Girdwood of Alaska is the ultimate destination to satisfy your desire for hiking, biking, rafting, paragliding, skiing, fishing and wildlife expedition. Thronged with tourists all year round, the ski resort community lacks spacious and affordable accommodations for budget minded vacationers, especially backpackers. Keeping this fact in mind, Jamie Boring and Armand Nyborg came up with the idea of an affordable lodging, which they call the Girdwood Alaska Backpackers Inn.
The inn located in the Old Girdwood Town Site behind the Tesoro Mall under went six months of renovation and reconstruction to finally open its doors for tourists. The Girdwood hostel has been constructed integrating eco-friendly aspects. The double story inn uses recycled materials for the rugs and incorporates recycled paints to beautify the building. It has installed energy-efficient appliances, pumping and lighting to meet with the goal to be LEED certified.
In order to achieve 95 percent efficiency hot water baseboard heating was used, along with soy-based foam insulation. The lighting system has provisions for both LED lighting as well as conventional light bulbs. The things that deserve a special mention are the sink under which water will be trapped and measured to determine the amount of water being used and eco-friendly toilets with two-button flushing system, allowing for selecting flushing to save water.
The Girdwood Alaska Backpackers Inn has a capacity to accommodate 30 people into rooms designed for various age groups and budgets. There are two dormitory rooms designated to the female and male occupants, while seven other for private usage. The inn allowing a maximum of seven day stay has eight beds, geared specially toward teenagers or school groups. You will have to part with $25 for an individual stay, whereas for dorm rooms and private rooms you would have to pay double the amount.