About 25 miles north of Anchorage is a pretty waterfall and scenic hiking trail with an identity crisis.
Thunderbird Falls or Thunder Bird Falls?
Easy hike suitable for the whole family, or pathway to peril?
Place of solitude, or magnet for the masses?
All of the above are true, although there is reason to believe the answer to the first conundrum is three words, not two.
Matt Wedeking, chief ranger of Chugach State Park, says it's Thunder Bird Falls. So does Donald J. Orth's Dictionary of Alaska Place Names and so do the Glenn Highway exit signs -- although old highway signs have used the two-word variation, and the neighborhood adjacent to the trail is called Thunderbird Heights.
Either way, the waterfall is the payoff for trail-users, who can walk one mile on a wide dirt path that leads to a viewing platform for glimpse of the waterfall or can hike down a narrower trail to the bank of Eklutna River and then scramble up some rocks to get close enough to feel the spray of water.
Neither route is terribly demanding, and both come with a soundtrack provided by nature. As you walk you'll hear the rushing of the creek and the roar of Thunder Bird Falls, which drops 200 feet.
The main trail has an elevation gain of 130 feet but there's some rolling terrain, so you're not always going uphill. At the halfway point, there's a boardwalk with a platform where you can look down into the gorge and get an appreciation for how sheer and long the drop is from the trail's edge.
At the halfway mark, you can stay on the main trail that leads to the upper viewing platform – where you get a nice but not close-up view of Thunder Bird Falls – or you can veer onto a narrower trail that drops down to the river. This trail begins with a short but fairly steep descent into the canyon and leads to a closer look at the waterfall.
The main trail is accessible to people of all ages and fitness levels. On a recent day, a man with a leashed dog reached the parking lot in a sweat after a two-mile run. A couple of minutes behind him was a couple with two toddlers traveling at a much more relaxed pace.
While the hike is suitable for just about anyone, it can also be deadly.
In most places, all that separates the trail from the canyon's rim is a narrow buffer of trees and brush. The drop to the river is precipitous, and numerous signs warn visitors of the steep drop and advise them to stay on the trail.
"People will go off trail and fall off the embankment anywhere along there," said Virginia McMichael, chief of the Chugiak Volunteer Fire Department, which is generally the first to respond to emergency calls at Thunder Bird Falls. "Stay on the trail. This is not a place for people to be running around."
In May 2005, a man fell 80 feet to his death. In the winter of 2014, a teenage girl was rescued after tumbling 30 feet. This winter, an ice climber was hoisted to safety after he fell 30 feet.
"We get called out there maybe twice a year," McMichael said. "It's usually one serious one and one not-so-serious one."
Rescues often involve multiple people on six-wheelers and, in the winter, snowmachines.
"It's hard to get down (to the river bed), and it's hard to get back up," McMichaels said. "This winter we had to cut trees and paths to get down and back up."
On a nice summer day, Thunder Bird Falls can attract a crowd. A parking lot at the trail head fills up quickly on those days, and when it does, people will park on the side of the road that leads to the parking lot (saving them a $5 parking fee). If you go on a weekday morning or early afternoon, you might see only a handful of other visitors.
Wedeking said Thunder Bird Falls averages 6,000 visitors a month during the summer. Come winter, it draws about 500 a month, including ice climbers.
THUNDER BIRD FALLS
• Length: 1 mile to the upper viewing deck
• Elevation gain: 130 feet
• Total time: 30 to 60 minutes
• Parking fee: $5 per vehicle
• Directions: From Anchorage, take the Glenn Highway 25 miles north to the Thunder Bird Falls exit. Go about half a mile from the exit to the parking lot. The trailhead begins at the parking lot.