Mountain biking Carter Lake is one to add to your list for rides on the Kenai Peninsula!

The Carter Lake Trail is an alternative way to access Crescent Lake, and hits the lake on the opposite side than the standard in traditional Crescent Lake Trail. Carter Lake, while much less of a mountain bike trails than Crescent Lake, is still a super fun bike ride! It’s wide, which on the way up made me think it wouldn’t be that fun on the way down. But, as it turned out, it rode super fun on the way down because the sight lines were good, speed could be maintained, options were there to choose fun lines, and the whole thing flowed pretty well. That said, it’s definitely not a pedal up as the pitch is far too steep for anything less than an Olympian! So, if you’re willing to push or carry for a while, it’s certainly a worthy ride.

At the top of the steep section/The Climb, there’s a grassy plateau that rides along Carter Lake and over to Crescent Lake. I could see this getting overgrown later in the summer, but early June it was just starting to melt so actually super beautiful out there. It’s worth getting to the overlook of Crescent Lake if you can, as it’s super beautiful and a really cool perspective on the lake! There is a primitive trail that continues along the southside of Crescent Lake, and I went partway down it to explore, but turned around at the first River Crossing reminded of how primitive trails really aren’t for mountain biking! From the turnaround, it was a fun pedal across the flats, then a fast and fun to sent back to the lot.

That downhill rode a lot more technical than I expected, perhaps because it rode faster than I expected (always a choice)!  Overall, I’d say this is a super worthy ride, and a way to mix up the options on the Kenai Peninsula!

grassy plateau to Crescent Lake

beautiful valley to spend some time in!

view of Crescent Lake

Crescent Lake from the overlook

turnoff to the primitive trail here – go explore at your own risk!

the trail is wide, but super fun on the DH!

Like this?  Explore the other options at www.alaskaMTB.com!