Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know : Anchorage

1. In addition to its human residents, Anchorage is home to over 1,500 moose. The big herbivores are a common sight in city parks and along trails.
2. Anchorage is close to five different national parks: Denali, Wrangell-St. Elias, Kenai Fjords, Lake Clark and Katmai National parks are all accessible from Anchorage, either by road, rail or plane.
3. More than 50 glaciers are within a day’s travel from the city. Some, like Matanuska and Exit glaciers can even be seen from the road, and many more are accessible either by day cruise boat or floatplane.
4. Six mountain ranges can be seen from Anchorage on a clear day: The Chugach, Talkeetna, Tordrillos, Alaska, Kenai and Aleutian.
5. One-way cruises docking in Anchorage’s nearby ports of Seward or Whittier include the famed Inside Passage and connect passengers to Alaska wildlife, national parks, Alaska Native culture and more of the state not reached with a roundtrip option.
6. Fishing starts steps from the downtown city centre; Ship Creek is just blocks away from major hotels, and is one of the most popular sport fisheries for king and silver salmon.
7. The closest wilderness hiking trailheads are less than 20 minutes from the city centre. Combined, the nearby Chugach State Park and Chugach National Forest have more than 23,000 square kilometres of land perfect for hiking, wildlife viewing, rafting and kayaking and more.
8. The first European to extensively explore the area was Captain James Cook. In fact, the inlet that flanks Anchorage now bears his name, and a life-sized statue of the British sailor looks out over the water from downtown Anchorage.
9. Anchorage got its start as a headquarters for construction of the Alaska Railroad. The city still serves as a hub for rail travel throughout Alaska, with trains departing daily in the summer.
10. Sometimes called the biggest village in Alaska, Anchorage is home to members of many different Alaska Native cultures. There are 22 different languages and dialects spoken by Alaska Natives.

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