Tony Knowles Coastal Trail

The Tony Knowles Coastal Trail follows the coastline of Anchorage along Knik Arm and Cook Inlet. Many rest areas provide scenic views of Anchorage, the surrounding mountain ranges, Cook Inlet and Knik Arm. You're also likely to encounter wildlife along the way. The Alaska Railroad tracks parallel the trail for about 1 mile, just past the northern trailhead, and passenger and freight trains are a common site.

The entire trail is paved and suitable for biking, running, walking and skiing. As you reach Point Campbell in the last 0.5 mile, you'll be presented with a most formidable grade. The approaches to Earthquake Park (between milepost 2 & 2.5) and Point Woronzof (between mileposts 3 & 4) also present considerable grades. The trail is marked by mileposts every 0.5 mile with the exception of the first 1+ miles.

The Tony Knowles Trail intersects the Lanie Fleischer Chester Creek Trail at Westchester Lagoon, a little over 1 mile from the former's northern trailhead.

Wildlife viewing is most abundant along the southern half of the trail, where the trail departs the more populated areas. The trail skirts Anchorage Airport between mileposts 3.5 and 7.5, and encounters with low-flying jets are common.

For a family-friendly outdoor excursion, grab your camera and hit the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. Winding its way from the downtown area past the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum to Kincaid Park, this 11-mile paved path is perfect for biking, rollerblading, cross-country skiing and strolling. If you're visiting during the summer, keep your eyes peeled over Cook Inlet for beluga whales, while winter trail-blazers should look out for moose in Kincaid Park.
Many recent visitors hail this trail as the best site in Anchorage, but they also offer a few words of advice. As one TripAdvisor user writes, "Be sure to give yourself plenty of time (the bike shop told us the trail would be about 3 hours round trip), but if you do it at a leisurely pace and take lots of pictures, it will take much longer."
The Tony Knowles Coastal Trail is free and open to the public throughout the year. For more information, check out the trail's website.