Willow is a sleepy little village that likes to dream big. In the 1800s it was gold. A century later Willow was dreaming about becoming the state capital of Alaska. The gold and the plans for becoming the next Alaska capital are gone but the biggest thing of all in Willow is still around - North America’s tallest mountain. To many travelers heading north, this community of 2,142 residents at Mile 69 of the George Parks Highway offers the first overwhelming view of Mount McKinley. If the day is clear, ‘the Great One’ dominates the Willow skyline like no other community in Alaska.
Today Willow calls itself the “Recreation Capital of Alaska” and it’s hard to argue with them. Lodging, guide and charter services are a large part of the community’s economy. With Mount McKinley looming overhead visitors in Willow can arrange flightseeing excursions to the mountain as well as bear viewing, river rafting, and fly-in fishing adventures throughout the area.
Willow also has its share of dog mushers, with many of its residents past participants in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race to Nome. Although the race begins in Anchorage, it is merely a short ceremonial start and then the dogs and teams are trucked north to Willow for the official re-start on the first Sunday in March. In the summer a number of the kennels offer informal tours along with a ride in a basket sled on wheels pulled by one of the teams.
Willow is best known for its renowned fishing, boating and camping along its fish-laden rivers and lakes. Visitors can find guides or lakeside lodging through the Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau and then book an afternoon float to catch rainbow trout in such area rivers as Willow, Montana, and Clear Creek or the larger Susitna and Talkeetna Rivers.
Like so many Alaska communities, Willow appeared as a tent city after gold was discovered on Willow Creek in 1897. A trail to the gold was established and then the Talkeetna Trail, the forerunner of the Parks Highway, was also laid out through Willow and was soon the new route bustling with freighters and mail carriers and their dog teams and pack horses. The trail gave way to the Alaska Railroad and many of the surveyors and construction crews who worked on the line ended up settling in Willow. By 1920 Willow had its own railroad station.
When gold mining activity ceased in the nearby Talkeetna Mountains in the 1940s, Willow became a ghost town but the community bounced back with the completion of the Parks Highway in 1972 and then when voters selected it four years later as the site of the new Alaska capital that was to be moved from Juneau. The move was put on the back burner in 1982, however, when funding for the immense project was defeated in a general state election.