Photo: Craig Talbert · CC BY 2.0More than half of Bear Creek’s land is conserved: 56%
56% of Bear Creek’s land is conserved, about 13,690 acres. 22 miles of mapped trail cross Bear Creek, 0.6 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 38% of U.S. towns. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Bear Creek?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Bear Creek have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Bear Creek is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns. Conserved land holds the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
Alaska towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 15%; the U.S., 4%), so Bear Creek’s 56% is ahead of 85% of Alaska towns, while its trails per square mile lead 59% of them.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
13,690 conserved acres
56% of Bear Creek’s land. Who manages Bear Creek’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 2 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 3 of 5 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chugach National Forest National Forest | U.S. Forest Service | 11,952 | Open |
| State Land Disposals - Municipal Entitlements, Mun State Other or Unknown | State natural resources | 1,501 | Unknown |
| State Land Disposals - Municipal Purposes State Other or Unknown | State natural resources | 300 | Unknown |
| State Tentatively Approved (tad) State Other or Unknown | State natural resources | 31 | Unknown |
2 places to go in Bear Creek
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
1 scenic view without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
9 named trails and 6 lakes & rivers
2.2 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
The best walking months in Bear Creek: June to August
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 6.6 | 9.0 | 11.6 | 14.5 | 17.2 | 18.9 | 18.1 | 15.6 | 12.7 | 9.9 | 7.3 | 5.8 |
| High (°F) | 31 | 34 | 37 | 45 | 53 | 59 | 62 | 62 | 56 | 46 | 36 | 33 |
| Rain (in) | 6.5 | 6.4 | 3.9 | 4.3 | 3.5 | 2.3 | 3.1 | 5.4 | 9.9 | 8.7 | 7.6 | 8.2 |
June is the driest month (2.3 in) and July the warmest (highs of 62 °F). 9.9 inches fall in September, the wettest month. The climate in Bear Creek →
Bear Creek and its neighbors
Bear Creek has the second most mapped trails of the 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Questions about parks and trails in Bear Creek
How much of Bear Creek is conserved land?
56% of its land, against a typical 15% for an Alaska town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Where can I bike in Bear Creek?
2.2 miles of bike routes are on the map: 2.2 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Bear Creek?
67,797 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Bear Creek or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 234 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Bear Creek have?
Ahead of 38% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Bear Creek neighbors.
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →