Fairbanks and the Midnight Sun

The view from our backcountry campsite…at about 1 AM.

After leaving Denali (visit one), we thought we’d head up to check out the Fairbanks area and explore a bit. In as much planning as you’re likely to get from us, we had to be up in Fairbanks area for the solstice in mid-June since we’d signed up for their Midnight Sun Run. We didn’t really know what to expect of Fairbanks; several folks we’d met had sort of poo-poo’d the area. “It’s in a bowl” or, “it’s too hot there” (hello! It’s Alaska! How bad can it get?), and even “it’s boring,” were some of the whinges we had heard. We may only get one shot at this Alaska adventure, and as with most such things, you get out of it what you choose to put into it, so we chose to explore, be happy, and as it turned out we’re very glad we ignored the naysayers.

The pipeline stretches from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. This above ground section shows geeky engineer joy.

Most of our forays into cities (which we assiduously avoid) involves a level of re-provisioning. Among the “necessities” are Popeyes (luuuvvv the spicy tenders) and Tillamook Salted Caramel Toffee Gelato (we’re legit addicted and list it as “crack” on our grocery app), and Fairbanks delivered both! So, basically, we dig the town. It also had an REI and a super helpful series of visitors centers that helped us get some ideas and, yes, a loaner BRFC (bear resistant food container). With our fridge and bellies full, we headed toward the environs north and east of Fairbanks to play in the Chena River State Rec Area. We knew of one hike that we wanted to do and found a couple more. The Angel Rocks Trail had great views down the Chena River Valley and was a good leg stretcher type hike. The Mastodon Creek Hike started out lovely, but we were getting chased by an angry thundercloud and turned back early, nearly making it back to the YOFOTruck before the heaviest rain hit.

More clearly marked than most of the trails in the state…

The big adventure was an overnight backcountry backpacking trip along the Granite Tors Trail. The trail is a 15-ish mile loop that gradually climbs several thousand feet up to some crazy large granite outcrops in otherwise rolling tundra-like conditions. We weren’t really sure where we were going to plunk down our tent, but figured we wanted to be somewhere past halfway so that we didn’t have a monster second day. We found a perfect for us spot right about mile 8 and nestled in under a tor. We enjoyed our dinner with a view and settled in, listening to a brief rain shower as we drifted off. The late setting sunlight made for crazy views of the tundra and tors. The morning’s surprise was that the Alaska Range was on full display for us - it had been clouded in the previous day. Sadly, pictures don’t really do the expanses justice. We enjoyed that outstanding view over breakfast and can confirm that coffee still tastes better in the field. Our packs were lighter hiking out, but not as light as they should have been, since our “drink water, new cadet” moments hadn’t been as frequent as proper hydration would dictate. On the plus side, we didn’t have to filter what looked like moose pee out of a very mushy meadow area, the only nearby water source.

After completing the hike, we rewarded ourselves with a trip to the Chena Hot Springs. We don’t normally go for the hot springs experience, but this was pretty cool. And by cool, we mean the geothermally heated 110 degree pond was a welcome relief for our sore muscles. We might have to plan all of our backpacking adventures where there’s a convenient hot springs available!

An old weather plane that the Air Force intentionally put onto pond ice. And then made a sign for. Oh, Air Force.

Steep descent off Donnelly Dome. You can see the YOFOTruck in the parking area closest to the road.

We decided our next area of exploration would be south of Fairbanks. Since all roads in the north lead through Fairbanks, we grabbed an amazing falafel pita as we passed through Fairbanks again. We had one more bit of logistics to knock out, so we overnighted at Eielson AFB to do a little laundry. The fighter jets were doing some training, so it felt like we had a personal airshow!

She was surprised to see us on Donnelly Dome!

Our first adventure south of town was to reprise a hike that Dawn did 27 years ago at the Northern Warfare School at Fort Greely. Cadet Conniff was made to hike up Donnelly Dome along with her classmates before earning some long forgotten privilege. Now she was intent on doing it on her own terms. Army training is generally not “fun” but the second time around proved to be a fun hike! Sure it was steep and challenging, but nothing worth whining about, and on the way up we spotted a couple of caribou, and nearly bumped into a moose about 10 yards in front of us on the trail. On the way down we saw another moose with calf, and watched some airborne troops executing a jump and then loading up helos for the ride back. On top we met a very personable ground squirrel who stood at attention and squeaked out a Beat Navy for us. Go Army squirrel!

Can’t a grizzly take a nap around here without a couple of dang hikers taking snaps of me?!

From Donnelly Dome it was not too far to the Denali Highway, so we randomly map-spotted the Tangle Lakes Archeological District and headed there. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has a large campground on the lakes and we used it as a base to explore. On our way to a local hike, we spotted a grizzly taking a snooze in a snowfield! We watched for a while and then headed out to more amazing views along the Denali Highway. We hiked the McClaren Summit Trail and wandered over the tundra. The trail had expansive views and the feeling of nearly complete solitude.

