You might not know it, but you’ve been flying over Lake Hood for years.
Lake Hood Seaplane Base started out as two smaller lakes: Lake Hood to the west and Lake Spenard to the east. Back in the 1970s, the state began dredging out a canal in between the two to create seaplane takeoff and taxi lanes. Today, Lake Hood is host to nearly 200 daily operations and has become the largest and busiest seaplane base in Alaska.
You can’t see it from your window seat on a commercial flight, but if you’re flying in or out of Anchorage International Airport (ANC), there’s a good chance that at some point during your trip you’ll fly over Lake Hood Seaplane Base—and if you’re lucky, you might even catch sight of one of the hundreds of planes taking off or landing each day!