Fairbanks

Fairbanks August 22^nd -August 24^th

The ride from Denali on Friday the 22^nd brought us over the Parks Highway to Fairbanks. This region is referred to as the Interior of Alaska. The topography has changed in that we have sweeping views of valleys with mountains in the distance. We had been at the base of the mountains for a long while traveling through Valdez across Prince William Sound into Seward and up into the Kenai, then Talkeeta and into Denali. Very different feel for Alaska.

We got our supplies at Fred Meyers, of course, and then traveled about 15 miles out of town to the Chena Recreation Area where we camped for two nights. The third night we stayed at a little lake near Eielson Air Force Base another five miles down the road.

While we were in the Fairbanks area, we drove the 63 miles to the Chena Hot Springs that we had heard so much about from our friends and other travelers.  The water was nice and hot but the algae on the rocks were disconcerting. It definitely is natural hot spring water, but it is fed into a man made cement lined pool with gravel on the bottom and large boulders around it.

We were expecting a totally natural hot spring. We only stayed in about ten minutes, showered and had lunch in their restaurant. We decided to go to the Ice Palace in the downtown area instead of the one at the Springs. That was a mistake from what we have heard. The one at the Hot Springs is supposedly done a lot better with large ice sculptures, an ice bar and “appletinis” if you so desire. The one in Fairbanks was a joke. We watched a movie which, while capturing their ice festival activity, was much too long. We then were  allowed to walk through 4 small areas where there were some sculptures that look like they were done a very long time ago. From what we saw, we did not think that they were all that well done. Waste of time and money here.

The Visitor Center downtown is very worthwhile with their exhibits and the Alaska Geographic store to browse through.

Another time,  we drove over to the North Pole, which is a little town outside of Fairbanks and purchased Santa letters for two of our younger grandchildren.  Christmas everywhere…from Santa House to Santa himself in the form of a large statue outside. I’m sure the children will be excited when they receive their letters the first week of December.

From there, we went to tour the Gold Dredge 8 Park. The Gold Dredge 8 is a mechanical gold pan that operated from 1928 to 1959. We rode on a replica of the Tanana railroad to the “base camp” stopping at exhibits along the way where Yukon Yonda explained what we were seeing. We were given “poke” sacks and taught how to pan for gold.  We only got a few specs which they weighed and told us it was worth about $8. The most anyone has ever gotten on a tour such as this was $300 worth.

Interior Alaska is still a productive gold mining region. There are a lot of small placer mines, which means they are extracting gold from creeks using water and a sluice-box and pan. There are also three world class open pit hard-rock gold mines currently operating or are being built within 50 miles of Fairbanks.

The information given us states, “The major producers of gold are South Africa, the United States, Australia, Canada, Latin America, China and Ghana. The U.S. produced 230 tons of gold in 2012, of which 80%came from the state of Nevada. In 2010, 8.9% of the world’s production of gold came from the United States.” It also states, “Today, the World Gold Council estimates about 23,000 tons of gold are recovered worldwide annually, having doubled since 1980.”

We also stopped along the roadside to view the Alaska Pipeline up close. It runs above ground until they have to put it under the ground for a road or a caribou migration path for instance.

We finished the day strolling through Pioneer Town which is a replica of old time Fairbanks. They have moved a lot of the original log houses to this area and are being used by artisans selling their wares. Nice park to wander through for a short while and a great place for children to run and play on the carousel.   

One of the tourists on the Gold Dredge tour had told us she and her husband  saw a little of the Aurora Borealis the previous night, so we thought we might get a chance to see it that night. I had my camera all set and Tim had the alarm clock set for 2am, but the rains returned and washed that idea right out of our minds.  We needed the extra sleep anyway!