Weird day trips from Anchorage

The strangest Anchorage finds are often a short drive out. These 9 day trips — Portage Ghost Town (the town the 1964 quake sank), Girdwood Ghost Forest, Whisperwood Witchery and more — are each hand-vetted and sourced: ghost towns, hot-spring soaks, roadside oddities, and odd small-town museums worth the gas. A weird day trip is its own kind of date.

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Portage Ghost Town (the town the 1964 quake sank) Once a busy rail-and-road junction, Portage dropped 8 to 10 feet in under five minutes during the 1964 magnit… Turnagain Arm (Seward Highway corridor)
Girdwood Ghost Forest Around milepost 90 of the Seward Highway, pale columns of long-dead trees stand on the Turnagain Arm mudflats… Girdwood / Turnagain Arm
Whisperwood Witchery A small-batch witchcraft and metaphysical-supplies maker that sells handcrafted magical tools as a pop-up ven… Girdwood (Turnagain Arm)
Alaska Forge A small, genuinely working blacksmithing shop up in the Mat-Su Valley near Palmer that runs weekend project-b… Palmer
Mug-Shot Saloon A spacious Mat-Su Valley saloon running since 1989, with pool tables, a dance floor, a live-music stage, and… Wasilla
Seward Brewing Company A coastal brewpub in downtown Seward that pairs its house beers with a pair of pinball machines: Williams' 19… Seward
Hatcher Pass Tours — Drive-Yourself Aurora UTV Run Instead of riding in a van, couples climb into their own heated, enclosed UTV and follow a guide up into the… Willow (Hatcher Pass)
Adventures by True North — Midnight Sun Knik River Paddle This Wasilla-based outfitter runs an evening paddle timed to the summer solstice, when the sun never really s… Knik River / Reflections Lake (near Palmer)
Hatcher Pass Northern Lights UTV Tour Instead of riding in a van, you drive your own heated, enclosed UTV (up to five people) following a guide dee… Hatcher Pass / Willow