Fairbanks, the Interior

Because our campsite at Chena Lakes is truly awesome, spacious and comfortable in trees and close to both a lake and the river, we decided to commute 15 miles into Fairbanks instead of camping in the city. The first night, we fished the Chena River. Mark tried a spot behind our campsite but it didn’t have good access, so we tried several other locations. I caught my first arctic grayling. It looks a lot like a trout, but has a big dorsal fin. With warm weather (mid 80s) and no wind in the forecast, we got out the pedal kayaks and put them in the lake for 2 mornings in a row. Mark watched an otter play, warning him from coming closer by jumping out of the water and slapping it with his body in a fascinating display of intimidation. We caught 2 rainbow trout each on the first morning, nothing big. We pedaled and fished past lunch time and then headed up to explore Fairbanks. Tonight’s stops were the Visitor Center and shopping at Walmart. Even in Alaska, Walmart attracts the same group of people you would find at any Walmart in the country. Loads of campers filled the back of the parking lot, boondocking to save a buck. Dinner was a real treat. Featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives with Guy Fieri, Big Daddy BBQ really hit the spot.

After enjoying a second morning of kayaking and fishing in the lake, we headed to Pioneer Park. It’s a historical themed-park. Basically they moved all the old original cabins from town to one spot and added some other tourist things. Some cabins are now gift shops, run independently by local artists, while others had museums or storytellers for old town founders, including Judge Wickersham who we learned about in Eagle. We mosied around enjoying a warm afternoon and passed the time pleasantly until it was time for the Salmon Bake! All you can eat! Red salmon topped with a honey glaze hot off the grill, fresh fried cod, and hand carved prime rib. Plus sides. And a dessert cabin! We shared a shaded outdoor table with 3 other couples who were eager to share about their AK journeys, part on cruise ship. Great food and a wonderful evening. Across the Park was the Palace Theater, where we watched a funny and corny comedy about how Fairbanks came to be and why anyone would live here. It was eye rolling though enjoyable humor and did a good job of educating and entertaining. Of course a local wrote the story and all the songs and they’ve been presenting it nightly since 1986. It included a skit about various ways to dress up the outhouse. Even in “the big city” of Fairbanks (population 30,000), there are still people here without running water or indoor plumbing, which absolutely blows our minds. We didn’t get home (home is now the camper, which location changes constantly) until 10:30pm and noticed it was getting much smokier. Mark let Molly out to go potty before bed and saw something white falling on the truck. He looked around knowing it couldn’t be snow at 80F. Sure enough, it was ASH from the nearby fires. The smoke had gotten significantly worse over the evening. (We posted a video from the kayaks that morning that was beautiful blue skies.) We had trouble sleeping, both from the smoke smell and from the possibility of having to be evacuated in the middle of the night. We awoke to a smoke filled sky, eager to pack it up. We headed to the Visitor Center in Fairbanks to find out their recommendations on our future plans for the next 4 days.

In general, all cities in Alaska and Canada have had great visitor centers. We don’t stop at every one, but we’re never disappointed when we do. We have found they have the best WiFi in town (much better than McD or Starbucks or campgrounds), plus advise on hiking or ATV or camping and whatever must sees that are local. Clean bathrooms and air conditioning are hard to beat too. The Fairbanks Visitor Center had a live webcam so we could call and wave at our parents, which was fun. They also had educational movies every hour and we watched one on polar and grizzly bears in AK. It also has an Alaska Parks desk with info for the national (more parks in AK than any other state), state and local parks. Anyway, all that to say, we were concerned about the smoke and went there to find out where there fires were, what roads were open, and where we could escape the smoke. Their advice was to carry on with our trip. There is a LOT of remote land in Alaska and they can’t possibly fight every fire. Unless a fire is threatening buildings or roads, most often they just let them burn themselves out. If you look at a map of Alaska, you will see that a good portion of it is completely inaccessible except by plane or boat, with no roads. In dry years and early springs, like this one, they will see a lot of fires, most often from lightning strikes but sometimes caused from people. The park ranger told us that 1/3 of the summer is smoky, 1/3 of the summer is raining, and 1/3 is beautiful so welcome to Alaska.

