Suntrana Canyon

Curious Crow (Atlas Obscura User)

This canyon walk will dazzle and amaze you with the many layers of colors throughout the stroll. It is not an actual trail, but you will be walking up hill in what is the Suntrana creek drainage. If you are into geology, then this is a must see when headed from Anchorage to either Denali National Park and/or up to Fairbanks. It is located just east of the town of Healy on an unassuming dirt road.

This is a visually stunning area with odd shapes of water worn rock formations and numerous layers of bright colors including veins of coal. This area was once a major Alaskan coal mine which is now long closed in this location. Apparently, some people locally call this a well-kept secret. The name Suntrana comes from the Athabaskan (Native Alaskan) language meaning, “burning hills,” from fires coming from the coal seams.

This canyon hiker is a bit of an otherworldly experience where you start to feel like you may be on another planet or maybe gone back in time to when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

Know Before You Go

Located near the town of Healy, Alaska, and just east of there on a lonely dirt road. It is easy to get there just enter these GPS coordinates, (63.856155, -148.854081) and you are there.

Parking is on the sides of the wide dirt road near the little bridge that goes over the Suntrana creek where you will be hiking up the canyon.