Alaska Uncovered Podcast

5 Epic day trips from Fairbanks

• Jennie Thwing Flaming and Jay Flaming • Episode 181

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 Welcome to the Alaska Uncovered Podcast with me, your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming, my occasional co-host and full-time husband, Jay, and I bring you accurate, helpful, and entertaining information about Alaska Travel and life in Alaska. Hi everyone. Today we are talking about. Awesome day trips you can take from Fairbanks. Before we get into that, I wanted to thank our Patreon members for making this and every episode of Alaska uncovered possible. We literally couldn't do it without you. You can join them and get your questions answered every week, by the way, at the link in the show notes, or by going to patreon.com/alaska. Uncovered, if you haven't picked up one of my workshops in my online shop, definitely do that. They're on demand. They're unlisted YouTube, videos. And a resource document, and they will help you with so many different things. Everything from planning your own 10 day itinerary in Alaska to visiting southeast Alaska or the inside passage without a cruise to booking a cruise on your own. There are five of them in there, so go check that out. It's shop. Dot ordinary adventures.com and you can always save 10% with the code podcast. Thank you for listening and enjoy the show Today. I am. Responding to a listener question. So back in October, um, I did an episode called Seven Epic Day Trips you can take from Anchorage. And one of our listeners used that text message button to send me a message and say. Hey, can you do this about Fairbanks as well? And so that's what gave me the idea to do this episode. It just took a little while to figure out how to fit it in. So if you have an idea for an episode or a question. Or anything else, please use that button. That's how you can let me know. Make sure to include your email address if you want me to respond. Okay? So thank you for the inspiration listeners. We're gonna talk about five epic day trips that you can take from Fairbanks, and let's jump right in. They're in no particular order, but I am gonna start with probably the most epic one. So number one is to take a trip to the Arctic Circle. Now, this is something a lot of people wanna do, but I want to just prepare you for the fact that this is an extremely. Long day, we're talking about to drive up to, just to the Arctic Circle and back. Um, that is gonna be probably a 14 hour day of mostly driving. So I want to really encourage, and you can't drive on the Dalton Highway with a normal rental car. Now you can rent a car, no problem. That or an rv. Uh, you'd have to rent from Go North to take the RV on that road. Um, you can rent cars from them also. Also, Alaska four by four in Fairbanks will let you take their cars up there. But just know that it's a grueling drive. So what I would recommend, if you want to do this day trip. Is to book a tour with Northern Alaska Tour Company, and Matt from Northern Alaska is going to be on the podcast in July. So we're gonna talk more about this then. But for right now, uh, the reason I recommend going with them is because first of all, someone else will do the driving. Second of all, it'll be a whole experience rather than just a grind. So it is a long day, no matter who's driving. Um, to go to the Arctic Circle and back, but what I would really encourage you to do is to do their drive and fly version where you drive up and see the highway, go above the Arctic Circle, and then fly back to Fairbanks. Or the other way around, you can do the flight first. You can also do an Arctic Circle Day trip with them with just flying, and then you have more time on the ground and more time to experience the Arctic. So we're gonna talk more about the options with that when Matt comes on in July. But for the purposes of today's episode, D trips from Fairbanks. It's a much more comfortable, relaxed, and enjoyable day trip if you do the drive and fly or the fly both ways. I, I personally think the drive and fly is a really cool option because you just get to see and experience so much more. But in any case, that's the first one is going above the Arctic Circle. Number two is a day trip to Denali, so. You may have heard me say that you can't do a day trip to Denali from Anchorage, and that's true. Um, if you're going from Anchorage un, unless you do the hack of spending the day in TNA and flying into the park, it's way too far for a day trip. You've got a minimum of 10 hours of just driving from Fairbanks. However, the park. Is between two and three hours away. It depends on kind of how many RVs are on the road and how much you stop and where exactly you're going in the park. But you can do a day trip in a car to Denali from Fairbanks. And in fact, that's something that I did quite frequently when I lived in Fairbanks, actually all year round. So assuming you're doing this in the summer, the Arctic Circle by the way, is something you can also do year round. Um, all of these things except for one, um, are ones you can do year round. So I'll, I'll get to. That one at the end. So the, in the winter it can be a longer drive. It kind of depends on what the road conditions are