I have wanted to go to Alaska for some time, but it never happened. This spring my daughter suggested we go there for a summer vacation. When airline prices came up that were a great deal, we made the call. We would finally visit the huge state of Alaska. Our sojourn would begin in Fairbanks and end in Anchorage.
Our flight arrived in Fairbanks about 9:00 PM the day after the summer solstice. The sun would set at about 12:45am so there was still plenty of light out when we landed. It would rise again just before 3:00. I would not be up to see it. Our flight had been pretty quiet, but there was some kind of a medical emergency on board. When we landed, they had everyone wait while medics came on board and took someone off. With the delay of deboarding, one might think our luggage would be ready, but it was not. We had to wait quite a bit for it to show up. In the meantime we got our rental car which turned out to be a smart idea as the line was short, but after everyone got their luggage the lines became quite long.
Our accommodations were not too far away. However leaving the car lot turned out to be its own adventure. Our app had us turn out of the lot we were in into a paid parking lot. Fortunately the first half hour was free, but we waited in line for a good 10 minutes to get out of that lot. Crazy, but in just a few minutes we were at our accommodations. We stayed in a place with cottages. The room was not too bad. It was by the Chena River so we walked over there. We wanted to see the river but also experience light at 10:00 at night. It did seem a little strange. The bigger problem, however, was mosquitoes. Big mosquitoes. We hadn’t brought bug spray with us. Big mistake.
Our first full day arrived to beautiful sunny skies. This would be an 80+ day in Fairbanks, much hotter than we anticipated. We set off in the morning to the North Pole, no not that North Pole. North Pole is a town just southeast of Fairbanks. It is advertised as a Christmas town so even though I figured it would be kitschy, I thought it would be fun to visit.
On our drive down to North Pole, we saw a mountain range off to the west at one point. There was one quite tall mountain. I am thinking it was Denali, but I’m not sure. Since Denali is often shrouded in clouds, if it was Denali, it may be the only time we get to see it. Unfortunately the sight was brief.
We also saw a fox running along the side of the freeway. I’m not sure I have ever seen a fox in the wild before so that was our first Alaska wildlife sighting.
We arrived in North Pole and found the restaurant I had chosen for breakfast. I had expected a charming restaurant reflecting the Christmas theme, but instead it was a storefront in a strip mall with few windows. The food was decent enough, but this was not the charming spot I was expecting.
Nor was the rest of the town. My vision was of a small town with cute stores lining the main street. That town wasn’t here. The main Christmas theme was Santa Town which faced the freeway. It’s a fairly large store with a lot of Christmas themed items in it as well as quite a few toys. Apparently there is also a Santa for children to visit every day. We were there on a Tuesday, and there was a Santa and Mrs. Santa for children to visit with. There were other interesting things to see around the shop, but this was the Christmas place in town.
Next to it was a place called Antler Academy. Here you could book a tour to learn about reindeer. The reindeer were visible for everyone to see in a fenced in cage, but if someone wanted to get up close and personal, they would have to book the tour. The reindeer looked a little mangy, but perhaps they were still in the process of shedding their winter coats for a lighter summer coat.
From North Pole we headed to Chena Springs Resort. This resort is about an hour away, and the road goes through the Chena Recreation Area. The resort lies at the end of the road. I had read that the hot springs itself was not very good; it was kind of dirty. Besides that the cost of admission was pricey. However, the resort had an ice museum of items carved out of ice, and my daughter wanted to go see that so we headed for the resort. On our arrival the first thing we saw was a sign saying the Ice Museum was closed for the day. Bummer, a long trip for nothing.
We wandered around the resort to see what else was there, but we were not impressed by what we saw. The most interesting elements were art pieces that were made out of old metal items. In general the resort seemed mediocre at best so we didn’t stay long.
