Cycling the 11-Mile Tony Knowles Coastal Trail: Earthquake Park, Point Woronzof & Kincaid Park Moose

Starting right at the western foot of 2nd Avenue in Downtown Anchorage, two blocks from the Alaska Railroad Depot and downtown hotels, and winding for 17.7 kilometres (11 miles) along the wooded bluffs of Cook Inlet to Kincaid Park, the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail is one of the most scenic urban bike paths in North America, and it is completely paved, car-free and free to use.

The 4 Highlights Along the Coastal Trail (Mile 0 Downtown to Mile 11 Kincaid Park)

The first 11 kilometres (7 miles) from Downtown to Point Woronzof are almost completely flat; only the final 4 miles climbing up into the birch-and-spruce dunes of Kincaid Park have rolling hills, where an e-bike makes the climb effortless:

1. Mile 1.5, Westchester Lagoon: a calm freshwater waterfowl sanctuary right below the city where red-necked grebes, loons, bald eagles and black bears fishing for salmon in Chester Creek are spotted all summer.
2. Mile 4.2, Earthquake Park (1964 Good Friday 9.2 Earthquake Site): on 27 March 1964 in the late afternoon, Anchorage was struck by a Magnitude 9.2 earthquake, the strongest ever recorded in North America and second-strongest in world history. For 4.5 minutes the ground shook until the unstable Bootlegger Cove clay bluff beneath the Turnagain-by-the-Sea neighbourhood liquefied and slid 600 metres toward the ocean. Walk the interpretive boardwalk over the rippled, forest-covered earth waves where 75 houses slid into the inlet, and where resident moose browse willow leaves right beside the trail.
3. Mile 6.0, Point Woronzof Overlook: a coastal bluff directly at the end of the airport runway where Boeing 747 cargo jets roar 60 metres overhead against a 180-degree panorama of Mount Susitna ('The Sleeping Lady') and 6,190-metre Mount Denali.
4. Miles 8 to 11, Kincaid Park (1,500 Acres): the trail climbs onto a bluff overlooking Fire Island into Kincaid Park, formerly a Cold War Nike-Hercules missile base and today home to the highest density of wild moose in Anchorage.