Whenever we camp on a lake we are tempted to toss the boats into the water. In this case our biggest decision was whether to explore the Upper Tangle Lake or the Lower Tangle Lake. The Lower Lake was more convenient with a ramp not far from our campsite. Both lakes fed a stream so there was a tiny bit of current, but the Upper Lake had us initially heading upstream/uplake. We’ve learned to do the hard part first and then when you’re worn out you can almost float back to your start-point. That, plus our super scientific process known as “can’t go wrong either way,” and we opted for B, the Upper Lake. We almost caved before we really began when some dark clouds rolled in but we decided to throw caution to the wind dropped the boats in the water. Such decision making doesn’t always pay off for us, but it sure did on this occasion. We saw lots of fun critters including beaver lodges, a nesting swan pair, a few otters, a bald eagle (that posed nicely for us) and one human campgroup. But the feature event took place when we spotted two moose on the shoreline. We watched them mill about for a few minutes and they waded in a little deeper…and then deeper still, until they were performing an all out moose-paddle across the lake, directly in front of our kayaks and less than 50 yards away! We knew that moose ate aquatic plants and would wade into lakes and streams, but it never occurred to us that they could swim. It was such a cool moment seeing those two “beautiful chocolate beasts” (as Dawn calls them) make their way through the water, one drafting the other.

Two moose swimming across Upper Tangle Lake

We still had a bit of time before the solstice events, so backtracked back up to Fairbanks, grabbed more food and water, and headed a few miles up the Elliot Highway. This is the road that eventually gets you to Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay…but we only went as far as the Chatanika River to camp at Olnes Pond and then hiked up in the Wickersham Dome Area. If you ever find yourself in Fairbanks driving north of town, stop at the Hillside truck stop and cafe. Get pie. The Dutch Apple slice was incredible and the Blueberry was the perfect level of fresh, not-too-sweet, good-crusted joy. Their cobbler does not suck either. The Wickersham Dome Hike was mostly good - the ups were great, the trail (mostly) solid, and the inquisitive hoary marmots were ever so curious. But the ski trail cutoff we took to make it a loop was a swampy mess. Lots of splashing and muttering and mosquito swatting over 1-1/4 miles of “wtf were we thinking”. Still a worthy jaunt into the woods and tundra and we definitely enjoy our PBJs with epic views!

We lunched near this marmot’s home atop a lump of Wickersham Dome.

We next opted to explore the Steese Highway corridor a little. We camped next to the Chatinika river (had the place nearly to ourselves!) and enjoyed the sound of the river for a few days. We wanted to explore the area around Nome Creek so we took a day trip to do some gold panning, sight seeing, and a hike up to Table Top Mountain. Much fun and goodness.

The next day we opted to try the McCay Creek hike…it was the driest trail we’ve been on in weeks, but it was also a double track atv/ohv trail thru a recovering burn area (yay for the trees making a comeback, boo for the views). Curiously, we met a boy scout group coming down while we were going up. One of the adults was sporting an open carry pistol (a fairly common sight here), so we assumed they had bear concerns. Imagine our surprise when we got to the top, found the campsite they had just vacated, and saw that they had left a cardboard box full of food and cooking supplies sitting on the ground. Instead of teaching the scouts how to stay safe by using a bear-proof food container, they had left a bear magnet. We talked to one of their support guys later (they were pulling canoes out of the water near our campsite) and he said they were sending a 4-wheeler up there to retrieve the stuff. Still seems odd to us tho - you are worried enough to carry a pistol, but not worried enough not to ensure bears know that human stuff isn’t a source of easy calories. Alas, humans are often complicated unfathomable sorts, aka just plain stupid sometimes.

We finally wandered back into Fairbanks looking forward to the Midnight Sun Run. We had a few days left before the run, so we linked up for some Thai food with Bev and Joe, a nice couple that we randomly met at a campground at Burns Lake in Canada. Fairbanks natives, they recommended we hike around Creamer’s Field, a bird refuge, so we worked off some of our lunch wandering around their boardwalk trail. As an added bonus, it was too hot for the mosquitoes to be active that day, which is nice.

We did some fun touristy things in Fairbanks - we caught their Farmers Market where we browsed crafty things and ate some good grub. We also ate at the Alaskan Salmon Bake where we ate our body weight in protein and then doubled down with dessert! The Midnight Sun Festival was a blast - performing artists, lots of food options, people watching, sled dogs, and lots of crafts and stuff to look at.

Taking a selfie with T-Rex on the Midnight Sun Run.

And the Midnight Sun Run? It turned out to be a great experience. It was well organized, lots of costumes, and the crowds in the neighborhoods along the were enthusiastic and made the miles slip by almost effortlessly. It’s a very cool experience to start a run at 10pm and then still have it be daylight at the end. And we like the T-shirts, which is of course the whole reason to do silly things like this in the first place. If you like running - consider adding it to your life list, especially if you plan to visit Alaska at some point. If you don’t like running, at least a thousand folks just walked the course. We enjoyed the solstice-party vibes the entire weekend and are very glad that we spent some time exploring the Fairbanks area.