Earthquake Park

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Today after my shift, I got a bit later start than I intended. I didn't want to drive all the way out Turnagain Arm, since I would have spent more time driving than enjoying the ares. Instead, I went to Earthquake Park, which is part of Kincaid Park, and is closer to downtown Anchorage. The park is part of a knob of land that protrudes south and west of the city. During the cold war, part of the what is now Kincaid Park was an Air Force Base that housed one of the first operational Nike missiles; and the base contained a barracks for over 100 men, as well as an advanced radar system. The site was deactivated in 1979, and in 1980, the Air Force deeded the land to Anchorage. Fire Island, across Knik Arm in Cook Inlet, was part of the Air Force base, complete with an airstrip and other military equipment.

Earthquake Park commemorates the earthquake that is remembered as "The Good Friday Earthquake of 1964," and is still the 2nd largest earthquake in the world! (In fact 4 of the 20 largest earthquakes in the world have occurred in Alaska.) The quake in 1964 was 9.2 magnitude, and the massive shifting of the Continental and Pacific plates caused wide-spread damage across the area, tremors hundreds of miles away, and immense tsunamis near and far, some of which destroyed fuel tank farms and sent waves of burning oil ashore.

At the site where the park now stands, a 1200 foot wide, 8,000 foot long strip of the bluff slid into Cook Inlet and took houses with it, destroying some and moving others 500 feet toward the inlet. The slide continued for 90 seconds after the tremors stopped in Anchorage, and took over 12 million cubic yards of soil, rock, and sand toward the Inlet. When the tremors reached Fire Island, just across the Arm from the Air Force Base, the entire runway slid into Cook Inlet.

I was talking with a local woman whose mother was a teacher in 1964 and remarked that the timing was incredibly fortunate, since it occurred at 5:36 pm when many people were in church for Good Friday services. She also noted that since schools were closed for Good Friday, there were no children in the numerous schools that were completely flattened by the quake; fatalities could have been much worse if kids were in the after-school programs on a normal school day.

A positive change that came from the quake is the stronger building standards that evolved. She said they have earthquakes "all the time" in Alaska; in fact there have been 11 minor quakes (1 - 2.2 magnitude) in the Anchorage area since I arrived! I didn't feel any of them! Looking at a map of earthquake activity, they seem to occur most frequently from the area around Denali, south and west through the Alaska Range, continuing through the Aleutians, and south and east from Anchorage toward Juneau.

Kincaid park is beautiful, especially in the snow. It's a year-round park and people ski, sled, snow shoe, hike, jog, and ride bikes there. Like most places in Anchorage, they don't shovel the snow, but instead run groomers over the trails to compact the snow, making hiking and other activities easier and more fun, without piling snow up.

One of the things that's been so much fun about being up here is meeting people from all over the world who come to volunteer for the race. My first shift working here was before the race started, when I worked at the registration desk, checking in volunteers. There were people from around the world: New Zealand, Great Britain, Australia, Mexico, Italy, and Japan, to name a few! It's been interesting to hear some of their stories and why they came to the race. One woman from Great Britain said she has followed the race for years, and every March has to figure out how to watch the race while she's at home, and working. She is actually a dog handler for a musher in Wales...who knew there were dog sleds there! ;-)

One new friend, Heidi (from Toledo) took me out to dinner for my birthday. She wanted to be sure that her new friend didn't eat dinner alone on her birthday! Since I had a rental car, I took her shopping for an extra carry-on bag...she bought enough souvenirs that she needed an extra bag! While we were in Walmart, she checked out the liquor store! I'd never seen a liquor store in Walmart!

After completing her shopping, we went to dinner at Suite 100, which was quite tasty. I've eaten lots of local fish while here, and I'm loving that!

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