiers can check NSAA's trails page and live grooming map, and CDMA posts its trail reports on its Facebook page.

The chalet and the lake fill the gaps

The Beach Lake Chalet serves both trail systems, and it can also be rented. Eagle River/Chugiak Parks & Recreation's 2026 rental application lists the large room or the full building for up to 93 people. Rentals run by the hour, by the four-hour block, or for a full day, at $70 to $300. The building has a kitchen, indoor bathrooms, bike and ski racks, and direct access to the trails. Parking at the chalet is tight on event days. For the March 2026 Ski the Beach for Erin, the Chugiak-Eagle River Nordic Ski Club asked skiers to park at Chugiak High and ski over to the chalet at 17611 S. Birchwood Loop Road.

The lake itself is stocked. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game's stocking record for Beach Lake shows rainbow trout released on May 20, 2026, and coho salmon on Sept. 29, 2025.

If you're looking at a home near Chugiak because of trail access like this, whether a dog yard, ski tunnels or the lakeside route, it's worth knowing which trail system a given lot connects to. At Top Homes Alaska, we spend a lot of time on the ground in Chugiak and Eagle River, and we're glad to go over a lot or a new build with you. Schedule your personal consultation.