Tag: fairbanks

Fairbanks to Gakona – Part 1 of 4

September 21, 2025

When I arrived in Fairbanks two days ago I had just driven the final two hours north and east from Denali National Park. It was an uneventful trip, and I didn’t stop to take any pictures. The scenery was pretty much open and there really wasn’t much to see.

I have a long drive today to get way down to Gakona and will stop and take pictures throughout the day to memorialize my trip. Here are some of the things I saw as I drove south on Hwy 2 as far as Delta Junction.

My first stop was in North Pole, Alaska – about 14 miles from Anchorage.

Basically a tourist trap, and while I didn’t go inside I did at least stop to take pictures. Even the McDonald’s off the exit got in the spirit by painting their highway sign like a candy cane.

Further down the highway I would drive through Eielson Air Force Base. The sign as I approached indicated they have quite a bit of hardware and personnel here.

The highway ran parallel to the runway and control tower. I did stop to take pictures of some planes parked on the tarmac but will not post them. I will elaborate later in my trip when I pass through this area again before leaving this part of Alaska.

The rest of the drive as far as Delta Junction was mainly near low, tree covered mountains.

I did drive next to a very wide river for a short distance. The water level was pretty low right now but I suspect it gets considerably higher as snowmelt makes its way to it from mountains upstream in the Spring and Summer.

Later I drove over a bridge and on my left was a section of the Trans Alaska Pipeline. There were stanchions and support wires to carry it over the river.

I will see the pipeline again later in the day.

(Continued in next post)

North of Fairbanks, Alaska

September 20, 2025

I drove to Fairbanks yesterday after having spent some time in Denali National Park. I didn’t arrive until evening and went straight to my Airbnb which was north of town.

I was surprised to learn that Fairbanks, which recently overtook Juneau as the second largest city in Alaska, isn’t really that big. It has a city population of around 32,500, although there are neighborhoods surrounding the downtown area that could arguably increase the number if pooled together.

Although I will spend two nights here I will only be here one full day, as I will have a long drive tomorrow to get back down near Glennallen. This was more of an orientation stop and I will come back later in my trip to spend three nights and two full days.

When I first left the Airbnb to drive downtown this was the first thing I saw:

There wasn’t any snow on the ground while I was here so there was no activity at this venue, but I will visit a Musher Museum when I come back to Fairbanks later in my trip. I stopped at Walmart to replenish my food supply and then drove around town a bit to get my bearings. I was at the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor Center downtown when it opened.

I picked up maps and brochures so I could find out what was open and what wasn’t. This antler arch was out back:

The sign said there were over 100 antlers but I didn’t count them. If you’ve ever been to Jackson, Wyoming they have some much larger arches at all four corners of a city park there, but this wasn’t bad for Fairbanks. This one was mainly moose antlers, with some elk and perhaps caribou thrown in.

One of the brochures I picked up was for a restaurant called Latitude 65 which I will describe in more detail in the next post. It is further north of town, and as I drove up Hwy 2 towards the restaurant I saw a turnout area for the Trans Alaska Pipeline! I am aware of its existence but never even thought I would see it, and here it was – right next to the highway:

It had come up from underground just north of here.

The pipeline runs from Prudhoe Bay at the top of Alaska all the way down to Valdez, where the crude oil is loaded onto tanker ships.

There were other signs discouraging people from climbing on it (it isn’t a toy, people) and also asked that there be no graffiti or other stickers attached.

There was also a small display explaining what “pigs” are in the oil pipeline universe. They are used inside the pipeline to keep things from building up inside. When it was being built there was a wax buildup which pigs, like the one shown below, cleared out. The sign indicates that now the oil is constantly flowing past this point at over 100 degrees Fahrenheit so wax is no longer a problem.

This is a newer version of a pig which helps maintain the flow of oil. You can see on the signs that the pipeline is maintained by the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, and their white crew-cab pickup trucks made up the vast majority of vehicles I saw as I drove along parts of Highways 2 and 4. The pipeline runs roughly parallel to those two roads, though I would see it in the distance some places.

I will continue with the restaurant I was heading to in the next post.

Fairbanks Loop

September 18, 2025

I referenced this “loop” in my previous post and thought it might be wise to post a picture of map and explain my thinking:

(Photo credit: AAA.com Alaska Map)

The two biggest towns in Alaska are Anchorage and Fairbanks. There are major highways (1,2,3 and 4) which connect them in a loop fashion. I will use smaller towns along them to illustrate my overview.

A small town fairly close to Anchorage (lower left corner of the map) is called Wasilla. From there north to Fairbanks is 316 driving miles on Hwy 3 and according to Google Maps takes 5 hours 22 minutes to drive. Coming down the east side of the loop, Fairbanks to Glennallen is in two parts – Fairbanks southeast to Delta Junction on Hwy 2, then Delta Junction south to Glennallen on Hwy 4. Total distance of those two parts is 247 miles and drive time is 4 hours 20 minutes. Then from Glennallen roughly west to Wasilla is on Hwy 1. Distance is 148 miles and drive time is 2 hours 38 minutes.

To do the whole loop covers 711 miles and takes 12 hours and 20 minutes (without stops). Hence the need to break it up into bite-sized pieces.

This first lap I am stopping in Talkeetna, Fairbanks, Gakona (near Glennallen) and eventually back to Anchorage. I was originally going to do a second loop in the opposite direction later in the trip because I often see things driving the opposite direction on some roads than I saw going the other way. It turned out that I would do both loops in the same direction for reasons which I will explain when I get to that point in my trip.

My first loop is to visit those towns and get a feel for road conditions and elevation changes. This is my first time in Alaska and I have no idea what to expect. My first big lesson was that Talkeetna is a LONG way from Denali National Park, and the Alaska Range where the Denali Mountains are located is also a LONG way from Denali National Park. On my second loop I will stay in Healy, about 20 miles north of the Park entrance, and visit the Park for 3 1/2 days with much less driving!