Matanuska Valley State Moose Range
Managed by Alaska Department of Fish and Game
22,203 acres11.4 mi of trail
Chickaloon Trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Photo: HMS · CC BY-SA 3.0BOutdoors
Outdoors in Sutton-Alpine
More than half of Sutton-Alpine’s land is conserved: 62%
62% of Sutton-Alpine’s land is conserved, about 22,881 acres. The biggest trail networks: Matanuska Valley State Moose Range (11.4 mi). 21% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 55% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
62%
22,881 acres · of 57.6 sq mi of land
Trails
15 mi
0.3 per sq mi of land
Park land
18 ac
11 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
21%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
2.2 mi
2.2 mi paths
Highest peak
4,409 ft
Red Mountain
Lakes & rivers
8
1 boat launch
What kind of outdoors town is Sutton-Alpine?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Sutton-Alpine have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Sutton-Alpine is ahead of 55% of U.S. towns. Conserved land holds the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Sutton-Alpine’s overall grade.
Conserved land62% of the land · typical AK town 15% · U.S. 4%A+Trails0.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (15 mi) · AK 0.5 · U.S. 0.4B−Park land11 acres of park per 1,000 residents (18 acres) · AK 15 · U.S. 13B−Parks close to home21% of residents within a half mile of a park · AK 36% · U.S. 72%C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 55%
LessMore
Alaska towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 15%; the U.S., 4%), so Sutton-Alpine’s 62% is ahead of 88% of Alaska towns, while its trails per square mile lead 41% of them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
The longest trail network is Matanuska Valley State Moose Range, with 11.4 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Alpine Historical Park
Park
5 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
22,881 conserved acres
62% of Sutton-Alpine’s land. Who manages Sutton-Alpine’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State natural resources22,877 ac
Bureau of Land Management4 ac
State Resource Management Area · 21,568 acState Other or Unknown · 1,310 acNational Public Lands · 4 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 3 of 5 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matanuska Valley Moose Range State Resource Management Area | State natural resources | 21,568 | Open |
| State Patented State Other or Unknown | State natural resources | 914 | Unknown |
| State Land Disposals - Municipal Purposes State Other or Unknown | State natural resources | 366 | Unknown |
| State Tentatively Approved (tad) State Other or Unknown | State natural resources | 30 | Unknown |
| Anchorage Field Office National Public Lands | Bureau of Land Management | 4 | Open |
Things to do
2 places to go in Sutton-Alpine
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Boat launches in Sutton-Alpine
Seventeen Mile Lake Boat Launch
DirectionsPeaks in Sutton-Alpine
Red Mountain4,409 ft elevation · In Matanuska Valley State Moose Range
DirectionsTrails & water
1 named trail and 8 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 4.6 mi
Chickaloon Trail2.3 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
2.2 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
2.2 mi
off-road bike paths
When to get out
The best walking months in Sutton-Alpine: May to July
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) | 6.2 | 8.8 | 11.5 | 14.6 | 17.6 | 19.5 | 18.7 | 15.9 | 12.8 | 9.8 | 7.0 | 5.3 |
| High (°F) | 23 | 30 | 36 | 50 | 62 | 67 | 69 | 66 | 57 | 44 | 29 | 24 |
| Rain (in) | 0.9 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 2.3 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 1.4 |
April is the driest month (0.5 in) and July the warmest (highs of 69 °F). 3.3 inches fall in September, the wettest month. The climate in Sutton-Alpine →
Next door
Sutton-Alpine and its neighbors
Sutton-Alpine has the most mapped trails of the 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sutton-Alpine | 62% | 0.3 | 11 | 21% | B |
| Chickaloon | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Buffalo Soapstone | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Sutton-Alpine
Where can I hike in Sutton-Alpine?
The longest trail networks: Matanuska Valley State Moose Range, 11.4 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Sutton-Alpine is conserved land?
62% 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.
Are dogs allowed on Sutton-Alpine’s trails?
Matanuska Valley State Moose Range and Alpine Historical Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Sutton-Alpine?
2.2 miles of bike routes are on the map: 2.2 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Sutton-Alpine?
115,193 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Sutton-Alpine or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 21,783 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Sutton-Alpine have?
Ahead of 55% 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 Sutton-Alpine neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
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 →