Official State of Alaska Vacation and Travel Information

Home » Destinations » Cities & Towns » Nikiski

Southcentral

Overview
Map
Parks + Attractions

Nikiski

Learn More

Nikiski, the heart of the Cook Inlet oil country is a full-service community of 4,406 residents that began as a small homesteaded community in the 1940s, located 16 miles north of Kenai. But with the discovery of oil on the Kenai Peninsula in 1957 Nikiski grew rapidly as a center of industrial activity thanks to its location. Today based out of Nikiski are a handful of oil companies that explore and produce crude oil and natural gas from both onshore production facilities and at offshore platforms in Cook Inlet.

Visitors also like the location of Nikiski as it serves as the gateway to Captain Cook State Recreation Area, a 3,460-acre state park nine miles to the north along Kenai Spur Highway. This un-crowded state recreation area encompasses forests, lakes, rivers and wide beaches along Cook Inlet from which you can gather in the incredible view of the Alaska Range volcanoes. It is here where the Swanson River empties into the Cook Inlet, attracting the attention of anglers casting for silver and red salmon and rainbow trout. This is also the west end of the Swanson River Canoe Route, an 80-mile paddle through the wilderness heart of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge (907-262-7021). The state recreation area features campgrounds, hiking trails, boat launch, even a bathhouse and a swimming area on Stormy Lake.

But most swimmers, locals and visitors, will pass up Stormy Lake and head indoors to the Nikiski Pool at Mile 23.4 of the Kenai Spur Highway. Inside a dome-shaped building features a large heated pool with 136-foot-long waterslide, hot tubs and a visitor observation area. Outside there are picnic facilities and a playground.

Nikiski

Nikiski is located 16 miles north of the city of Kenai and is road accessible via the Kenai Spur Highway which junctions with the Sterling Highway at Milepost 94.2.

Learn More

Nikiski

Nearby Parks

Learn More

Attractions

Birding +

Birders will find Captain Cook State Recreation Area an excellent destination with possible sightings including bald eagles, sandhill cranes, trumpeter swans, arctic and common loons, golden-eye ducks, mergansers, thrushes, warblers, and jays.
Canoeing +

Captain Cook State Recreation Area just north of Nikiski is the west end of the Swanson River canoe route. The Swanson River system links more than 40 lakes and 46 miles of river in the northern lowlands of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge with a one-way trip being an 80-mile paddle from Swan Lake Road to Cook Inlet. For a much shorter outing canoers will spend an afternoon paddling the park's Stormy Lake.
Nikiski Family Fun in the Midnight +

Celebrating the longest day of the year, the Nikiski Family Fun in the Midnight Sun festival begins with foot races and continues with variety of contests such as three-legged races, egg and water balloon tosses and a obstacle course. In between there are carnival games, food and music to round out the day-long festival.
Nikiski Pool +

Nikiski is blessed with an excellent indoor pool and recreation area. The Nikiski Pool is a dome-shaped building that features a large pool heated to 84 degrees with 136-foot-long waterslide, splash area, hot tubs and a visitor observation area. Outside there are picnic facilities and a playground.
Sportfishing +

In Captain Cook State Recreation Area anglers head to Swanson River to catch rainbow trout and silver salmon during late summer spawning runs. In Stormy Lake they cast for rainbows and arctic char and then return in the winter to ice fishing through the lake's frozen surface.