Part of my plan was to do a hike in the recreation area. I saw a hike that was listed as a three and a half mile loop. That sounded very doable. At the resort there was a map so we were able to figure out exactly where to go to find the trailhead. When we reached it, we paid a use fee of $5 with a credit card, and we were on our way.
The beginning of the hike ran along the Chena River. The trail was wide and fairly smooth. I even commented that this looked like it was a good trail to walk. However, I spoke too soon. Soon we began to encounter rocks and tree roots in the trail that made walking a little more difficult. I had a tendency to trip on them.
The trail went for some distance before it branched off to form the loop we were planning to walk. For whatever reason I chose for us to go on the left trail. That trail continued fairly level as it went by some pools and areas of standing water. That meant mosquitoes, and we were fighting them off as we were walking along even though we had bought some bug spray. From time to time we could see a rock dome on the mountain side. We wondered if that was our destination.
Eventually the trail began to climb, and it became quite difficult in places. The rocks and roots were actually a blessing as they provided a place for firm footing. The challenge was places that were steep with loose rocks or broken granite. Here it would be easy to slide and fall. I did just that once, but fortunately I didn’t get hurt, just some scrapes. Since it was a hot day, we were really beginning to feel the challenge of the hike and wondered what we had gotten ourselves into. This “short” hike was proving much more of a challenge than we had anticipated. I had brought my trekking poles with me to Alaska, but had left them in the hotel thinking I wouldn’t need them on this short trail. I deeply regretted that decision.
We finally reached some spots where we had great views of the area, panoramic views of the Chena River valley below. These views made us feel like the effort was worth it. We had indeed reached the dome rock that we had seen before. It made us realize how high we had climbed. Now we just needed to find the trail back down to complete our loop.
That proved illusive. We had some false starts and some difficult trails, but it just seemed we kept climbing and climbing. We knew there was a trail that continued beyond the loop so we were unsure of where we should go. Trail markers were few. Finally we decided the best thing to do was turn around and go back the way we came. We had pretty much used up the water we had brought with us, and we were concerned about dehydration.
The journey back down was equally challenging where it was steep. We continued to be anxious about sliding and falling in places. Trees along the trail became our friends as we grabbed a hold of them to help steady us in places. Going down requires different muscles than coming up, and my knees and hips were really feeling it. We did make it, however, and as a reward we saw a huge beaver in one of the ponds we passed. I had never seen such a big one. He was impressive. We also enjoyed the wonderful wildflowers in the area, finding quite a few along the Chena River.
We arrived back to our car, and I suggested we return to the resort to get some water as it was a lot closer than anything going back towards Fairbanks; so we did. Feeling the relief of water and an air conditioned car we began our trip back to Fairbanks. We stopped along the way for a few photo ops of the Chena River and some ponds. Mostly we just enjoyed sitting and relaxing until we got back into town. Our three and a half mile hike had turned into over four miles. We were all tired. We got a pizza on the way back to the hotel. That and showers helped us finish out our first day in Alaska in a positive way. We would sleep well that night.
Have you ever taken a hike that turned out to be more difficult than you expected. We’d love to hear your story. Just share your experience in the comment section below. It’s always good to hear from you.
We spent over a week in Alaska. If you want to make sure and read all about our experiences, be sure to subscribe. It’s as easy as putting in your email.
My daughter and I hiked into a lake on the flanks of Mt. Pilchuk in late June, nice day, as we started back down snow began to fall at such a great amount the trail became obliterated. We were pretty anxious for awhile but found our way back to our car.
I admire your courage to tackle a rather challenging trail but the great beauty of the area is shown in your excellent photograph. That is what I remember about Alaska. It seems like it goes on forever. Thanks.
Thanks for sharing your story, Les. it sounds like a pretty challenging moment. Yes, Alaska is so vast. It does seem to go on and on. Silvette says it’s one big park with a few communities here and there.
Wow! You guys are fearless. Was there a possibility of meeting a grizzly?
There are signs posted all over Alaska about bears, but we never came close to any. However, it is in the back of our mind.