Arriving in Anchorage We Find Moose, Moose and More Moose

The trip to Anchorage was about 3 weeks long and was planned to allow for lost days due to mechanical problems, road conditions, weather, or some other unforeseen delay. Our original plan gave us 3 days of cushion and we arrived 4 days early.

Walking along the coast

But this time would not be wasted. Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, has a lot to offer visitors on many different fronts. We would be sightseeing the city through its extensive parks and walking/biking trails while we did our exercise. Although we were fighting to stay on our “bush plane” diets, we both felt that we had added a couple of pounds since we left home.

Pacific coast ferns

We didn’t think that that would tip the scales to where we were too heavy to board the light planes, we had some time to make sure we didn’t add much more. Anchorage has a number of parks that have interconnecting walking trails, so after we checked into our motel, we headed out to one to get some exercise.

Downtown Anchorage

We ended up at Earthquake Park which memorialized the huge earthquake that occurred in 1964 and was especially destructive. We walked along the Cook Inlet coast for about an hour and had a relaxing time.

We returned to Earthquake Park the next day and decided to do an extended walk toward the Anchorage downtown area. It was a warm, sunny day and one we had to chuckle over.

Moose along the trail

Since we arrived the local newscasts were lamenting the “heat wave” that Anchorage was experiencing. Everyone was suffering from temperatures 10° warmer than normal and not too far from record highs.

Shying away

We watched interviews of mothers with their children at the “beachfront” trying to cool off (the water temperature is 56°) and complaining about the heat. Well, that near record high temperature for this time of year was a blazing 74°! Capt. Larry found himself one of the few males willing to don shorts and shun the stares of the locals. Anyway we found it a warming break from the cooler temperatures we experienced further north. While we were walking back to the car, we had a great wildlife encounter. We heard something rustling in the woods next to the trail we were on, and looked over to see a moose through the trees. We snapped some pictures of our first moose as it heard us and started to veer away. It was exciting to be that close.

The next day we went to a different park and started our walk. About 5 minutes into our walk we had another moose encounter, only this time there were 3 of them, a bull moose, a cow, and a calf.

The whole family

Daddy moose

A whole moose family grazing in an open meadow next to the trail and presenting a tremendous photo op. We took several photos and continued our walk. The moose were not in the meadow when we returned, but as we were driving out we spotted the cow and the calf along the road and stopped and watched them for a while. These moose can roam freely through the huge park, and can wander into town. However, fencing prevents them from getting on the runways of the adjacent airport for obvious reasons. We spent the rest of our free time running errands, getting lost, and sort and packing our things for our tour.

Mama and baby

Got an itch?