Into Alaska - Alaska and Points North: Tips and Tales from the Road - page 117

Hearing that moose frequent the trails there, we took a walk out to Earthquake Park. It's so
named because 1200 feet of the bank simply collapsed in the 1964 earthquake, taking 70
homesandthreeliveswithit.WealsowalkedsomeoftheTonyKnowlesCoastTrail.Some
17 km /11 mi long, it rims the city seacoast, offering a pleasant walk or cycle path with
magnificent views of the fjord and the Chugach Mountains beyond. It's all classic Alaska.
Steve'sanoldfloat-planepilotsowehadtogohavealookattheworld'slargestandbusiest
seaplane base, Lake Hood. They are currently pushing 1000 takeoffs and landings a day in
the summer. Merrill Field, the small plane land-based runway adjacent to Lake Hood also
exceeds 1000 takeoffs and landings a day.
Most of those planes are lined up, row on row beside the airport but the most elite spots
seem to be moorages right on the lake with cute little huts, some decorated with quite a bit
of originality and flair.
Years ago I worked with some government fellows who'd spent years in the north. They
were both small plane pilots and told me that with the vast distances involved,
EVERYONE was their own pilot in the north. Seeing the sheer numbers of small planes
parked here made me think they might not have been exaggerating all that much. We saw
parking lots packed with thousands of small planes parked in rows just like cars. The
premium parking spots for float planes were no doubt on Lake Hood itself where they tied
up to shore in front of tiny cabins personalized with creative paint jobs and flower pots.
We didn't have much luck with museums in Anchorage. Everything seemed to be closed
or had moved. We couldn't quite figure out why but by now we'd enjoyed so many of the
small town museums with their authentic memorabilia and local story tellers that we were