Outdoor Ice Skating
It's finally gotten cold enough that our Anchorage ice-skating areas are all opening. Many of them are on lakes, so you have to be "sure" before you go out on them. Town Square Park (between 5th and 6th on E Street) is just a flooded area on pavement, so they can open earlier. But to be able to open the lakes for skating, there has to be at least 1 foot of ice. That is because the ice must be able to hold the weight of the hot mop truck. And once the hot mop truck can get out there, I feel pretty safe too! Some of the lakes maintained by our Parks and Recreation Department for skating are: Goose Lake (east Anchorage), Westchester Lagoon (near downtown), Cheney Lake (east Anchorage) and Jewel Lake (south Anchorage).
Lakes are a big part of our recreational life up here in Alaska. With over 3,000,000 lakes that are at least 20 acres in size, lakes are also part of the transportation loop in Alaska. Every lake is an instant airport to a float plane (which can operate with skis in the winter). You can also get a great glide on your Nordic skis across a nice big lake. Lakes are a good place for beginners to learn to ski as there are no pesky hills to deal with.
If you want to check out the "play" status of a local Anchorage lake, go to http://www.muni.org/iceimages/parks/RinkTrailStatus.pdf.