like. Uh, but in the summer. I would plan on it being two between two and three hours each way, so totally doable day trip. If you're doing the bus tour and you have a morning tour, those tours can start as early as 5:00 AM So if you're doing a day trip from Fairbanks, I would not recommend, um. Going, I would not recommend booking the morning tour. I would book the afternoon tour. But in any case, you can go on the bus tour into the park. You can go on a hike in the park, you can go to the visitor's center and the dog sled kennels., You can also do flight scene, there in the Denali Park entrance area. So there are lots of. Wonderful things to do and you know, it's always better to have more time in Denali, but if you want to drive there and do a day trip, Fairbanks is where you want to be. Based out of, and if your primary purpose of your trip is to go to Denali, then I would really encourage you to consider flying in and out of Fairbanks because it is a much shorter drive if you're doing other things on your trip as well. Then that may or may not make sense, but, um, this is a good, really good way to go. And like I said, it's something that I used to do all the time when I lived in Fairbanks. If I had a day off in the summer, I would go down there and go for a hike on the Mount Healy Overlook Trail, which is in the entrance area. That was one of my favorite places. Um, I also did skiing there in the winter and other things. So. Yeah, Denali's a great option. Number three is Chena Hot Springs. Another year-round destination. Um, Chena Hot Springs is great. So just something to keep in mind. It's a developed hot springs, so you know, there's a locker room and an entrance fee like a pool, and then there is an indoor pool, and then there's the outdoor. Rock pool. I personally prefer to go to the hot springs when it's not super hot outside, but I've been there plenty of times when it was hot in July and there's lots of people, um, soaking and having a great time. So, um, no matter when you go, it's going to be, uh, that's a really relaxing day. It's, it's a wonderful place to go. I would also recommend, um, for, or one thing to keep in mind for Chena Hot Springs is that you have to be over 18 to go into the outdoor pool. The indoor pool is all ages, so keep that in mind. Um, couple other things about a day trip. Out to Chin Hot Springs. So in addition to going to the Hot Springs, it's a really beautiful and uh, really unique drive. It takes about an hour and a half to get out there from Fairbanks. Um. And there are some. It's a beautiful road. There's a couple great spots to stop on the way out there. One is Shena Outdoor Collective. So Ryan from Shena Outdoor Collective has been on the podcast twice. Once we talked about dog sledding and her experience as an Iditarod musher. Um, but we also talked about reindeer as well. So, um. Go back and listen to those episodes. You need to make a reservation in advance. But if you're driving out to Chena Hot Springs, when you're about halfway out there, you'll get to Chin Outdoor Collective and . You can visit with dog teams. They don't do, um, they don't do mushing in the summer because there's no snow and it's too hot in the Fairbanks area for dogs to run in the summer. But you can still meet them and learn about the Iditarod and meat mushers and learn about dog mushing in general, which is a very cool experience. And you can also do. Walks with reindeer, which is pretty cool. So that's a neat spot. Um, I really love, uh, the Two Rivers Lodge. It had a fire several years ago, but they're in the process of rebuilding, so that's a great place. Last summer, they were open, they had kind of a limited menu. Um, but that's a wonderful stop. And then there's a, there's several wonderful hiking trails out on Chin Hot Springs Road. Um. My favorite one is Angel Rocks. It's very popular, but it's a great moderate day hike. If you are a hiker, you'd really love it. You can also hike through to Chena Hot Springs. You, you need to get local information and have a map. To do that. Um, I have done that and had someone pick me up on the other side. That was pretty cool. But that requires some planning and navigation. Um, but yeah, those are some wonderful spots. The other thing about Shena Hot Springs is they have quite a few different organized activities that you can join in on out there. They're different in summer and winter. The one that's the same is going into. The Ice Hotel, which is really unique and cool. You definitely wanna do that. You can only go in on a tour and in the summer when it's hot, you know you have to be right there. When they're ready to start. Everyone goes in together, they close the door. Um, because it's really hard to keep something like that frozen all summer. In the Fairbanks area, it's very hot in summer. So, um, yeah, and then you get to see all the cool, it's not actually a working hotel. You can't sleep in there. Um, but you can take the tour, you can see cool things, and then they have an ice bar, and you can have an ice drink and an ice glass, which is really fun. So I really recommend that experience. Okay, number four is Chena Lakes. So Chena Lakes is a local favorite. Um, it's part of an Army Corps of Engineer project. It's a