Lake Hood
Seaplane base adjacent to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport; busy summer floatplane ops.
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Lake Hood Seaplane Base (LHD) operates under FAA rules and airport-area hazard management; on-water movement intersects with active aviation traffic.
Lake Hood is one of the busiest seaplane bases in the world on long summer days: floats queue, turbines spool, and the water surface is working infrastructure—not a casual paddle pond. That density is the story: scenery matters, but safety separation and operator communications matter more.
If you are not on a flight, treat public access and shoreline behavior as constrained by airport security and local notices. Noise, blast hazard, and wake turbulence are part of the environment.
Practical notes
Paddling or non-aviation use may be restricted or unsafe where traffic is heavy; seek current municipal and airport authority guidance rather than assuming open recreation. Photography is fine; wandering into operational areas is not.
Sources
- Federal Aviation Administration — Airport detail — LHD · accessed · View source
- U.S. Geological Survey — GNIS — Lake Hood · accessed · View source
Summaries are compiled from public sources; verify fees, closures, and regulations with the managing agency. ALASKA.FYI does not provide legal advice.
61.1867, -149.965 · WGS84
GNIS dataset · Wikidata pass
Map
truetopo.com Preview uses Leaflet with OpenTopoMap (OpenStreetMap-derived contours). Partner land/topo depth: TrueTopo via the link above.
61.1867, -149.965 · WGS84 · zoom 12
Official map products
The U.S. Geological Survey publishes US Topo and historic quadrangles as downloadable PDF (often georeferenced GeoPDF). The Alaska Department of Natural Resources maintains a Map Library with free PDFs by topic and region. Use these primary sources for print-ready government topos—not the preview above.
Near this feature (WGS84): 61.1867, -149.965 — paste into USGS topoView location search to find overlapping quads.
- USGS topoView ngmdb.usgs.gov Browse current and historical USGS topographic maps; download PDF, GeoPDF, GeoTIFF, and more by quadrangle.
- The National Map — Downloader apps.nationalmap.gov Search and download US Topo and other National Map products by area.
- USGS — Find & download topographic maps usgs.gov Official how-to (topoView, Map Locator, OnDemand Topos, etc.).
- Alaska DNR — Map Library dnr.alaska.gov State maps and publications; many titles are free PDF downloads (preview JPG/GIF, full PDF via Acrobat).
Nearest towns (by centroid)
Great-circle distance from this feature’s coordinates — not drive time.
- Region
- Southcentral
- Elevation
- 64 ft
- Latitude
- 61.1867
- Longitude
- -149.965
GNIS ID 1423021 · Names and coordinates from USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), public domain. Sample records for development. Production builds should validate against USGS and applicable licenses.