There were two roads we were wanting to explore north and east of Fairbanks – Chena Hot Springs and Steese Highway. Both roads have hikes and ATV trails and get off the beaten path a bit. It turns out there is a fire on the Chena Springs Road so we put that off and went about 60 miles up the Steese Highway, where we got our first view of the Alaska pipeline. After climbing only 400′ in elevation, the smoke was way less bothersome. We pulled into one campground and the dirt road was so potholed, we rocked and rolled right around it, no chance of staying. We weren’t excited about the ATV trail, but did find a spot to boondock along the road. The rule in Alaska is that you can camp on any pull out or road, unless there is a sign that says No Camping. It was 8pm by the time we set up camp. Already we were breathing so much better than in town and it was a nice, quiet evening. If any vehicles drove by us in the night, we sure didn’t hear them.

The next morning, we went further along the road looking for a fishing spot. There was another campground called Cripple Creek Campground that was only 3 miles from where we ended up last night and along the Chatanika River. We pulled in and before we could even get out of the truck, we were swarmed by mosquitos. In fairness, it wasn’t like the horror pictures you’ve seen, but it was the worst we’ve seen so far and neither of us were excited about trying to camp in them. We walked over to the river and it looked fishable, although a local who was just hanging out on the riverbank didn’t give it a raving review for fishing (though he was a canoer, not a fisherman). Not even a mile up the road, there was an asphalt pull out. Since it was a little off the river and brush, the bugs were far less so we set up camp for another great boondock spot. We donned our fishing gear and set off to catch arctic grayling. Mark got out his fly rod to practice casting while I stuck with spin gear. Between the two of us, you wouldn’t believe how many fish we caught! The water was shallow and moving it a good pace. While pretty, we didn’t see a single wild animal (including fish) but it was an enjoyable Sunday afternoon. Returning to camp, Mark set up our Clam and we enjoyed some peace and a quiet with books. We got the Clam just for this trip. It’s a pop up screen tent for two that can be put together and taken down in just a couple minutes so it’s great protection from bugs and very much worth the price and time. Many screen tents are a hassle, with poles to construct, stakes to stake, etc. The Clam just has 3 sides to “pop” and the roof and it’s ready for fun. We were so relaxed, we just had sandwiches for dinner and sat out til almost 11pm, just enjoying the quiet. We don’t do that near often enough and it was much needed between our outdoor and tourist adventures.

After 2 days on the Steese Highway, there wasn’t much left to see or do. We headed back, intending on Chena Hot Springs. As soon as we got cell service, we called and they said they were in fact still smoky. Areas near the road were on fire so many of the trails and campgrounds were closed and they didn’t recommend any outdoor activities. Back to Fairbanks… We turned the day into town day, getting errands and chores done. We are in a holding pattern because we have reservations at Denali National Park for July 11 (today is July 9) and there really isn’t much in the 2 1/2 hours between there and here. We did find our second casualty of the trip. We parked for lunch and Mark tried to open the sunroof window on the truck since Molly couldn’t go into the restaurant. We heard a metallic sound that was not good and the window opened just a little on one side and then he couldn’t get it to shut again. And there’s rain in the forecast for the next 10 days. Luckily there is a huge Ford dealership in Fairbanks so we pulled in. The service manager came out and got it unstuck enough to close and seal. They couldn’t fix it because they didn’t have the window in stock, but at least we can leave it closed and worry about it once we get home. He then put tape over the button so we wouldn’t accidentally forget and get it stuck again. I said that was our second casualty but I never posted about the first one. While driving in Canada, we pulled up at a gas station to find our back bin (that Mark had locked) had come open. Out of all the stuff he had stored in that bin, only one tool had fallen out. He was able to replace that in Fairbanks today too. We actually found a great treed campground called Chena River Wayside that has hookups, which comes in handy when it’s 91 outside! Everyone gets showers when we have unlimited water!

Tomorrow morning we will both get some work done and then start heading in that direction, finding a spot somewhere along the way so we can roll into Denali earlier. At least the smoke gives the sun a pretty red hue. We are safe and making the most of our adventure.