Alton Bay Seaplane Base – Ice Runway
| Date: | 2-22-2025 |
| Location: | Alton Bay, NH |
| Parking: | free public and street parking |
The Alton Bay Seaplane Base is seaplane base and a plowed ice runway in the winter. It is the only FAA approved runway in continental United States.
Due to weather conditions, the runway did not open last year and the year before it was only open for a week or two. This year is different. Lots of cold and snow allowed for the runway to open earlier than usual. In fact they are on track to beat the most planes landed in a season this year.
The weather was forecasted to be in the mid 30’s today with little wind and bright blue sunny skies so Steph and I decided to take a drive up and check out the planes.
When we got into Alton Bay, we could see planes coming in to the runway. After finding a place to park we got out to go watch the comings and goings of the planes. The lake was busy with others watching the show, ice fishing and a lot of snowmobilers coming and going.
Steph was not keen on walking over the iced lake, so she stayed up above. I made my way down to the plane parking lot. Took a few pictures and then went over to the actual runway to catch some of the action.
I did not have to wait long for a plane to take off or for one to come in. It seemed like it was a pretty steady flow of traffic. Lots of different kinds of planes make the adventure to this runway. I don’t know the names of the planes, but they were all different shapes and sizes.
After getting some photos and videos I made my way back up to where Steph was. We then watched some of the planes from the Mt. Washington Dock, which had some great views of the runway. But it was a bit cold under the shade of the building to we went back to the sun for a few last shots before leaving.
If you have a chance to check out the planes landing you won’t regret it. Especially if it is a nice day like it was for us. Check out some of the videos from today with the links below.
