Independence Day in Anchorage

We made a conscious choice to spend the Independence Day long weekend in Anchorage, figuring that all the locals would head out of the city to enjoy the outdoors for the weekend. It ended up being an prescient decision: as we motored south from Talkeetna on the Parks Highway, RV park after RV park was absolutely jam packed, campers and trailers wedged in against each other in every town and campground along the way. Anchorage’s RV parks and single campground, however, were almost empty. We spent a couple of nights at Centennial Park in the city’s eastern section, a nice little city campground in the woods but some of the most disgusting showers any of us had ever seen. A thick layer of black mold covered the shower floor and walls, we all agreed that you’d probably feel more dirty after showering in there! Yuk!

As with all towns in Alaska, Anchorage also has a brilliant network of bike paths. We explored downtown via pedal and rode about 12 miles/19 kilometers out-and-back on the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. The trail skirts the edge of Knik Arm along a section that collapsed into the ocean during Anchorage’s 1964 earthquake, a 9.2 monster that took 75 houses into the ocean and reformed Anchorage’s waterfront. The kids enjoyed reading some of the educational placards about the quake along the route, also fun to stop for a break at the end of the runway at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport to watch the jets take off overhead. We routed through Delaney Park in central Anchorage on our way back to the truck to check out the Independence Day festival, it was the first time we’d seen thousands of people congregating since early 2020. Circus rides, cotton candy (fairy floss for those of you down south), live music, the whole nine yards with not a mask in sight… Great to see everyone getting out and enjoying the northern sunshine.

Anchorage has a handful of breweries, the most famous being 49th State Brewing Company in downtown. We tried to stop off at 49th State after our ride on the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail but it was an hour-and-a-half wait for a table so we instead headed to midtown to sample the wares at Midnight Sun Brewing. Both Lisa and I are always willing to try new things, but we just could not find anything we liked at Midnight Sun. I think I might have to create a new rating for this spot on our map of the Breweries of Alaska! Their pretzel bites with beer cheese were pretty solid, though, I’ll give them that.

With the legalization of weed in Alaska, Anchorage certainly took the bull by the horns with respect to permitting. I’d bet there were more cannabis stores than liquor stores in central Anchorage, they were everywhere we looked. Lilia noticed an establishment she thought would be fun as well, given her love of horses: a spot called the Crazy Horse with a big sign advertising “Showgirls!” We skipped that one. We told her, “Maybe next time…”

There’s no better way to celebrate Independence Day than with a baseball game. Especially a double header under the belting Alaskan sunshine! Alaska doesn’t have a major league baseball team, but the National Baseball Congress operates a semi-pro summer league each year all over the country for college ball players and future major leaguers. We would have been happy to go watch a peewee game, so were pretty stoked to see some quality ball whilst in town. The double header was between the Anchorage Glacier Pilots and the Anchorage Bucs, the first of the two games a 4-3 nail-biter with the Pilots coming out on top. So fun to be sitting out in the sunshine at 9PM with plastic cup beers, popcorn and pretzels. ‘Merika!

Any Alaskan will tell you how much Alaskans love their fireworks. Anchorage is no exception. The issue is that it doesn’t get dark in mainland Alaska during summer, and the darkest (probably better described as “least bright”) time of the day is around 1:30AM. So, that’s when the fireworks start exploding. The double header baseball game we attended had the second game starting at 10PM, the fireworks were after that game finished. I was wide awake in bed in Centennial Park listening to them boom out across the sky until about 3:30AM. Only in Alaska.

Mainland Alaska doesn’t have a ton of mountain bike trails, given how hard it is to maintain them in the snow and often wet summers. Anchorage is an exception, however, and boasts some fantastic riding in the Chugach Mountains that surround the city. I weaved together a route on our last day in town with my trusty Trailforks app, some seriously awesome dirt. Some of the most fun riding I think I’ve done. Think Bend without the dust. After one of the descents – a trail appropriately named Jeff’s Whoop Whoops – Wild Man was absolutely exploding with froth. “Can we do that again, Dad?! That’s the best trail I’ve ever ridden! Just one more time?!” Now Max is only seven, but he has some very good riding in his memory bank as comparison: Freund Canyon in Leavenworth, the trails of Galbraith in Bellingham, the manicured singletrack of Bend and the big descents of Oakridge, to name a few. I don’t know if Hillside’s trails eclipse all of those, but they’re definitely up there. The machine-formed descents with their jumps, huge bermed corners and flowy whoop sections were about as much fun as one can have on two wheels. (The video below is actually from our trip back north through Anchorage after some time on the Kenai Peninsula: everyone wanted to hit Jeff’s Whoop Whoops one more time as we drove through the city at the beginning of our long trek back to California!)