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With more than 250 miles of trails, many within minutes of downtown, Juneau is the place to literally "take a hike." Trails range from being fairly flat and wide and accessible by wheelchairs and strollers to strenuous uphill paths for serious hikers. Although the weather can be a challenge, the trails around Juneau provide a window into the rugged rain forests in Southeast Alaska.

The U.S. Forest Service has five public-use cabins in the Juneau area. They range in size and can sleep up to16 people. Cabins are outfitted with a propane stove and bunks.

Visitors and locals who join the daily guided hikes on the Trail of Time at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center wouldn't place high in a race that measured miles walked per hour. But in a race for trivia learned per mile, the walkers would be right up at the top.

About eight years ago, a group of hikers and scientists who had been hiking to the Herbert Glacier for years noticed something sticking out from the silt the glacier deposited as it retreated.

Juneau has trails for every level of hiking experience. Here are some of the more popular and accessible trails around town.

The Amalga Trailhead is at mile 27.9 Glacier Highway. A new trailhead parking lot is just across the Eagle River Bridge on the right side of the highway. It is 5 1/2 hiking miles to the Eagle Glacier Cabin, where there is a beautiful view of Eagle Glacier just across the lake. Although the trail only gains 300 feet in elevation, it is a long walk, especially with children.

The way may not be easy, but if you don't mind getting a little wet and you have an extra pint of blood to spare to the mosquitoes, finding the Davies Creek Glacier is well worth the struggle.

The glacier is about six miles from the road and though there is only a 600-foot elevation gain, you'll feel like you've hiked half way to Skagway and back by the end of this hike. Actually, you should probably count on hiking an extra 40 miles if you factor in getting lost, avoiding beaver ponds and exploring the Davies Creek Valley once you get there. And you will want to explore once you get there.

Outer Point Trail - with its magnificent old-growth forest, old beaver pond, diverse muskeg and wildlife-rich beaches - is a favorite trail for many Juneau hikers. Nearby, the new Rainforest Trail makes a breathtaking passage through magnificent trees before reaching the beach.

The Outer Point trailhead, 12.4 Mile North Douglas Highway, is seven-tenths of a mile from the end of the road. The new Rainforest Trailhead is about half way between Outer Point Trailhead and the parking lot for the False Outer Point/Picnic Cove Trail, 11.5 Mile North Douglas Highway.

Despite some hazards, Perseverance Trail is among the most popular paths in Juneau. Built as an access road to the Perseverance Mine in Silver Bow Basin around 1885, the trail carried miners and equipment up until 1921. Evidence of past mining operations include adits, rail tracks, diversion pipes and rock-lined flumes. The 3-mile-long trail follows Gold Creek to a point where rain-fed overflows diverted the channel across the old trail about five years ago. Only a watery bushwhack will now get a hiker back to the old mill site, although Trail Mix is working on a new route.

The Salmon Creek Trail takes hikers into a forested valley not far from downtown that is the site of one of Juneau's older hydroelectric operations.

The trailhead is behind Alaska Electric Light and Power Co.'s powerhouse at mile 2.5 Egan Drive. Coming from town, turn right just past the end of the long retaining wall beside Egan Drive. There is room to park your car near the trailhead.

A few things have changed on Mount Roberts since a local priest and a number of volunteers constructed the first trail in 1908.

What was once a peaceful, quiet ridge hike is now an educational, cultural and possibly fine dining experience. Though the majority of folks on the mountain these days get there by tram, there are still a lot of people who do it the old fashioned way and walk up from the trailhead at the top of Sixth Street on Star Hill. It may be a little sweatier and a little muddier but it is surely more rewarding.

The Treadwell Historic Mine Trail just behind Sandy Beach is a great place to glimpse a bit of Douglas' rich mining heritage. The following excerpt from Mary Lou King's "90 Short Walks Around Juneau" is used with the author's permission:

There are two trailheads, one on Sandy Beach in Savikko Park at the end of the paved path running between the hill and the log shelter. The second is at the end of St. Ann's Avenue.

If you are like most Juneau hikers, you've probably taken advantage of the Forest Service public use cabin that is situated on the shores of Windfall Lake.

The cabin was built in 1997-98 through a partnership between the Taku Conservation Society and the Forest Service's Juneau Ranger District. This now-popular cabin attracts campers, wildlife viewers and visitors from far and near.

Many locals point to Ebner Falls and Nugget Falls as the best.

"One of my favorites is Nugget Falls," said Forest Service District Ranger Pete Griffin. "It's several hundred feet tall and that's just astounding to me."

Nugget Falls, just east of the Mendenhall Glacier, is a good example of how most waterfalls in Southeast were formed, said local geologist Cathy Connor.

Where the trails start, how long they take and what are the odds of seeing a bear. All this is included in our hiking maps.