Hi friends! Hope you are having a great summer! Mark and I entered Alaska on June 15th, which means that we have been here for 6 weeks! Since we are returning to the Lower 48 over Labor Day weekend, we have just shy of 5 weeks remaining! Time is flying by!

Our last post was about time spent in Bettles Lodge, which is north of the Arctic Circle. After Bettles, we spent a bit of time in Fairbanks and drove across the Denali Highway.

Fairbanks and the Surrounding Area

Fairbanks is in the interior of Alaska, which means that it gets REALLY cold in the winter (like, 20 degrees below zero and colder) and warms up comfortably in the summer months (averaging about 70 degrees). To say the residents of Fairbanks are hardy is an understatement!

The town borders the Chena River and there are several parks, walking paths and bicycle routes. Not surprisingly, we walked pretty much everywhere in this compact town. A couple of highlights include:

• We had planned a quick stop in the Morris Thomson Cultural and Visitors Center to grab some maps. Instead, we spent over an hour in an exhibit on how these crazy Alaskans spend time outdoors in all seasons! The Visitors Center is a great place to become familiar with the area and its people.
• Creamers Field is a migratory bird refuge that receives over 200,000 migrating sandhill cranes every year! Plus, the habitat is perfect for year-round moose viewings!
• The Santa Claus House in North Pole, Alaska (yes, really!) is just outside of the Fairbanks city limits. An entrepreneur started the town and tried to lure toy manufacturers to the area. His theory was the toy makers could tout their ‘toys were built in the North Pole’! Well, that idea didn’t fly, so instead, he opened a large Christmas store complete with Santa Claus and live reindeer (which also didn’t fly … just sayin’!). The parking lot was filled with tour busses and travelers, so I’d say things are working out just fine for the founder of North Pole!
• I heard a rumor that Alaska is the only place in US that can grow peonies in July and August. If you buy a late-summer fresh bouquet with peonies, then they likely came from a flower farmer in Alaska. The Georgeson Botanical Garden experiments with all types of plants and they are well-known for their beautiful peony gardens.
• Fairbanks has a multitude of festivals throughout the year. And, fun fact, because Independence Day is so close to the summer solstice, the sky isn’t dark enough in Fairbanks to light fireworks. Instead, they have a large fireworks display for New Years!

We ventured out one afternoon to hike the 4-mile Angel Rocks Trail in the Chena Hot Springs Rec Area. The route was, seemingly, 2 miles straight uphill and then 2 miles straight downhill! In the middle of the hike are an outcropping of ‘tors’. The tors formed millions of years ago when molten rock pushed upward and cooled before it reached the earth’s surface. The surrounding earth slowly eroded, exposing the less erodible rock pinnacles. We found it interesting that the granite tors were in a relatively small area of the park.  Furthermore, while we were standing on the ridge, we were lucky enough to see a peregrine falcon! Although he flew too fast for us to get a picture, it was an amazing sight!

Chena Hot Springs Resort is a popular attraction and for good reason. The resort has multiple hot spring pools, several large greenhouses (all fresh produce for the year-round restaurant is grown on-site), and the Aurora Ice Museum. We had a great day at the resort and enjoyed soaking in the springs, but honestly, this would be an ideal winter destination. The aurora shines bright over the Fairbanks area during the winter months. Wouldn’t it be dreamy to watch the northern lights while soaking in a hot spring? On the list it goes for our return trip to Fairbanks!

We will certainly return to Fairbanks in the future. It’s a cute, safe town with a lot of museums, shopping, festivals, and, of course, the hot springs!

(Click on any picture to open the gallery and read the captions)

The Denali Highway

We had a few unplanned days in our schedule and drove south to the Denali Highway. This 134 mile gravel road runs across the middle of the state amongst the Alaska Mountain Range. From start to end, you can see mountains, glaciers, lakes and streams. We were able to spot some wildlife including bald eagles in a river, a pair of nesting trumpeter swans and several moose. There are a plethora of free camping sites with spectacular views and several 4-wheeling routes into the mountains (which can be used for hiking and mountain biking as well).

Some highlights from the route include:

• 3 mountain peaks that dominate the skyline: Mount Deborah: 12,339 feet, Hess Mountain: 11,940 feet, and Mount Hayes: 13,832 feet
• 3 prominent glaciers: West Fork Glacier, Susitna Glacier and Maclaren Glacier with rivers and trails leading to all of them
• Driving over Maclaren Summit (4,086 feet)
• The multitude of lakes on the east end of the road with stocked ponds and extensive wildlife. Tangle Lake boasts a multi-day canoe / water trail that joins with the Delta River and it looks VERY interesting for a future trip!

If you are planning to drive in Alaska, then the Denali Highway should be on your ‘must do’ list. The scenery is gorgeous and we could have spent several more days exploring this area of the state.

Our next post will be on the 13 days we spent in Denali National Park. At first, we thought ‘what are we going to do here for 2 weeks?’ but we left with a solid ‘list of things to do next time’! There aren’t many designated trails, but the park is truly a hiker’s paradise!

Thanks for following along on our adventure!

– Mark and Debbie

PS – I would be remiss if I didn’t give Mark a shout out for the wonderful pictures in this blog! He has been an awesome wildlife photographer and just wait until you see his Mount Denali photos! 😍