large lake near Fairbanks, and if you are looking for a classic beach day in Alaska, this is it. Uh, if it's sunny, there'll be tons or warm, even if it's not that warm. But like I said, in Fairbanks, it can be quite hot In the summer, there'll be people out there swimming. There are kayak and canoe rentals out there. There are hiking trails. It's a wonderful local hangout, really fun place to go as a visitor to, if you're looking for a lake that's. Like smaller, a little further away, a little less developed. I would not say that Chena Lakes is developed, but by Alaska standards it, it is. Um, meaning you can rent boats and things like that. But further down the Richardson Highway, further away from Fairbanks, there's also a couple of places. A couple of other lakes, quartz Lake and Harding Lake that are also really popular with locals and our Alaska State parks. So those are a further drive, um, but other beautiful, wonderful lakes to visit and hang out at and hang with locals. All right. My fifth one I kind of debated about whether or not to include it 'cause it is really a big adventure. But I'm going to include it just to highlight how wonderful it can be to explore interior Alaska. So there is a road. That goes up, um, from Fairbanks to the northeast called the Ste Highway. So it goes up past Chena Hot Springs Road, and then there's a turnoff for the Elliot Highway that connects to the Dalton Highway. So you don't go that way. You don't go to Chena Hot Springs. You don't go towards the Dalton Highway towards live and good and up there you go towards Chatt Nika and up on the Ste Highway. Now, the first part of this is kind of like a normal Alaskan road. The further you get out there, the road goes 150 miles to circle, which is, which is just tiny, tiny. It's more the name of a. Spot than it is a place with businesses. Um, but it's on the Yukon River and it's. It's quite an adventure to drive all the way out there. If you do that, you've gotta know that once you leave Fairbanks, you've got no cell service, no services. So you need enough fuel, food, water, everything to get out there and back. There are, I haven't been out there for a really long time. There used to be a very cool hot springs out there. It has closed. But it's still a pretty epic drive if you really want to see some wilderness places. It's pretty cool out there. So you'll need to check your car rental contract. Depending on how far you wanna go. You'll need to rent from one of those companies that lets you drive on gravel roads. But if you do, you can go pretty far, as long as you're self-sufficient. If it's during the time of year where it gets dark up on Eagle Summit up there is a pretty great place to see the Aurora. It's high, dark, open. There's nothing blocking the view. Of course., From mid-April to Midgut, it doesn't get dark, so that is not gonna be a good place to see the Aurora nor will anywhere else in Alaska be. But that is a pretty cool spot if you just wanna drive an open country. And then before I wrap this episode up, I wanted to just share a little bit more about hiking and hiking resources. So I mentioned Angel rocks. Uh, there are lots of other areas in the White Mountains recreation area, which is just north of Fairbanks. Places where you can explore pretty much on your own if you want to go for a hike, other than. You know, one that's very popular and busy. Granite Tours on Angel Hot Springs Road is a really tough, long hike, but it's another one. I just want to really encourage you to go to the Public Lands Information Center in Fairbanks. It's in the same building as, the Morris Thompson Cultural Center. Which is also an excellent visit in Fairbanks. They can really give you any kind of information or maps about any of the public lands. So if you like to explore off the beaten path, there are many, many more places you could go and explore beyond the ones I've mentioned today. Um, these ones are more crowd pleasers, let's just say. Um, but if you're looking for solitude, go in there and, and talk to them and get some ideas. I will say that all of the Alaska Public Lands Information Centers, there are four. There's also one in downtown Anchorage, one in Ketchikan near the Cruise docks, and one in Tok along the Alaska Highway. They are all a fantastic resource. Uh, they were slated for closure, but as of now, they are all still open. So take advantage of that. So just to recap again, we've got a day trip to the Arctic Circle. I really recommend going with Northern Alaska Tour Company, a day trip to Denali. Uh, make sure you do afternoon tours in Denali if you're doing that. Uh, Chena Hot Springs and Chena Hot Springs Road. By the way, Chena Hot Springs Road is a great place to see moose in the Fairbanks area. Look in the ponds on the sides of the road, and then Chena Lakes recreation area, and then finally an adventure up on the STI highway, driving up towards Central and circle over Eagle Summit. 📍 All right, I hope you're inspired to have some adventures in Fairbanks. See you next week. thank you for listening to Alaska Uncovered. See you next week.

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Jennie Thwing Flaming

Host
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Jay Flaming

Co-host